Wanderer's Trunk
Category: Accessories
Competitions: International
My Wanderer's Truck is the classic travel bag reimagined through the lens of Indian truck art, an exuberant folk tradition in which every long lorry is hand-painted, repaired, and repainted countless times over decades. These moving canvases demonstrate circularity in practice: instead of scrapping dented panels, drivers patch and embellish them, extending their service life while adding fresh layers of narrative. Wanderer’s Trunk distils that ethos into a single accessory meant to accompany its owner on a lifetime of journeys, gathering patina effect on the leather, adding to its life, not the landfill, in the process. Formally, the bag borrows the truck’s confident geometry and chromatic bravado. “Horn OK Please” is something that we see painted behind every truck, arcs across the front flap in laser-cut appliqué. At the same time, twin namaste silhouettes flank the sides, honouring India’s tradition of warmly welcoming travellers. Utility fashion forecasts for Gen Z emphasise multi-function over overconsumption. Wanderer’s Trunk answers with multiple zipper pouches attached to its front, making a deep and fun style statement while also adding to sustainability as it eliminates the need to buy more pouches, more packets and more storage. Thus, it is financially sustainable as well. The leather used for the main body, pouches and appliqué design are cow leather collection features four vividly dyed full grain variants: the blue hide is chrome free, vegetable tanned at an LWG Gold rated tannery and vat dyed with plant derived indigo for a deep, light fast hue; the red hide shares that same chrome free veg tan provenance and is colored with madder root fixed by an alum mordant to yield a rich crimson; the yellow hide, also chrome free and LWG Gold rated, is dyed with weld flower and an alum mordant for bright sunflower yellow tones and fully biodegradable effluent; and the green hide, tanned under identical eco credentials, undergoes a two step plant process first using weld flower dye then a light indigo dip to achieve customizable olive to forest green shades, all with compostable tannery effluent. The lining of the tote bag and its pouches is GRS-certified Econyl® (regenerated from ocean fishing nets), and leather scraps are used to make its appliqué design on the pouches, allowing one adaptable bag to replace several single-use pouches. Lightweight cork sheets are used as structural panels, while seams rely on Tencel™ thread and natural-rubber cement for adhesion. Plant-based resin zips with recycled-metal pullers keep every component compostable or recyclable at end-of-life. Advanced making techniques—precision laser cutting, forward and reverse appliqué, and streamlined stitch construction, which minimise off-cuts and ensure repeatability for scalable production. Each decision, from regenerative raw materials to modular repairability, invites the owner to mend, modify, and keep the Trunk in motion, mirroring the endless journey of trucks that inspired it. In essence, Wanderer’s Trunk is more than a bag. It is a tactile diary of roads travelled, festivals attended, friendships forged, a sustainable companion whose aesthetic reminds us that responsibility and joy can share the same route.
