Photo by David Tuffino
For busy women, it can be nearly impossible to find the perfect bag to take from an early morning yoga class, to work, to a night out with friends. Scarsdale native Hannah Fastov provides a solution with Go Dash Dot bags, totes, and backpacks. These sporty and functional bags are ideal for Westchester women on the go.
While working in the city, Fastov carried multiple bags to work to accommodate her full day of work and play. “I had moved into the city, into Manhattan, and was going to the gym, going to work, going out with friends, and I just couldn’t find a bag that fit my lifestyle,” she explains to WM. One day, the strap of one of her three bags got stuck in a subway turnstile, sending her salad flying all over the platform. She tells her website visitors, “The furry subway dwellers got a meal. I got an idea.”
Fastov wanted to create a bag “that everyone seems to want but can’t find.” She surveyed more than 100 women, and with the information she learned from her research, began designing the first Infinity bag. Her collection now includes backpacks, totes, weekender, and crossbody bags. These versatile carryalls might fit more than Mary Poppins’ magic carpet bag — offering pockets for sneakers and a yoga mat, a washable laundry pouch, a water bottle pocket, and even a section for a laptop.
Photo by Carly Tumen
Go Dash Dot is marketed to active women “who don’t want to feel bogged- or bagged down by their bag literally,” says Fastov. They are for “the woman who is a go-getter and is ready to go after what she wants and needs a place to put her stuff and wants to look cute,” she continues. Fastov says that the removable crossbody pouch inside the Go Dash Dot bags is excellent for Westchester women. “[The crossbody] is just the perfect running around bag, and it comes in the bigger bag. So you have your bigger bag in the car and the smaller bag to run around with,” says Fastov.
Through her company, Fastov hopes to empower women locally and internationally.
Photo courtesy of Go Dash Dot
Decorative tassels meant to adorn Go Dash Dot bags are created by women’s cooperatives in Kyrgyzstan, with a majority of the proceeds going right back to the women in Kyrgyzstan. A women’s cooperative in Bhutan provides Go Dash Dot with additional bag straps to sell, transformed from the belt of their local wrap dress. Fastov explains her motivation behind linking her functional bags to helping those in need, “I wanted to offer this opportunity to other people who don’t necessarily have the same opportunities as I do, so I wanted to work with different women cooperatives in different countries to help give them work opportunities and opportunities to feel confident.”
After working with the international cooperatives, Fastov realized that there were many people in the U.S. who needed help too. Locally, Go Dash Dot donates some proceeds from the acessories to the White Plains location of My Sisters’ Place, an organzation that strives to end domestic violence and human trafficking. “Being that I’m from Westchester and I know and have worked with My Sisters’ Place, [it] just felt really close to home and I think with everything going on with the #MeToo movement, helping women feel comfortable and powerful to step forward is really relevant.”
You can shop Go Dash Dot online at www.godashdot.com and locally at LV2BFIT in Rye Brook, LifeTime Athletic in Harrison, Great Stuff in Rye, Scarsdale, and Chappaqua.
