YOUNG businessman Mat Dusting’s latest creation for ski enthusiasts has literally come off the back of a lorry.
Mat, based at a dairy farm in Kingston St Mary, has turned discarded truck tarpaulins into retro-chic, ultra tough bags ideal as rucksacks and holdalls for carrying ski boots and skis.
Even the straps are made from recycled seat belts – and he’s showing off his products at this week’s National Ski and Snowboard Show at Earls Court on a stand he’s built himself from salvaged materials.
Referring to his ‘tarp’ bags, Mat, whose firm is called M-24, said: “It’s the perfect material – designed initially to be durable and weatherproof enough to withstand punishing long journeys on the side of a lorry. Once cleaned and transformed into my M-24 products, it not only looks stunning, but is extremely functional.”
Every bag is hand cut and stitched together by leather workers in Somerset and the venture has prevented tonnes of lorry tarpaulin ending up in landfill sites.
Winter sports fanatic Mat, a product design graduate from Aston University, hit on the idea because he felt the bags already on the market were not strong enough to cope with transporting snowboards, skis and ski boots.
He then secured a start-up grant from Taunton Deane Council and a low-cost loan from the Prince’s Trust.
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