The Fabric of Change

Through the process of up-cycling water sachets and combining them with recycled glass and traditional Ghanaian batik fabrics, ABAN creates beautiful products while helping the environment

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Our Ethos

Through the process of up-cycling water sachets and combining them with recycled glass and traditional Ghanaian batik fabrics, ABAN creates beautiful products while helping the environment. The proceeds directly benefit women's empowerment programs in Ghana.

ABAN breaks the cycle of poverty among the unreached and underserved population of women and children in Ghana and empowers them to restore themselves, their communities and their environment.

1

Collecting & Sanitizing the Water Bags

ABAN has partnered with local organizations and schools in Accra to take on the daunting task of gathering the water sachets. We train students and educators to collect their personal water sachets as well as those of their family and community members.

Each of the water sachets are hand-washed, sanitized twice, and dried before becoming a part of a beautiful ABAN product. Professional tailors and seamstresses sew the bags together to create the lining in each ABAN product.

2

Traditional Ghanaian Fabrics

Batik is a traditional and brightly colored Ghanaian art form that decorates ABAN products. ABAN works closely with local artisans to develop unique designs created just for our customers. A batik artist takes white fabric and stamps it with wax. This fabric is then dipped in different color dyes and laid in the sun to dry. Once dried the fabric is boiled to remove the excess wax.

The Batik technique spans much of Africa and all the way into India. It is a traditional art form that in many places is now being replaced by commercial manufacturing. The use of Batik in ABAN products help to preserve this ancient technique and further roots the products, the solution, and ABAN as a whole in the Accra community.

3

Turning Glass into Beads

ABAN products don’t just up-cycle plastic bags: they also feature recycled glass. We gather used bottles and use to create jewelry & key chains.

The glass is crushed and poured into molds. The molds are then fired in kilns and the glass pieces are melted into various shapes and colors. Every ABAN product you buy comes with a keychain! So you're helping remove both wasted plastic and glass from the streets of Accra.