PUP x Amtrak: Get Ready for Some Train Puns
Sometimes, a great idea takes time to become a reality. Sometimes, you just say yes and figure out the rest. Sometimes it really works and turns out better than you ever imagined. That’s what I like to think happened when we said yes to Amtrak earlier this year.
This one is a long time coming. Years ago, a fan of PUP happened to be working with Amtrak and started mentioning our name and our work in reuse. In early 2017, we were sent a wool train seat cover to prototype into a bag. The conversation resurfaced this year and we made friends with Kara from Amtrak’s Office of Sustainability. She was asking how we could collaborate as they updated 100 train cars from the Acela Express. The Acela Express line featured leather seat covers. We’ve been wanting to work with leather for a while now and this seemed like a great opportunity to collaborate with a company that was just as dedicated to transit, sustainability and connectivity as PUP.
This is the start of something new, this is an opportunity for PUP’s greater work to reach a national audience. We have a chance to prove to the whole world that material reuse can be practical, well designed, socially responsible and beautiful.
We said yes, we took our first delivery of material, figured it out and here we are. It’s what we do - ta da - used into usable!
I’d like to say this was an easy process and as straightforward as I just made it sound, but, that’s just not the case. This was a tough one. We received the seats, and they were dirty. We had to clean these babies before we could start. We tried all kinds of things and finally settled on dry cleaning them with a company that uses an eco-friendly process.
Once they were cleaned, we unleashed our designers. They prototyped and prototyped and prototyped. I’ve been amazed by the creativity and ingenuity of our team. They took bits and pieces of leather and transformed them. The results are beautifully designed bags meant to take your next journey to a whole new level.
Over the next 10-12 months, we are on track to create approximately 2,500 bags that will roll out in small-batch releases of 150 as we repurpose the seat coverings. Products in our Amtrak Collection retail from $75 to $750 dollars. We expect to release more new designs during that time, as well, so stay tuned and we’ll let you know when the next train (or product) arrives at the station. Our hope is that you’re just as excited about this new product launch as we are! We look forward to seeing where this takes us!
PUP is creating a smarter, more sustainable and more resilient world by combining good design with existing resources. For us, it’s important to show the public that things can have a life beyond their original purpose. This project serves as an example for how that can be done in a sophisticated and innovative way.
Please join us for the journey.
Cheers, Andrea
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To shop the collection now, visit www.peopleup.org/collections/a
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About the Amtrak Acela
Amtrak’s Acela Express service is a high-speed, high-end train operating between Washington D.C. and Boston with stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City that is best known for transporting business commuters. After 10 years and thousands of miles, Amtrak is refreshing the interiors of its current Acela trainsets before the next-generation Acela fleet becomes active in 2021. The cushions have transported thousands of passengers over the years and each bag is a unique reflection of their journey.