From cabin to carry-on: How aircraft interiors are being upcycled into swanky second-life travel gear
July 24, 2025
Aircraft seating manufacturer RECARO has partnered with BAG 2 LIFE, a retailer of travel accessories made from upcycled aircraft interiors, on a new collection of tech and travel accessories.
The companies aim to give a second life to materials pulled from aircraft cabins during retrofits and aircraft retirements, which would otherwise end up in landfill.
The upcycled product line includes bags for electronics and travel essentials, as well as a messenger backpack.
RECARO and B2L: giving old aircraft interiors new life
Many cabin interior components incorporate plastics, special treatments, and coatings to meet industry-specific flammability requirements. Therefore, textiles, leathers, and similar materials used to outfit cabins often cannot be recycled.
However, many of these materials are durable and available in sufficient quantities to be converted into new products.
Taking the seat material from old RECARO products, BAG 2 LIFE (B2L) has produced travel items including a headphone case, a laptop sleeve and a backpack.
B2L claims to have already saved 600,000 kg of CO2 through its B2L lifejacket collection, and expects to deliver more environmental benefits through its collaboration with RECARO.
The biggest challenge of upcycling aircraft interiors
While upcycling addresses the environmental concerns associated with the disposal of aircraft interior materials, the process involves complex logistics and management. It requires resources and specialised skills to make the end product desirable and valuable.
“Currently, we are facing the challenge that aircraft cabins are located all over the world,” Mark Hiller, CEO of RECARO, tells AGN. “This requires the establishment of an international redistribution network to enable as much efficient and economical recycling as possible. The ultimate goal is to find an internationally and economically viable way of recycling cabin interiors to conserve resources, further promote sustainability and boost the circular economy.”
Making products that people actually want to buy is crucial to the success of any upcycling project. With 15 years of upcycling aircraft components under their belt, the experts at B2L were the perfect partner for RECARO’s seat fabric recycling.
“B2L is setting creative standards with upcycling, showing that sustainability is exciting,” B2L Managing Director Kerstin Rank tells AGN. “The idea and design process is completely different to standard items.”
B2L started its journey when Kerstin had an idea to upcycle expired life jackets. Now, the company creates bags, chairs, wallets and even oven gloves out of waste from aircraft interiors.
Working with RECARO will give B2L access to even more materials for its creations. “The creativity and focus on sustainability within this collaboration have been very inspiring,” Rank adds.
Emirates upcycles aircraft interiors for charity
It’s not just seat makers that are creating beautiful products from what is otherwise waste. Since 2023, Emirates has been creating luxury travel products from old interiors as its massive retrofit project progresses.
The ‘Aircrafted by Emirates’ launch collection sold out in 2023. Based on its popularity, Emirates is now introducing a second, limited edition collection of handcrafted luggage and bags. All come from upcycled aircraft interiors.
There are 167 collectors’ items in the ‘Aircrafted by Emirates 2025’ Collection, available at the Emirates Official Store. The Emirates Airline Foundation will donate the majority of the proceeds to children in need, as it did with the previous collection, which raised $17,000.
The second collection of Aircrafted by Emirates offers three new trolley bag styles, which the airline says proved most popular in the first collection. You can also choose from two trendy backpack styles and two handbags, including one made from the soft sheepskin covering of the Emirates’ Captain seat.
The collection features materials gathered from Emirates A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft. So far, 63 retrofitted aircraft have generated more than 30,000 kg of materials for luggage and bags.
From the headrests of First and Business Class seats to the sofas in the onboard lounge, materials range from aluminium to pure leather. There are even bags with Emirates’ seatbelts as straps.
Before these unique pieces are sewn, all fabrics are freshly laundered in a facility. They are hand-deep cleaned, leather-conditioned and thoroughly disinfected. The airline supplies new linings and functional zippers to the bags.
Emirates tailors design and handcraft all Aircrafted bags at Emirates’ Engineering facility in Dubai. There are 14 ‘tailors’ working for Emirates. These Engineering Maintenance Assistants repair any damage that occurs inside the aircraft’s interior.
An entire team of tailors has been dedicated full-time to Aircrafted by Emirates and Aircrafted KIDS, which makes backpacks for needy schoolchildren upcycled from the fabric of the airline’s economy class seats.
