Nuuwaï x Style with a Smile is a cause-driven vegan bag collection made out of apple leather. The collection supports Freedom Farm Sanctuary in Israel
Life is such a rollercoaster. I cannot even properly express the number of emotions I feel right now, as writing these words just feels surreal to me. This is probably the most exciting blog post I’ve even written, so bear with me (and my emotional mess!)
If you were to tell me a year ago that I’d launch a bag collection with one of my closest friends and absolute favorite brand, I’d probably be laughing at your face. But this is all happening, and I simply couldn’t be happier. But let’s start from the beginning.
One year ago, at NEONYT Berlin, I met Svenja, Founder of Nuuwaï, a vegan, ethical and sustainable brand creating bags out of apple leather. We kept in touch and little did I know she’d become one of my closest friends in the world. We worked together multiple times, met 6 times in one year (and considering we live in different countries, that is a lot), been through so much together, helped each other and were there for each other during good and bad times.
One day during our conversations we laughed and said we should create a capsule collection together, and 7 months later, with a lot of hard work, this joke became a reality and we couldn’t be happier about it. I am proud and honored to show you our creation: the beautiful Nuuwaï x Style with a Smile collection is here.
About Nuuwaï
Nuuwaï is an award-winning Germany-based vegan brand creating modern bags made of „AppleSkin“ material. Svenja, my friend and founder of Nuuwai went vegan about 6 years ago, after watching the film Earthlings (just like me!) “I couldn’t support animal agriculture anymore. My first motivation to be vegan was purely ethical, but the more I learned about the environmental effects of animal agriculture, the ecological aspect of veganism became important to me as well”.
Believe it or not, the idea of opening Nuuwaï came coincidentally, when Svenja was watching a TV report about apple leather. She was amazed by the idea of turning apple waste into vegan leather. “It always bothered me a bit, that most vegan bags are completely made of PU or PVC (or look like vegan bags because they’re made out of cork or fabric), so I started looking for apple leather bags, but couldn’t find any”.
After talking with her sweet father, Gunnar (who became my second father now!) about the material and the face no one used it, he encouraged her to start Nuuwaï, which slowly becomes one of the most well-known vegan bag brands in the sustainable, innovative niche.
How Apple Leather Is Made?
To make their apple leather, named “Appleskin”, Nuuwaï takes the fruit waste from the apple industry (mainly, from apple juice production), dehydrates and grounds it into a very fine apple powder. The powder is then mixed with 50% PU (polyurethane) and applied to a tear-resistant roll with cotton fabric. These rolls are then heated to produce a weather-resistant, durable fabric, which is then can be left smooth or embossed to create different surface structures. For our Nuuwaï x Style with a Smile collection, we used smooth, thick and luxurious apple leather.
The lining of our bags consists of 100% recycled plastic bottles supporting Ecoalf Foundation‘s “Upcycling The Oceans” project. Nuuwai is buying their recycled ocean-plastic deadstock and using it for the lining of their bags: this way, they are reducing waste and saving resources, without compromising style and quality. The brand is also trying to have a zero-waste production and use apple leather and lining leftovers to make smaller pieces like straps, zipper details or small pockets.
For their packaging, Nuuwaï doesn’t use plastic, but luxurious organic cotton dust-bags that aren’t only easier on the planet, but also protecting your handbags, assuring they’ll serve you for a long time.
Nuuwaï x Style with a Smile: Cause-Driven Vegan Bag Collection Helping Animals
Nuuwaï x Style with a Smile was born out of true friendship and love for animals, people, and the planet. It was launched on the 15th of January in Berlin, exactly one year after I and Svenja met for the first time ever at NEONYT. We celebrated the launch with so many wonderful people from around the world- thank you for everyone who came!
This collection means so much to me, as it truly represents every single thing I believe in and inspired by our strong friendship, animals, nature, and mostly by the modern woman. While designing our collection I had one thing in mind: I wanted my bags to be practical, unique, fashionable and meaningful. That’s why the designs we chose are timeless yet fun and colorful, have clean lines and a new, innovative smooth apple leather.
I knew I wanted three bags: one small, one medium, and one large, that would allow any woman to find a perfect bag for every occasion: from a day at the office and stroll in Berlin to a night out in Tel Aviv. It took us a few months to finalize the designs and a few attempts to make them the best bags we could possibly come up with. But apart from designing beautifully-looking bags, we wanted them to have a beautiful impact.
Bags Helping Animals: Our Collaboration with Freedom Farm Sanctuary
When Svenja visited me for the third time last September, I took her to the Freedom Farm Sanctuary, a place that I love & support for years now and we got to meet its animals, volunteers, and founders. This farm is the happiest place on earth. It is a safe haven for abused and rescued animals, located just 40 minutes from Tel Aviv. Founded by two women – Meital Ben Ari and Adit Romano the farm is supported by people around the world who aspire to make a change in the attitude of human beings towards other earthly creations.
Freedom Farm is the happiest place on earth. It is a farm sanctuary for the survivors of the animal agriculture industry and animal testing industry that strives to create consciousness in the way humans view the earth, animals and themselves. Above all, it is an educational, judgment-free place: no matter who you are and what you’re eating, you’re welcome to visit, experience, ask and learn. The farm aspires to highlight the similarities between humans and animals, demonstrating that just like us, all animals experience feelings of love, pain, fear, and boredom. They each have a unique personality, just like us, and want to live full, free lives – just like us.
But, unlike cats or dogs, we often don’t think of farm animals as having feelings or personalities. We even created a separate vocabulary that masks the pain and suffering of animals: cows become ‘beef’, pigs become ‘pork’ and dead flesh is ‘meat’, for example. This kind of brainwashing is undone pretty quickly at Freedom Farm Sanctuary. Both I and Svenja love their mission and work which is why…
we will donate 5% of all sales to Freedom Farm Sanctuary, and every single bag we designed is named after one of the farm’s wonderful residents❤️⠀
Nuuwaï x Style with a Smile:
5 different bags, 3 different designs, named after 3 different individuals
Meet YOSSÏ
YOSSÏ is our biggest bag, named after the biggest resident in Freedom farm Sanctuary: Yossi the pig! This tote bag was inspired by the NEONYT goodie bag that I’ve been using for over one year now. I’ve loved the fact I could fit anything I wanted into it and decided to design a tote bag with the same simple, chic design that will allow you to fit all you need inside and more. It is the perfect bag for work, school, shopping, and even a weekend getaway. Inside you will find a zip compartment and on the outside, an embossed Style with a Smile bird logo 🙂
About Yossi (The Pig!)
Yossi (named after my friend Yossi Wolfson, the lawyer for “Let the Animals Live” organization and one of the most dedicated and educated humans when it comes to animal rights and welfare) was brutally castrated without any anesthesia because there is a belief that the castration makes their meat taste better. His tail was docked and his teeth clipped. These horrors occur daily in pig pens due to the terrible over-crowded conditions which make the pigs develop violent behaviors. This sweet baby was so afraid of humans that he ran every time a human came close to him. Pigs are highly intelligent. In fact, they are the fourth most intelligent mammal, smarter than dogs, therefore, it only took a couple of days for him to realize that at FFS he was safe. Instead of running away, he began running towards the FFS team for food and cuddles.
Price: €129,00 // Comes in the beautiful Soft-Taupe color // 5% goes to FFS.
Meet SHAÏ
SHAÏ was a bag I wanted to have for so long: a perfect, medium-sized classy bag with a modern, trendy yet timeless twist of an organic cotton strap (and a golden metal strap, too) that you can easily adjust or remove. Satchel SHAÏ with two compartments, an inside pocket, and 2 detachable straps. It will easily fit any of your daily essentials and comes in two beautiful colors: Millennial Pink (soft, dusty pink) and Cobalt Blue (Beautiful, bold, classy blue). Shai was named after the cutest donkey ever!
About Shai (The Donkey!)
Shai was born in Freedom Farm Sanctuary: he is one of the cutest innocent beings we have met and has the greatest relationship with his mother, Ilana, who arrived at the farm she was pregnant with Shai. Before she arrived there, she worked hard in carrying loads in bad conditions. Shai loves eating grass and running along with his friends around the farm.
Price: €147,00 // Comes in the beautiful Millennial Pink and Cobalt Blue // 5% goes to FFS.
Meet NÏR
Our clutch bag NÏR might look small, but it is super spacious and designed for practicality. It has two compartments, a beautiful flap front protected with a zipper and one opened slot right between them, that will allow you easy access to your phone or whatever it is that you want! Its thin strap is detachable so you can either wear it crossbody, over your shoulder or as a clutch.
NÏR NÏR
About Nir (The Cow!)
Nir lived in a cruel barn, full of mud, feces, and dirt with a terrible smell and density. Walking was very difficult for him with his broken leg. All his life he was afraid of humans and his friends were taken to slaughterhouses. On the way to the Freedom Farm Sanctuary, Nir was frightened. He ran as fast as he could out of the truck, and slowly realized he arrived in a safe, loving place. Nir’s leg had to be amputated and the farm took care of him and got him a custom-made prosthetic leg. Nir is the only cow in the world with a prosthetic leg, and he can run and play freely around the farm. As he is growing the farm orders new prosthetic legs for him, so he will be able to maintain a normal, happy, free life.
Price: €124,00 // Comes in the beautiful Millennial Pink and Cobalt Blue // 5% goes to FFS.
I cannot wait to hear what you think about our collection and hopefully see you rocking one of our bags! Let me know what you think in the comments below.
You can pre-order our collection NOW on the NUUWAÏ website– your support in our collection & mission would mean the world to us🌎❤️ ⠀ ⠀ Thank you to the NUUWAÏ team, who became my actual family long ago, and to my friend Svenja for believing in me and doing this with me. I love you so much.
Our Outfits
By the way, all the beautiful clothes we wore in the photoshoot are by one of my favorite sustainable fashion brands Lana Organic. The clothes we chose are from their vegan-friendly range and I LOVE THEM. I own so many clothes by this brand and couldn’t recommend them enough. The shoes I was wearing are by Flamingo’s Life and I really like them too. It was a special edition of repaired shoes they launched during Black Friday, so they are fully vegan and zero waste.
Our makeup was perfectly done by Paula Fay, a sweet, talented cruelty-free & vegan makeup artist, and all the photos were taken by my lovely friend and photographer Tevel Gilad.
Special thanks to Adit, Iris the whole freedom Farm Sanctuary team for helping us make this dream come true, to our partners, I+M Berlin, Veganz, Vego, Eco Flamingo & Kushel for their support in our collection and contribution to our goodie bags and to you all for reading!
See you next time,
Noa
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