Alif Bags

Alif Bags is tucked away in the busy area of Masjid Bunder West, specifically Sakinaka 296 and then 10/11 on Nagdevi Street. If you’ve ever been to Nagdevi Street, you know it’s packed with shops selling all kinds of hardware and tools, so we fit right in with our bags. We spend our days surrounded by fabric, zippers, and heavy-duty thread. The sound of the sewing machines is the background noise of our lives. We make bags that are meant to be used, not just for show. Some are big for carrying tools, others are smaller. The space is quite tight, so we have to keep the materials organized or we’d lose our way. It’s dusty work, and the smell of new nylon and canvas is always there. We have a few workers who have been with us for a long time; they can sew a seam straight even if they were half-asleep. The street outside is always a mess of handcarts and people rushing around, which makes loading the finished bags into vans a bit of a challenge. We don't do much advertising; people just seem to hear about us from others in the trade. We just focus on making sure the stitches are strong. It’s a lot of sitting and focused work, but we take pride in finishing a batch and seeing them stacked up. We usually eat our lunch sitting on rolls of fabric while the fans hum overhead.