This article appears in the November 2019 issue and is presented by Impact Washington. Click here for a free subscription.
An eight-employee company in Twisp, Washington, called eqpd (pronounced “equipped”) has a simple, but sustainable idea. It is working to curtail the waste of single-use paper and plastic bags by producing a stylish, guaranteed-for-life, reusable tote called the LastBag.
Jonathan Baker, the founder, spent 15 years as a freelance sporting and outdoor-industry product designer in New England prior to moving to Washington with the dream of designing and making his own products. LastBag was trademarked and eqpd incorporated in January 2014 in Twisp (population 970). The company promotes its LastBag product line as “the cast-iron skillet of grocery bags.” They are sold online, ranging in price from $30 to $75 for grocery totes made of durable, waterproof fabric to $175 for the DuffleBox — a sturdy, leather-trimmed business-travel bag. Baker’s design approach is simple: Less is more and build to last. See more photos and descriptions below.
Heavy-duty mesh from eqpd vendor Seattle Textile Inc. is used in bag production.
Also used in manufacturing are spools of colored custom thread sourced from local vendor Hi-Tex in Woodinville.
Every LastBag is hand-sewn and built-to-order.
An eqpd employee, Amy, preps mesh material.
A restock order is prepared for a LastBag early adopter — Seattle grocer Metropolitan Market.
