Kintobe: Carry kindness

Kintobe is an urban Copenhagen brand on a mission: to make bags that get people out the door easily so they can meet new people. The idea behind the brand – to get people to carry kindness – was born when life took an unexpected turn for the two founders.
 
“Something changed when our little baby boy was born much too early. Looking at this fragile little human being who was hospitalised for the first seven weeks of his life, our busy career-driven lifestyle suddenly seemed foreign to us. We both knew that something had to change. Not just in our lives, but also on a wider scale,” says Anne Thorsø Sørensen, who founded Kintobe with her husband, Michael Bisgaard. The couple found that they wanted a different life, but they also wanted a different world – a kinder world revolving around human connection. Much to the surprise of family and friends, this realisation made them wave goodbye to the life that they knew – a life with good corporate jobs, pension schemes and nice holidays. Their safety net was gone, and Kintobe was turned into a reality – fuelled by all their savings and big ambitions to do good.

All Kintobe bags are waterproof and have movable straps so they can be worn in multiple ways.

 
Much more than a bag

With Kintobe, the couple not only wanted to offer urban consumers practical, comfortable and stylish bags that epitomise Scandinavian aesthetics and functionality. Sustainability also had to play a big part in the make-up of the bag. “By 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish. This is a serious problem that needs to be solved. We want to do our part by making all Kintobe bags out of 100 per cent recycled polyester. A single backpack is made using 21 plastic bottles that would otherwise have ended up in the ocean,” says co-founder Michael Bisgaard.

Interior zipper pockets, elastics and nets make the bags easy to organise.

 
But the Kintobe founders also had ambitions for the bags to do good in other ways, and have launched various initiatives as a result, including the SAY HI programme, which connects people in Aarhus and Copenhagen so that they can meet, get new perspectives and break down biases. “We realised that in order to make the world a better place for our little son and everyone else, we need to promote human connection and compassion – that’s where it all starts. And that’s why we wanted to create a brand that sheds light on the growing polarisation in the world, and maybe even does its humble part to change it.”

The founding couple behind Kintobe turned their own lives upside-down when they had the idea for the unisex bag brand designed to make life easier for the urban, style-conscious consumer.

Shop Kintobe bags and learn more about the SAY HI programme on:
www.kintobe.com
Instagram: @kintobe_official