The Oise Backpack in Black

Olive & Rufus creates thoughtfully designed bags for everyday life, transforming plastic at risk of reaching our oceans into durable companions made to go the distance.

The brand began with a simple belief: a responsible bag should not have to compromise on practicality, quality or style. Olive & Rufus set out to create backpacks that work effortlessly for real life, from daily commutes and busy routines to weekends away, while making more considered choices about both materials and production.

At the heart of every bag is certified Ocean Bound Plastic. Each design contains at least 85 percent recycled plastic collected from areas within 50 kilometres of a coastline, where discarded plastic is at risk of entering the ocean. Instead, this waste is recovered and transformed into durable, high quality fabric, giving an existing material a new purpose before it can become part of the problem.

Longevity is just as important. Olive & Rufus believes one of the most meaningful ways to reduce impact is simply to create things that do not need replacing often. Padded laptop compartments, carefully positioned pockets and comfortable construction are considered alongside timeless design, creating bags intended to be relied upon day after day. Even the earliest prototypes were put through their paces at home by the founders’ young children, helping refine designs around the realities of everyday use.

Responsibility also extends to the people making each piece. Olive & Rufus works with manufacturing partners certified by the World Fair Trade Organisation, supporting a model built around fair pay, safe working conditions, transparency and respect throughout production. For the brand, choosing a better material is only part of the story. How a product is made, and the people behind it, matter just as much.

The result is a refreshingly straightforward approach to sustainability: rescue useful material from becoming pollution, work with people fairly and turn it into something genuinely worth keeping.