In conversation with longtime NFW partner Bellroy

NFW founder and CEO Luke Haverhals recently sat down with Andy Fallshaw, the co-founder of Bellroy, an Australian-based brand and certified B-Corp focused on making long-lasting products that have a positive impact on the planet. Bellroy is a longtime NFW partner. In fact, Bellroy was the first to commercially sell MIRUM® as part of their plant-based pouches. 

Bellroy had been on the hunt for a truly sustainable leather-like material for years. They looked at hundreds, but everything on the market came with environmental impacts they couldn’t overlook. Then they found MIRUM.

“Because our goals are big picture, when we invest in the progress of a new material (or supplier), we want to make sure it will ultimately benefit the planet on a large scale. We partnered with Natural Fiber Welding because we believe they have the potential to achieve genuine circularity, as well as commercial viability,” Bellroy said.

Below is an excerpt from the interview between Andy and Luke: 

Andy: Bellroy and NFW started working together two years ago. Sustainability, working on a better Earth ecology and chemistry are all major motivators for both of us. How do you see the world and the challenges that you’ve set up Natural Fiber Welding to tackle?

Luke: The most succinct way to say it, is, everything – us as individuals, our clothes, our bags, the things we have around us – has ‘where it comes from’, and ‘where it’s going to’ stories. NFW is set up to think about how we solve problems holistically. So there aren’t never-ending cascades of interventions.

You [Bellroy] are making these products that are meant to last as long as possible. And that’s one of the key things. There’s so many people who make a thing that doesn’t last very long, is not well made or is made for a trend, and all of a sudden you have to replace it. But when you make high quality things, that do what they’re supposed to do, and last a long time, then you don’t have to part ways with it.

But everything has a lifetime. We think holistically about where materials come from, and in the form of products, where these materials are going to go, and how we can partner with people like you and the Bellroy team on making products that have an integrated, holistic answer.

To read (or watch!) the full conversation head over to Bellroy’s website. And stay tuned! Bellroy will be launching two new MIRUM products in the coming months.