Our story · The Fresh Green Bag
From the Sydney Olympics to your everyday shopping bag
A lifetime in design. A business built on a simple idea. More than two decades of reusable bags.
Hi, I’m Wendy Paulucci, founder of The Fresh Green Bag. My career has taken me from Australian fashion studios to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and eventually to a very different sort of design challenge: creating reusable bags people enjoy carrying.
How it all began ↗
Where it started
Design came first.
Before starting my own business, I worked in the Australian fashion industry, including with Davenport and later Bonds. Those years taught me to appreciate the relationship between materials, comfort, appearance and everyday practicality.
Good design is not only about how something looks. It is about how it feels to use, how it performs and whether people want to keep using it. That idea has stayed with me throughout my career.
A defining chapter · Sydney 2000
Designing for the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games.
One of the highlights of my career came while I was an in-house designer at Bonds. For three years, I worked with the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games on uniforms for Games Force, the workforce supporting the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The uniforms needed to be comfortable, practical, recognisable and suitable for people working in many different roles. The final design, known as The Sydney Story, used the Games’ colourful Fluid Energy graphics and colour-coded details to distinguish different teams.
Bonds produced more than one million clothing items for a Games Force workforce of approximately 80,000 people, including volunteers, contracted and paid staff. Seeing that project become part of such an important moment in Australian history was extraordinary.
Original designs from the project are preserved in the Powerhouse Museum’s Sydney 2000 collection. I’m proud to have played a part.
From a local idea to a business
From 80,000 people to 100 calico bags.
The beginning of The Fresh Green Bag was much smaller than the Olympics. In 2001, a conversation with Michael, the owner of my local greengrocer, helped set me on a new path.
Michael was concerned about the disposable plastic bags leaving his shop each day. He wanted to give his customers a reusable alternative—something they could take home, bring back and carry again.
With my textile background, I knew where to start. The first order was just 100 printed calico shopping bags. They carried his shop’s name and gave customers something useful to take home.
That small idea grew. By 2003, The Fresh Green Bag had been established as a business, with custom printed reusable bags at its heart.
Growing with our customers
From calico to a whole range of reusable bags.
The earliest work focused on printed calico bags for businesses. As customers needed different styles and uses, the range grew to include cotton, canvas, jute, hessian and foldable bags.
Each material brings something different. What matters most is choosing a bag that suits its purpose and that people will want to use again.
Still personal, still practical
Helping businesses create something of their own.
Custom printing and wholesale orders have been part of our story since those first calico bags. Today, we work with retailers, schools, councils, events, galleries and other organisations who need bags for their customers, visitors and communities.
Some customers want a single ready-made bag. Others need a larger quantity with a logo, a specific size or a project brief. I enjoy helping people work through the materials, proportions, artwork and practical details that make a bag right for its purpose.
A second life for existing materials
Giving retired street banners another purpose.
One of the more rewarding developments has been our work with upcycled street banners. After festivals, exhibitions and events, colourful street flags and banners are often no longer needed for their original purpose.
We work with organisations to turn suitable retired banner material into reusable bags. Because every banner has different colours and artwork, each finished piece carries part of its previous story.
It brings together the things I have always loved about design: understanding materials, finding a practical solution and creating something people can enjoy using.
Explore our upcycled street banner program ↗An Australian-owned business
Designed with purpose. Made to be used.
More than two decades after those first 100 calico bags, The Fresh Green Bag remains a small Australian-owned business based in Sydney. We hold stock of our standard bag range locally and work with customers throughout Australia.
My career has taken me from clothing and textile design to the Sydney Olympics and into a business of my own. The scale has changed, but my appreciation for useful products, considered design and personal service has not.
Thank you for taking the time to learn a little about my story, and for supporting The Fresh Green Bag.
Cheers,
Wendy Paulucci
Founder, The Fresh Green Bag