Subaru Upcycles Leftover Airbag Fabric into Shopping Bags

Being eco-friendly is a pretty big deal regardless of what industry a company is in, but this can be especially true for the automotive industry. Automakers are trying to make their vehicles as environmentally friendly as possible, improving technologies year after year to improve fuel efficiency and get closer and closer to zero emissions. Subaru has recently announced a very aggressive plan to reduce its vehicles’ emissions, but improving its vehicles is not the only way that the company chooses to leave a positive impact on the environment. The company also recently started upcycling leftover airbag fabric alongside Toyoda Gosei, the factory that makes airbags for Subaru vehicles, into reusable shopping bags.

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Subaru x Re-S Upcycled Marche Bag

Airbag fabric has a lot of upcycling potential, as evidenced by the recent partnership between Toyoda Gosei and Asics that turned leftover airbag fabric into shoes. Now, Toyoda Gosei and Subaru are teaming up to turn this fabric into reusable shopping bags. Without projects like these, all of this fabric leftover from the production of airbags would wind up in landfills, hurting the environment. Building a reusable shopping bag doubles up its eco-friendly status by not only keeping this fabric out of landfills, but also potentially reducing plastic use by replacing grocery bags.

The new bag created by this upcycling partnership, called the Subaru x Re-S Upcycled Marche Bag, has respectable dimensions that can fit a full-size towel and more when unfolded, but can also fold down to fit inside your pocket when not in use. Its dimensions are 21.7 inches tall, 13.4 inches wide and 4.7 inches deep, making it a great option to replace grocery bags. Plus, at $20 a pop, these bags are quite affordable as well.

Unfortunately, these bags are only available in Japan, but we still wanted to showcase this incredible initiative the company has undertaken to highlight just how focused Subaru is on helping the environment. This is just one example, but there are plenty of others – several of which we just recently covered in the blog linked in this paragraph.

This is also just one very specific example of upcycling, which is a trend booming in popularity. You should consider upcycling projects that you can do for yourself if you want to make your own positive impact on the environment. Feel free to get in touch with us if you think you might be interested in getting behind the wheel of a Subaru vehicle.