Willow Earth (practical cotton canvas rucksacks)

Willow Earth (Sussex) is a company that makes beautiful rucksacks from strong cotton canvas, with natural cork logos. It uses offcuts to make pretty wallets and purses, so there’s no waste.

Whether you are hiking in the hills or back-packing around Europe, here are some of the best sustainable rucksacks on sale, a good investment to last years, when time comes to replace. These are better choices than nylon (a synthetic material made from virgin oil) or leather (often made in countries with poor animal welfare laws).

You can usually just wipe-clean rucksacks. Launder synthetic materials in a microfibre filter. Donate unwanted rucksacks to small charity shops (that don’t test on animals). For items that are worn out, ripped or stains, place in local textile banks (materials are shredded to make industrial goods).

Cork is a ‘vegan leather’ that is made by stripping the bark of trees in Spain and Portugal every nine years or so, but the trees are not cut down. Keeping the cork industry alive (in a world of plastic wine corks) is a good way to save these forests from being cut down for development, which in turn protects local wildlife that use the forests for food and shelter.

This brand also makes vegan leather backpacks, made from an eco-leather that is partly made from recycled pineapple waste, from the fruit industry.