by: Mirjam Visser, 2011-01-10 11:42:22 UTC
Sustainability Aspects: Re-using materials as truck tarpaulins, seatbelts, airbags, bicycle inner tubes
The Story
Back in 1993, graphic designer brothers Markus and Daniel Freitag were on the lookout for a messenger bag. Zurich citizens worthy of the name travel by bicycle – ‘velo,’ they call it. When it rains, they get wet. The FREITAG brothers wanted a heavy-duty, functional and water-repellent bag to carry their designs. Inspired by the cheerfully coloured lorries rumbling along the cross-Zurich highway just in front of their flat, they cut a messenger bag out of an old truck tarpaulin. As the carry belt, they used second-hand car seat-belt webbing, while an old bicycle inner tube provided the edging.
They didn’t position themselves as eco-brand but started out, perhaps from a need of lack of money, using discarded materials. Now they are a company designing and producing bags from re-using materials and their existence is all about re-suing materials.
They employ 80 people, sold in over 300 locations worldwide, and brought 40 different models to the market. All their products are unique since the cut-outs of the tarpaulins are unique. Their production location? Still along the Zurich highway. So they can put Swiss quality in their products.
Their production process;
- Find fine used truck tarpaulins, for which they negotiate with haulage companies Europe-wide. Normally used tarpaulins are costly to dispose of but, for FREITAG, they are an important raw material. The more cheerful the colours, the better.
- The bulky truck tarps must be divided into wearable pieces.
- The pieces are washed in XXXL laundry machines
- Washed and combed (brushed flat), the tarpaulins are hand-cut around transparent templates using a cutter knife. The designers use transparent templates because they have to decide which cutting looks best on the future bag.
- The individual fronts, sides, backs and bottoms are arranged, sometimes rearranged and clipped together. They are now ready to become a bag.
- The joined pieces are sent out to sewing workshops selected by FREITAG in Switzerland, France, Portugal and Tunisia. These machinists specialize in seaming heavy-duty materials.
- Finally the made-up product returns to Zurich for checks, a photograph (because every one is different) and packing. Then out it goes into the wide world.
Product: Bags
Designer: Freitag
Manufacturer: Freitag
Category: Re-used materials
Websites: www.freitag.ch
Images
Cutting the tarp
The bag
Cutting the tarp
by Freitag
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