Krishnan Subramanian and Gowri Gopinath stop their jobs to start out YellowBag, an eco-friendly enterprise to convey again the normal Manjapai or yellow baggage and cut back plastic air pollution.

Whereas working their company jobs in Bengaluru and Chennai, Gowri Gopinath and Krishnan Subramanian, each longed to return to their hometown, Madurai, and embrace a minimalist way of life. The couple wished to do one thing concerning the rising plastic air pollution within the cities.

“After we seemed round, we felt that there’s this big consumption tradition that’s extremely depending on plastics, particularly single-use. We have been part of it too. We mirrored on this thought and realised the necessity for switching from plastics to one thing eco-friendly and sustainable,” Krishnan says.

The duo determined to start out YellowBag — a fabric bag enterprise in 2014. They began small by educating their buddies and households to make use of fabric baggage. They collaborated with native tailors to make the baggage and meet the steadily rising demand.

In 2019, the duo determined to stop their respective jobs and throw themselves into rising their enterprise. The identify comes from Manjappai (which suggests a yellow-coloured fabric bag), which has all the time been an integral a part of Tamil custom.

In a bid to revive this custom, the corporate affords a variety of eco-friendly and sustainable baggage made from cotton and jute that serve totally different functions.

They provide merchandise like packaging baggage, garment protector baggage, totes, and drawstring baggage. “Our merchandise begin from Rs 20 and go as much as Rs 200. They’re largely made based mostly on the consumer’s necessities. We primarily market our merchandise via our web site or via a number of social media platforms. We additionally promote our merchandise at our personal workplace,” says Gouri.

The corporate stitches 2,000 to three,000 baggage a day! And the cherry on the cake was that they earned Rs 3 crore.

Did you discover their journey inspiring? Here’s a quick video about their sustainable baggage:

Edited by Padmashree Pande.