Daniel Chong: the colorful backpacks that are made in Lavapiés and exported around the world

It is not common to see accessories from a national designer on the street, in any neighborhood and at any time. In fact, it is almost unthinkable. But those colorful fabric backpacks with a cross as a logo are from Daniel Chong. He is Ecuadorian, but since he finished his degree in Argentina he lives in Spain and supplies no less than 200 points of sale around the world from his workshop in Lavapiés, where twelve people work. His is a kind of miracle because, furthermore, as he himself points out, “if I had started the brand with an economic injection I would not have been able to make the product I make.” The story, obviously, is much longer, but I can summarize it like this: Chong’s mother emigrated to Pamplona and began running a repair shop; He, who during his Communications degree in Argentina made bags with scraps and an “almost toy” sewing machine to earn something for his expenses, came to live with his mother when he graduated, and things got worse. “I used my mother’s machines and her scraps and I went through the stores in Pamplona placing the backpacks, they started to run out and I saw a vein.” He moved to Madrid, he brought his mother, things went even further and what were scraps ended up being meters and meters of fabric from various suppliers. «Before, the backpacks were unique, and they were more expensive. Now I can make dozens of the same model,» he explains. Then he found a factory in Elche, «Maricruz and Ramón were going to close because they have already taken everything to China. I was with them training them to make the bags. There were three or four of them and now there are 16.» Continue reading