Skip to main content

Mafia Bags: Recycled Sails Make Travel a Breeze

Mafia Bags have nothing to do with organized crime. In fact, it’s a company of do-gooders whose products are practically a steal. Named for the Argentinean brother and sister who started the company, Mafia bags are made from recycled sails, which would otherwise end up in landfills and they’re the perfect bags for travel.

Like most great innovations, Mafia bags started with a need: Marcos Mafia needed a bag that would allow him to travel mafia siblings who created mafia bagswith wetsuits. He and his sister, Paz, are major water sports enthusiasts and soon realized they had piles of useless old sails from Marcos’ professional kitesurfing. Sails, by definition, are sturdy, waterproof, and often quite pretty. Sails are also usually thrown away once they’ve outlived their nautical usefulness. The Mafias realized they had everything they needed to not only solve their packing problems, but also help the environment. It wasn’t long before they were receiving donated sails from companies, neighbors, friends, even other athletes. This variety in sails ensures each bag is unique and has its own history. As of today, they’ve managed to salvage 8,200 yards of sail from garbage dumps.

Recommended Videos

Buenos Aires saw Mafia’s first store, opened in 2012, where the Mafias continued designing and adding items to their line. Through a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $25,000, the Mafia siblings were able to expand, now calling San Francisco home to their headquarters for a company that operates in four countries.

Mafia Bags continues to find ways to be environmentally and socially conscious. They reuse cardboard shipping boxes, they choose to employ Californians to manufacture each bag in the state, and they even offer the incredibly rare lifetime warranty on their products. This warranty ensures they didn’t rescue sails from landfills for a few years, but permanently. Mafia Bags is a member of the B-Corporation, which certifies business that are good for society, the earth, and shareholders.

mafia backpack made from recycled sailsAs for the products themselves, Mafia makes a variety of bags to suit really any occasion in which you need to carry a lot of stuff around. Backpacks, messenger bags, totes, and duffels, each unique, each incredibly sturdy. They’ve got a relatively small accessories section, full of cool wallets and laptop sleeves. Perhaps most surprising is the price: Mafia products are priced ridiculously low considering you’re buying upcycled sails, artfully redesigned, made in America, with a lifetime warranty. The Tubo, for example, is their largest duffle: it’s waterproof, pocketed, supremely stylish, and made from kitesurf and boat sails so it’s ready for anything. And it’s a measly $198.00.

Mafia Bags will always get you and your stuff where you need to go and get you noticed along the way. Plus, you’re helping the planet and supporting California jobs.

Elizabeth Dahl
Elizabeth Dahl is a southern girl in the heart of Los Angeles who lived far too long before learning what an incredible food…
Dystopian TV at its best: 8 must-see shows like The Handmaid’s Tale
These shows will make you think about the world in a new way
Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale

If you're like me, you might have been taken by surprise to find out that one of Hulu's biggest original hits of the last decade was finally coming to a close this spring. The Handmaid's Tale dominated dystopian television discourse in the mid-to-late 2010s. It proved Hulu's worth in the streaming space and adapted Margaret Atwood's novel for a new generation of fans. While the first season was award-winning and fawned over by audiences worldwide, further seasons saw a decline in pop culture relevance.

What started out as a brilliant take on the consequences of women being forced to manipulate their bodies for the United States government teetered on repetitive as the characters maneuvered the same plot lines, and the themes bordered on stale. The final season just came to a close, and most people were happy with the sixth season and its finale. If you're already missing it and want other contemplative, post-apocalyptic shows, these are the shows like The Handmaid's Tale to watch next.

Read more
The first teaser for Apple’s new Matthew McConaughey movie is here
The movie suggests a mix of drama and action
Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus.

In between stints where he flirts with running for governor of Texas, Matthew McConaughey apparently found enough time to make a new Apple movie with American Ferrera. Now, we've got our first teaser for that movie, which is titled The Lost Bus. The film is centered on California's 2018 Camp Fire.

The film is based on Lizzie Johnson's fact-based novel Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, which chronicles the deadliest wildfire in the state's history. McConaughey plays a bus driver and Ferrera a teacher, and the two of them are focused on saving a bus full of children amidst the chaos of the fire.

Read more
8 shows like You that are just as addictive and twisted
You may be over, but there are plenty of other murder dramas right around the corner
Penn Badgley looking ominous as Joe Goldberg

After five seasons of twists, murders, and weird obsessions, Joe Goldberg's story on Netflix's You has come to a close. The crime drama has been a staple on the streamer with its mix of great characters and binge-worthy mystery that makes it feel like the best parts of a true crime documentary you'd watch on Oxygen on a rainy Saturday afternoon while you're sick. While it might not have been the best show on Netflix, You was a great way to get sucked into a different world with interesting storylines for several hours each season.

If you're already missing the soapy, addictive drama of You, we have plenty of similar shows for you to watch next. They range from Emmy-worthy Golden Age dramas to junk-food style crime mysteries that follow parallel themes and arcs to the Netflix hit. These are the shows like You to watch next.

Read more