Bombastic Plastix™ FAQ

What makes the bags,etc…SO sturdy. Is the plastic glued to something else?
We make design Fabric and Structure fabric by a fusion process. The Structure fabric is used inside for strength and form similar to interlining in a regular textile construction. The Design fabric also formed by fusion, “skins” the structure. Our Structure fabric uses a lot of bags unsuitable for design and also a lot of our scrap plastic from the design process. We have very little waste from our operation. We laminate these two types of fabric with adhesive, producing a very strong product.

Do you run a Sweat Shop?
Only when it’s hot. Everybody works side by side at the Bombastic Design workshop. If it’s hot and sweaty we all sweat together. Our tailoring is mostly contract work and is done in small workshops. It’s a pretty laid back atmosphere in the tailor world lots of nap time lots of days off. We pay by the piece and we pay pretty good. We have some suppliers that charge and get stuff done really fast and others that work slower. This is Indonesia and average salaries run about 12% of what they run in the USA. The workplace is only a fraction as efficient. In our Design Workshop we are trying to raise the efficiency by mechanization of some of the more boring repetitive tasks but it’s an uphill battle. Equipment is very expensive to import and many Indonesians view more efficient equipment as a threat to their jobs not as a stepping stone to greater productivity and increased wages. We try our best. Our staff salaries are at the top of the range. We buy our staff their lunch and provide snacks and beverages during the day. We respect our staffs  multi-cultural heritage and allow paid time off for the observance of religious holidays and the like. We provide anti-fatigue mats for standing,sized to fit stools for sitting, fans for floor work,AC for office work, we make sure our staff wear protective gloves when dealing the fresh trash and in general provide a clean, organized, well lit pleasant place to work with all the tools needed to do the job available and in good repair. If our staff needs anything to make their job safer, more comfortable or more productive we encourage them to tell us so we can figure out how to improve our operation. Here is what we think. Unhappy,stressed, uncomfortable people don’t work as well or make as good a product as happy,clear headed folks in a uplifting environment. We make more money, have more fun and feel better about ourselves if we provide one. Simple as that.

Does somebody send you guys plastic bags from America and you make them?
All of our bags are collected on the island of Bali. One of the things Bombastic prides itself in is the fact that we “Supercycle” close to the source. Because we make our fabrics close to the point of collection it uses less energy and employs more local people. As we get bigger we have a plan to set up shop in America. We would like to make technical sports gear and also set up an operation to make Geo-Textiles for farms to provide an affordable reusable material as a weed suppressant and for evaporation control. We even have a design to incorporate drip irrigation into the fabric itself. Setting up shop in America requires some major bank so we have to sell a bunch of wallets first!
Can people send you unique designs,colors… ?
Heck yes! We charge a design fee depending on the intricacy of the design. Usually less than $20 bucks but we love doing custom designs for folks.
HOW many pounds can a Souljah bag hold?
How much wood could a woodchuck… Are you talking pounds of nails or pounds of marshmallows? You could probably fill our Souljah Bag up with cement and it would do just fine. We didn’t name it the SOULJAH! fo nothin’.
How many bags does a wallet-bag reuse.Roughly.
20 medium size plastic shopping bags.
How many people work for Bombastic?
We have 7 in house staff at the moment and about 15 tailors on contract working from their homes. We are adding a second production line soon, so those numbers will increase to 10 in house and 25 contract tailors respectively.
Wow it’s really great you get for fabric for free that must be really profitable. Isn’t it?
Well we pay top dollar for our raw materials. We spend boatloads of money getting it clean. We have to employ staff, provide a workspace, electricity and buy machines to make the fabric. So our material is “free” like wood is “free” because trees grow for “free”. Now go down to the lumber yard and start asking them how easy it is running a business selling all this “free” product. You might be surprised by their answer.

What’ it like doing business in the world’s largest Muslim country? Isn’t it scary?
Well when they start up with the coffee and sweet snacks we definitely get a little nervous. Talking about this is a little tiresome actually. Indonesians have a group of certified nut cases lighting off bombs and grabbing headlines that in no way shape or form represent the 250 million other Indonesians that are some of the most pleasant , kind and peaceful people on Earth. Most of Indo is way safer than the west, even petty crime is very minor particularly for a place with so many poor folk. We actually do most of our business in Bali which is Hindu but we work with a lot of Javanese and folks from other islands who are Muslim. They get up in the morning,drink their coffee, read the paper, get their kids off to school and try to pay their bills just like us all. Indonesia is just recently a nation and even more recently a nation with free elections and they have made those transitions with very little violence which for a country so diverse is a miracle really. As for the guys with the bombs, if any of ‘em get in our way when we are are trying to get to our favorite left point break. They better bring it hard coz we’ll show what Bomb-bastic really ’bout.

You guys seem to have a lot of attitude and just say what ever you are thinking. Is that very professional? Shouldn’t you speak more “professionally”?
Like as in -”Optimizing critical control processes for maximum focus during throughput” zombie corporate robot-speak? or “WE would like to celebrate the Earthsphere WE are saving and nourishing. By creating OUR wonderful creations  WE gift to the Earthsphere from poor little homeless plastic bags from villages in really little poor places ” looney hippie speak? (we used to live in Northern California we know all about being a hippie*) We’re professional enough when it comes to supercycling trash into products. We talk to you like an adult that “gets” it. Being polite is one thing, being a mush mouth flake is another. You need a bunch of focus-grouped gibberish designed never ever to offend anyone, ever, you may seek your products somewhere else. If you want a company that is afraid of having an opinion or speaking it’s mind, please, we encourage you, go buy your stuff from somebody that talks to you like you’re a 5 year old. It’s a free world. Most places. But. If you’re ready to stand up,talk straight and get some stuff done,we don’t just sell to you. Bombastic stands beside you. We didn’t name our company Sit Down and Be Quiet Plastic now did we? Let’s all get real together. How ’bout it ? Let’s be BOMBASTIC!

*We have many hippie friends we love dearly and they study hard, use computers, educate their children, get their hands dirty, build stuff, grow stuff,fix stuff and almost never talk like that except when they’ve had too much Cabernet.