Ten years on and the mission is still the same: 'No child should ever have to carry their life in a bin bag'

I never set out to run a bag company. In fact, before Madlug, I’d spent most of my career working with young people, in youth work. But back in 2015, I found myself sitting in a foster care training session that changed everything. A social worker mentioned, almost in passing, that children in care often move their belongings in black bin bags.

That image stuck with me. A child moving from place to place, their few possessions shoved into a plastic bag. No dignity. No sense of value. No message that they matter. I remember thinking: “Someone needs to do something about that.” And then came the realisation: maybe that someone was me.

With no background in retail or fashion, I took a leap. With £480, I started Madlug – short for Make A Difference Luggage. The idea was simple: for every bag we sell, we give a pack-away travel bag to a child in care. A bag they can call their own.

We started with one product, a classic backpack, and a simple message: children in care matter. Since then, we’ve grown a full product range, built a loyal community of customers and supporters, and given away over 130,000 bags to children and young people in care across the UK and Ireland.

Every day is different. Some days I’m working on new product ideas or building partnerships with retailers and supporters. Other days I’m in a warehouse helping pack orders, or delivering talks about social enterprise. Like any founder, I wear a lot of hats. But the core of what we do never changes, spreading the message that children in care have huge value, huge worth and deserve to move with dignity.

Running a social enterprise has its highs and lows. There were moments I questioned whether it would work. But I believed – and still believe – in the mission. That belief kept me going.

Some of the proudest moments haven’t been about sales or even awards. We became a certified B Corp, we’ve been stocked in big-name retailers, and later this year I’ll receive an honorary doctorate from Ulster University. But the most meaningful moments are quieter: getting a message from a foster carer thanking us for a bag that helped a child feel seen. Meeting a young person who tells us, “This was the first thing that felt like mine.”

We’re a small but mighty team, with a warehouse and office in Lisburn. Our products are sold online, through stockists, and at events. We also enable supporters to sign up to a monthly gift-a-bag subscription; for £10 a month, they can provide 12 pack-away travel bags to children in care a year.

The subscription service not only helps supporters give regularly, it also helps us reach more children and ensure our impact is sustainable year-round.

Madlug just celebrated its 10th anniversary, 10 years since we sold our first bag. To mark the occasion we are asking everyone who can to consider joining our Gift-a-Bag Monthly Subscription – and as a thank-you, every new subscriber will receive a ‘Value. Worth. Dignity.’ tote bag.

With our current number of monthly gift-a-bag subscribers we are only supporting 5% of the total number of children moving into care each year. A child enters the care system roughly every 15 minutes, that’s almost 100 children a day. If we want to end the use of bin bags altogether, we need to do more. As we move into our next decade we want to gain 100 new subscribers.

Looking ahead, we want to grow – but grow with purpose. We’re exploring new products and ways to scale our impact without losing sight of the mission. Ultimately, Madlug exists to remind the world that every child in care has incredible worth – and deserves to be treated that way.

It’s been 10 years since I heard that sentence in the foster care training session. Ten years of believing in a better way. I started Madlug with £480 and a desire to make a difference for children in care.

I never imagined where it would take us – but I’m so glad I took this journey.

If you can help, sign up here: https://www.madlug.com/products/gift-a-bag