In 1992, James Cox, who’d been a design director at The North Face, struck out on his own to produce a line of planet and people friendly packs and
bags. James questioned the outdoor industry’s heavy reliance on petroleum-based nylons, polyesters and vinyls to make packs and luggage.
In contrast to such materials which deplete finite fossil fuel reserves and subsequently take 400-500 years to degrade into plastic dust, the idea with
Terrapax was to use renewable materials that could be later fully composted.
To this end their daypacks, briefcases, messenger bags, totes, etc were crafted with robust outers of Hungarian hemp, French linen (aka flax) webbing
and linings with vegetable and bark tanned leather reinforcing. Shoulder strap padding was wool felt. The closures, rather being plastic buckles, were brass
rings, through which slipped a toggle carved from elk stag horns (they naturally shed them each year). Stiffening frames were of timber salvaged from
the bench seats of a Californian University.
Materials Selection
Terrapax’s guidelines for their materials selection read:
“1. Does the material have any historical significance?
2. Is the origin of the material close to the earth (e.g., minimum processing?)
3. Can the material be returned to the earth (does it produce usable biomes) or continually reused without requiring re-manufacturing?
4. Does the processing of the material encourage a sustainable ecology and economy in the communities where it is developed? Is there educational
value in the material production?
5. Does the material meet or exceed performance standards for its application?
6. Is the material beautiful?”
(sounds kinda like Nau’s credo of beauty, performance, sustainability)
Industrial Ecology
Their line of luggage was impeccable constructed. And designed to last for many years of faithful service. Yet it’s demise was factored into its design also.
The plan was that when a bag truly did need retiring it could be placed into a compost bin, and six month later it would be soil. But you could send back
the hardware so Terrapax could clean it and reuse it on future product. (A process known in the trade as EPR - Extended Producer Responsibility, or more
simply ‘Take-back.’) Customers who returned the brass fittings and stag horns were then entitled to a 20% discount on a new Terrapax product.
But this was solely a marketing strategy it was a deep felt practical philosophy espoused by Terrapax. “... we talk a lot about industrial ecology. It isn't a
particularly beautiful term, but it has a poetry all its own. It means crafting industry to work like an ecological system - completely in balance, with no
waste and total accountability.”
Hence the fabric scraps from their bags production was send off to Green Field Paper Company, so they could use it to make sketch books, greeting
cards, and paper from the hemp fibre. Those brass fitting were solid brass, uncoated and non-electroplated, not brass dipped zinc. Their leather was bark
and vegetable tanned, instead of the usual chrome and heavy metals.
But they weren’t saying they’d found the holy grail. “Technically speaking nothing is sustainable. Entropy is at work in our environment and eventually
takes its toll on every system. Some systems however, require very little in the way of input to keep them producing...” Or put another way, “These
issues are complex, and we at TerraPax do not think that we have solved the world's problems by using hemp and linen. [...] There must be a balance
with respect to the demands on resources and the appropriate use of those resources.”
Their mission statement read in part: “design and build functional and durable packs and bags, using a minimum of 90% natural materials. Foster
compassion in business. ... establishing TerraPax as a trusted, service oriented company dedicated to sustainable economic enterprise.”
Before Their Time
At one point the Terrapax bags, made in California, were on sale at over 160 stores in the USA, and also available in four countries. But now Terrapax is
no longer in the US. After slogging it out for nearly a decade, James sold the business and ended up in real estate, of all places.
The product however seems to have carried on via Terrapax Japan, and be available through various stores within Japan. Although the bags are still listed
as being: Made in USA.
Were Terrapax around today with the current boom of interest in all things green it might have experienced some of the limelight afforded to the likes of
Keen and Timbuk2.
Profile originally written for TreeHugger.com