With a Turnover of Rs 3 Crore, Couple Has Made Over a Million Eco-Friendly Bags
Krishnan Subramanian and Gowri Gopinath quit their jobs to start YellowBag, an eco-friendly venture to bring back the traditional Manjapai or yellow bags and reduce plastic pollution.
While working their corporate jobs in Bengaluru and Chennai, Gowri Gopinath and Krishnan Subramanian, both longed to return to their hometown, Madurai, and embrace a minimalist lifestyle. The couple wanted to do something about the rising plastic pollution in the cities.
“When we looked around, we felt that there is this huge consumption culture that is highly dependent on plastics, especially single-use. We were a part of it too. We reflected on this thought and realised the need for switching from plastics to something eco-friendly and sustainable,” Krishnan says.
The duo decided to start YellowBag — a cloth bag venture in 2014. They started small by educating their friends and families to use cloth bags. They collaborated with local tailors to make the bags and meet the steadily growing demand.
In 2019, the duo decided to quit their respective jobs and throw themselves into growing their venture. The name comes from Manjappai (which means a yellow-coloured cloth bag), which has always been an integral part of Tamil tradition.
In a bid to revive this tradition, the company offers a range of eco-friendly and sustainable bags made of cotton and jute that serve different purposes.
They offer products like packaging bags, garment protector bags, totes, and drawstring bags. “Our products start from Rs 20 and go up to Rs 200. They are mostly made based on the client’s requirements. We mainly market our products through our website or through several social media platforms. We also sell our products at our own office,” says Gouri.
The company stitches 2,000 to 3,000 bags a day! And the cherry on the cake was that they earned Rs 3 crore.
Did you find their journey inspiring? Here is a short video about their sustainable bags:
Edited by Padmashree Pande.
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