How Bottletop leads the way with sustainable business and support for emerging economies

16 November 2022

As consumers worldwide demand sustainability to combat climate change, innovative businesses are finding more environmental ways of operating.

Among those leading the way is revolutionary fashion enterprise, Bottletop, which has created links between indigenous people in the Brazilian rainforests, human-trafficking victims in the Himalayan foothills and the fashion catwalks of Paris and New York and high street stores around the world.

Founded 20 years ago by brothers, Cameron and Roger Saul, Bottletop is providing livelihoods for artisans in emerging economies using ancient traditional skills and providing young people with health education funded through sustainable design and production.

Bottletop has redefined the 20th century concept luxury goods, by making fashion bags, backpacks, belts, purses and accessories, including mobile phone pouches and broaches, from recycled waste materials often dumped, killing wildlife and harming biodiversity.

Upcycled – items put to a better, usually creative use - metals have been used by Bottletop since 2002 when the company started designing with metal ring pulls.

Cameron Saul says: “We buy the ring pulls from ‘catadores’ or ‘trash pickers’ who collect recyclable materials from the streets in Brazil, paying them per kilo, which is an important income for people often living on the streets.

“Each ring pull is carefully selected as around 30% are too damaged to be used. Each batch is then washed, clipped, filed and polished before being painted or sent to the laboratory for anodising before being woven as part of our signature chain mail fabric.”

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef and leather and its waste is used by Bottletop.

Cameron adds: “After learning about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest by beef ranching in 2014, we created the first certified ‘Zero Deforestation Leather’ supply chain with the National Wildlife Federation.

“Since then have urged fashion industry consumers and brands to demand the provenance of their leather to support animal welfare and traceability to help protect the Amazon rainforest and other natural environments.”

Botttletop has also partnered with ground-breaking Swedish organisation, IM, which is tackling gun violence by transforming illegal firearms into what its calls ‘Humanium Metal’ - stainless steel repurposed from illegal weapons seized in Central America which reduces gun violence and rebuilds societies harmed by constant conflict.

Recycled plastic is also an essential Bottletop material. Cameron adds: “Each year, more than eight million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans endangering wildlife and releasing micro plastics into our water systems.

“To help combat this we have partnered with a company called Parley, which intercepts plastic waste from remote islands, shorelines, waters and coastal communities to tackle this huge problem.”

A collection of designs from Botttletop’s atelier in the Amazon rainforest, features seeds from the ‘superfruit’ the Acacia berry, a natural by-product of the Yawanawá Indigenous community. The seeds are dried and the husks removed before being drilled, sanded and polished by hand. They are then dyed using natural pigments and woven into different Bottletop designs.

Bottletop launched its first London flagship shop in Regent St in 2017 by creating the world’s first zero waste 3D printed store created from waste and ocean plastic from Tanzania. The business has since opened stores in New York, Dallas and Hong Kong.

Supporting local communities and valuing their traditional skills for employment is also crucial to Bottletop, which established its first atelier in Salvador, Brazil, with Luciano dos Santos in 2007.

Ten years later, Cameron hiked to the Mt Everest base camp in Nepal and, wanting to support a local organisation with the funds raised, identified Maiti, an organisation which provides therapeutic care for women rescued from human trafficking which led to a design collection made by Maiti women who craft bottletop designs in Kathmandu.

Meanwhile model, author, film director, actress, entrepreneur and environmental activist, Lily Cole, introduced Cameron to the Yawanawá Indigenous community in Brazil and Bottletop launched a workshop and atelier with them earlier this year.

From 2008 Bottletop has presented seasonal collections in London and Paris and sold to leading fashion retailers and stores including Selfridges, Harrods, Conran and Harvey Nichols in London; Jeffrey's, DKNY and Urban Zen in the USA; Holt Renfrew in Canada and NK in Brazil.

Fashion industry influencers, including actress, Emma Watson; Vogue magazine editor, Anna Wintour and models Candice Swanepoel, Naomi Campbell and Halima Aden have worn Bottletop bags.

Bottletop’s moves to raise awareness both of its brand and environmental concerns have led to high-profile creative projects in music and contemporary arts.

After two critically-acclaimed ‘Sound Affects’ compilation albums blending the natural sounds of Africa and Brazil with leading electronic artists and producers, the company launched its all-star Bottletop band.

Leading artists from the UK and Brazil, including the Arctic Monkeys, Libertines, VV Brown, Eliza Doolittle, Gruff Rhys, Fink, Kassin, Domenico, Rodrigo Amarante, and Moreno Veloso collaborated on the album 'Dream Service’ comprising original material.

Meanwhile the Bottletop Full Circle contemporary art series of exhibitions and auctions in support of the Bottletop Foundation took place from 2009 at the Roundhouse, Phillips De Pury and Victoria Miro galleries, and featured works by a range of global artists.

The company gained a global audience by being commissioned to design costumes for artists and dancers at the 2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony.

On Earth Day in April 2019, after three years of development, Bottletop launched the #TOGETHERBAND campaign in partnership with the UN Foundation and UBS to generate global awareness and action in support of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals through creativity and culture.

So far, the #TOGETHERBAND campaign has generated over 6.6bn impressions with more than 800 ambassadors worldwide and has delivered more than $1m through its projects and partners.

The Bottletop Foundation supports grass roots health education charities which help young people protect themselves and make healthy choices alongside vocational skills training programmes as well as supporting Non Government Organisations (NGOs) dedicated to advancing the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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