March 2025 · Swiss Innovation Award
Boat2Bag — From Aare Boat to Aare Bag
Around three tonnes — that's the weight of the Aare boats discarded at the Bern Marzili landing stage in a single season. Elmo Francis and his startup Boat2Bag are giving these boats a new life, and people some fantastic backpacks, bags, and dry bags.
July 2025 · Bern Bear
Bern Bags with a River History
Yannick Käser (left) and Elmo Francis are the creative minds behind the "Boat2Bag" concept, transforming retired Aareboats into high-quality bags. - Neel Nowotny
Sept 2025 · The online magazine of the University of Bern
Sustainable Bern-based start-up
Upcycled fashion from discarded Aare boats
They want to tackle the ecologically problematic consequences of discarded rubber boats: Elmo Francis and Yannick Käser turn discarded rubber boats into stylish bags. In German, click here
Sept 2025 · University of Bern
Enlight Award
The Bern-based sustainability initiative Boat2Bag came third in the ENLIGHT Sustainability Award
Oct 2025 · students4sustainability
boat2bag Bern
The#boat2bagbern project aims to keep rivers clean, for instance by turning old and damaged inflatable boats that are abandoned along the Aare or at Marzilil and fill into bags and accessories.