Innovation

STATE Bags' innovation is to provide necessary supplies to underprivileged children and families across the country. The company produces high-end backpacks, totes, wristlets, suitcases, and many more products. With the purchase of every bag, STATE Bags is able to give a fully-stocked backpack of supplies to a child in need. Tatelman said, “By us doing what we're doing, we are kind of a model for other companies to show that you can use your profit, your platform, you know, just your entire existence to support people who need help.” STATE Bags’ innovation has allowed them to give back to hundreds of children around America.

While developing high-end products for customers, the company also takes on philanthropy projects to further help grow its business and give back to more children in need. The founders created a movement called #WhatDoWeTellTheKids that was used to inform children around the country about societal injustices that are occurring in the world today, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. STATE Bags used this movement to show kids across the United States that they can produce change within their communities. The company also created bag drop events where employees would go to disadvantaged schools and deliver bags filled with supplies to students.

Inspiration

The Tatelman's inspiration for their company was formed from the hardships they witnessed in their community. In 2009, the couple started a camp for children in some of New York's most underfunded neighborhoods. Scot Tatelman said during our interview, "We started seeing this recurring theme of kids coming to camps and school with trash bags or shopping bags and it was just really eye-opening, disappointing, and sad to us." This is when Scot and Jacq Tatelman decided it was time to make a change in these schools and those around the country by starting their for-profit organization that would use their funds to give back to those children in need. The couple hoped that providing children with the necessary tools would encourage them to believe in themselves, despite the poverty they faced in their everyday lives. This innovation was created to help underprivileged children find their purpose in the world and help them to know there are many possibilities for them in the world. Since the co-founders saw the hardship the children experienced, they formed this organization to keep more children on the right path and push them away from making the wrong decisions they may encounter in their communities. The Tatelmans wanted to give children the opportunity to have the necessary tools to believe in themselves, despite their upbringing.

Overall impact

In the beginning, for every bag sold, the company would give a bag filled with necessary materials to a child or family in need. Since the creation of the organization and due to their overwhelming success, the company has been able to give back to many more children and families. "We wanted to do something about what we were seeing in these communities, serve kids here in the United States not only as a for-profit but as a business that had a charitable model, " Tatelman said.

As their platform grew, the company worked harder to inform communities about social injustices. STATE Bags wanted to work to keep children informed of societal injustices they may have to overcome with their #WhatDoWeTellTheKidsMovement. It was designed to educate and shed light on issues around the country.

In addition to their bag drop events and movements, the company also was able to partner with celebrities, such as Beyonce and Barack Obama, to further give back to those children in need. STATE Bags was able to donate thousands of bags due to their overwhelming success. Rather than keeping their "one-to-one" model of giving a child a backpack with every bag sold on their website, the company is now able to give back to children in need in many of the different ways they may need help.

Business benefit

Tatelman said, "By us doing what we are doing, we are kind of a model for other companies to show that you can use your profit, your platform, and your entire existence to support people who need help." STATE Bags' goal is not only to successfully run their business but to also encourage other companies that they can give back to those in need while sustaining profits. The company wants to plant the footprints for other companies and become a model with what they can accomplish. STATE Bags has been extremely successful in positively impacting communities around the country. If more companies had the same mindset as STATE Bags, their mission of ending poverty could be more easily attained. Because their business has been successful, it has allowed the company to offer more products made of high-quality materials. Their success has also allowed them to give back to a large number of underprivileged families across the country.

Social and environmental benefit

This innovation benefits society by giving underprivileged children the ability to have the resources needed to make a change in the world. STATE Bags is helping children across the country find their potential and keep them from making the wrong decisions they may experience in their own communities. If it were not for STATE Bags, many of these children would not have the necessary school materials to get through their day. Through STATE Bags' innovation, the company is helping children across the United States to have a better future.

Interview

Scot Tatelman, Co-founder