About Sunanda
The idea of Hop took shape in my mind sometime in the post-pandemic world of 2021. In retrospect however I would say that I have always been heading to this moment in time where I am launching a product that is a reflection of my lifelong need to create, explore & travel.
The last few years have barely allowed us time to catch our breaths, The damage of time and tide has never felt harder than it did in these years of the pandemic. Each one of us has chosen to battle through this unprecedented crisis in our own way, For me personally, the years of the pandemic were ridden with anxiety until I channeled every feeling, every win, and every loss into creating HOP!
Professionally I have been working in the fields of Learning & development for as long as I can remember. While this was a career, there is another side of me that I’d like to think was trying to find its moment to shine. From studying Design, photography, sketching, writing, and so on, the side of me that is creative with a keen eye for design has manifested itself in many different ways.
The years of the pandemic were hard but I also think that the slowed pace of life allowed us all an opportunity to explore and reflect on aspects of ourselves that we may otherwise not be able to nurture. Hop was born of nurturing this aspect of myself and from the need to solve a very real and frustrating problem of not having the perfect luggage solution for transit and short work/travel trips.
Traveling and discovering new places is a huge part of me. In the last decade and a half alone I have lived in 4 different countries and explored at least 37 odd cities until finally finding my ground in CANADA. Travel is how I make sense of the lemons life hands me and how I put things in perspective. Through my travels, during transit, or on short trips, the lack of a complete luggage solution has always been something that bothered me. It also bothered me to have pieces of luggage just sitting in storage while you get on with everyday life.
I vividly remember how excited I was while planning my first short trip to Montreal as the world hobbled back to normalcy in 2021. I was on the phone with an entrepreneur friend (who has 15+ years of experience in making luggage) while packing for the trip and was utterly frustrated with having to carry 3 different pieces of luggage for such a short trip! Even as I urged her to come up with a solution “that actually works and isn’t a liability” she turned the tables on me and asked me to design something and so the seed for HOP was sowed!
I started with making a packing list, I then made a list of things I’d personally want in a bag that would go from every day to get away and created a mood board, I then made sketches of what I thought would make a great Transit bag. Shared the designs for feedback with my friend, other friends, and family, and finally conducted surveys to gather feedback from other folks who travel about what would truly work as a complete solution for them. Making decisions about utility, what hardware, setting up sourcing of materials, colors and the overall strategy was slowly building in my head.
I then went back to the design board, designing and re-designing until I came up with the final model. The final design and about a gazillion prototypes later here we are! Bringing this product to on Kickstarter and get the support we need to bring this labor of love to life!
Through this journey, I have had the privilege of finding guidance and support from various people who have been instrumental in bringing my vision to life. We have bought on mentors and team members from various fields such as production, operations, manufacturing, marketing, videography, and photography which has enriched our campaign and helped us create a product that we are truly proud of. My business partner Josh was a huge inspiration behind one of the key features that we added to this bag.
The HOP Bag as you see it today has taken tireless months of hard work and commitment from us. As a small start-up, we’ve had our share of setbacks, on the difficult days, it was the confidence in the product and the positive feedback we received for it that kept us going. Our journey of bringing a truly modular bag made with vegan leather, with 25+ plus features and which for real modifies as you need it to, not vice versa has been eventful, to say the least. We are so excited to be launching on Kickstarter on 28th September 2022, I eagerly hope to have you HOP on board this journey with us!
