Moab Bag Co

Moab Bag Co's raw material arrives in unusual ways. Riders drop used inner tubes at Moab Made, and Rebecca McAllister, who bought the company, told the Moab Times that people have tossed tubes over the fence at her house. Every tube that is free of liquid sealant then goes through a washing machine twice, with Dawn dish soap, before anyone sews it.

The company started in 2013 in Brandy Bowmaster's home. She had been itching for a creative project in 2012, she told the paper, when she saw a friend's wallet made from a bike tube. "I realized it might be a perfect fit…bike tube bags made for a bike," she wrote. She spent about a month playing with the material before she made something usable.

Bowmaster later sold the business when she decided to move to Alaska. McAllister, who already ran another small business, said the bags were so nifty she could not get the idea out of her mind. Two signs pushed her. A small yellow house downtown went up for rent, and a Leadville-based recreation equipment company closed its Moab operations. "Suddenly, there were sewers with incredible talent without a job," she said.

The crew sorts the clean tubes by width and saves the thickest ones for the bigger bags. Sewing rubber is tricky, and the Times watched one sewer teach a new hire its quirks. Zippers come in 10 colors, and the factory printing on each tube stays on the finished bag. The about page says a few tubes arrive with a patch from a previous owner, and Justine Bowes, who runs logistics and production, said those bags sell the quickest. A flat tire, it turns out, adds resale value.

The bags are not fully waterproof. McAllister said most are fairly water resistant and easy to clean, and she has used them for makeup and on river trips. The line now runs from a 4 by 3 inch mini bag to a crossbody cut from tubes wide enough to bow out in the middle, plus straps that hold tools to a bike frame and a dog leash.

Tubes also come from bike shops around the country. The about page offers a free shipping label to anyone who collects used tubes and wants them turned into bags. Outside the website, the Times said in 2023 that the bags were stocked at Moab Made and at REI stores in Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

That year the paper counted four women in the yellow building. McAllister said she was in no hurry to grow and cared more about giving locals meaningful work. "We're not trying to make this a giant thing," she said, in a town where the raw material keeps coming over the fence.