A university graduate’s project has made a bid to turn millions of wasted courier uniforms into sustainable and fashionable bags.

Angus Clifford, who graduated from the University of Brighton this summer with a degree in Product Design, teamed up with Tom Meades, co-founder and chief designer at gomi, to bring his final year project to life.

Every year millions of courier uniforms for companies including Deliveroo, Just East, Uber Eats are handed out, most of which ultimately end up in landfill.

Angus’s project focused on finding a sustainable response to this waste challenge.

The bags are handmade at Plus X Innovation in Brighton (Image: University of Brighton)

His collection of bags made from waste uniforms caught the eye of Tom Meades, who is another graduate from the university,  with a degree in 3D design and craft.

Tom approached Angus with the offer to collaborate with gomi on a range of wearable bags to hold the gomi power banks as well as other every day tech.

In 2018, Tom was a finalist in a University of Brighton 'bright ideas' contest and visited 10 Downing Street to discuss student entrepreneurship.

The Brighton-based company gained global recognition in 2023, after showing at Paris Fashion Week and now being stocked by several stores across the world including Design Museum and Goodhood in the UK, and Museum of the Future in Dubai.

Tom’s gomi is well-known for its sustainability-led consumer electronics products such as the gomi speaker and the gomi power bank, both of which are powered by repurposed e-bike batteries.

Angus' collection of bags are made from waste uniforms (Image: University of Brighton)

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The bags are handmade at Plus X Innovation in Brighton, after Angus was granted a residency to work on this limited collection following his graduation this summer.

Angus Clifford said: “My experience studying Product Design at Brighton shaped my social and environmental conscience, a key value that drives my design work. As a result, I have specialised in exploring a circular approach to breathing new life into waste textiles. I believe it’s important to create beautiful things that engage people, using design as a tool to tell the story behind the fabrics and raise awareness of their impact on both people and the planet.

“I’m not going to be the one to solve how we’re going to recycle these 33 million uniforms, but I wanted to use the project to raise awareness while I work on my own brand and seek further collaborations to make more bags from waste textiles.”