Edited on Sep 1st,2022 Reading time：around 5 mins
FREITAG Brand story:
I like Freitag’s most of all brand stories. And their ideas of turning the truck tarps into a bag are really impressive. Also, I’m inspired by their grit and perseverance to carry on the business for more than three decades. So today I am going to put Freitag’s story to be the first one on our substainable brand’s story collections.
The Freitag was founded 35 years ago by two brothers Markus and Daniel Freitag. In 1993 two brothers, also graphic designers were looking for a robust, functional, and water-repellent bag to hold their work. Inspired by the multicolored heavy traffic that trundled past their apartment every day on a major Zurich transit route, they developed a messenger bag from used truck tarps, discarded bicycle inner tubes, and car seat belts. This is how the first FREITAG bags – each recycled, each unique – took shape in their living room.
They received many instant feedbacks from their friends and community and very soon people start to say could you do one for us. And that’s how the start-ups began and now 120 people work for Freitag!
I cannot help thinking, how did they actually manage to do that? And what are the belief and values behind that? so I went into more detail and read almost all the interviews of them.
YOU MAY ALSO ASK: WHERE DOES FREITAG GET ALL ITS OLD TRUCK TARPS FROM?
“Even today, every single FREITAG bag is cut from a discarded truck tarp. But the old tarps we use for around 500,000 FREITAG products a year don’t just lie by the wayside. It requires a major logistical offensive by a team of five, who bring in 500 tonnes of used tarp material sourced from Sweden to Portugal to the factory every year. That’s why they are constantly on the phone or scouring truck stops all over Europe, trying to find the best tarps in the most sought-after colors from trucks, truckers, and haulage companies.” That sounds like very interesting work.
As the old trucks (Fretiag’s raw materials )might have been exposed to acid rain, unfiltered sunlight burning through the ozone hole, and all the greasy vapors emanating from the deep fryers at Europe’s truck stops. so the outlook/appearance of it seems “dirty” But as official Freitag clarifies: your FREITAG bag is cleaner than it looks: All truck tarps are thoroughly washed at our factory. We’ve developed our own procedures for gentle, deep-down removal of all the grime from the road to reveal the true beauty of our tarps. With gallons of rainwater collected for tarp washing on our factory roof, and as few chemicals as possible: our detergents are free of phosphorus compounds and solvents.
WHY DOES FREITAG USE OLD TRUCK TARPS AND OTHER RECYCLED MATERIALS?
“Because we think and act in cycles. Why use a new raw material when there are already more than enough materials in circulation that are no longer needed.”That was the basic idea back in the day when the two founders, Markus and Daniel, sewed together their first prototype in the living room of the flat they shared. Or when they piled up a bunch of rusty old cargo ship containers on top of one another to create a store. Or had an underground rainwater tank built for washing truck tarps. By using recycled materials, CO2 footprint can be kept relatively low.
What are the core reasons behind their success?
*Every Freitag product is unique
Everyone wants to buy special and unique bags. For every model, there are several acrylic templates. And designers lay these out on the tarps in such a way that as many bags as possible, each as beautiful as the next, can be cut from the raw material. That’s what makes every FREITAG bag unique. And even if it’s a mousy gray truck tarp, with no colorful letters, numbers, or logos at all: In its previous life on a truck, every FREITAG bag has been around the block more than a few times and has had some pretty interesting experiences. Its spots and scuffs are witnesses of its eventful past and make it what it is.
- Designers’s minded all the time.
Both founders are designers. Their education and mindsets are more about how to make the products nicely,functional, longlasting and focus to improve them from time to time instead of only making money at the first point. Focus on the products is extremely important.
- Always Re-invest in the products from what you earned. Many companies went bankrupt after their company takeoff because they no longer take the business seriously as they started. And they use the money on other stuff or other businesses and no longer focus on their main products.
- Respect customers’ feedbacks on the products & collect customer’s feedbacks and always respect them because we can always learn deeply customer’s needs and improve the products with their responses,comments.
By the way,in 2020, Freitag launched their first flapstore on China’s biggest e-commerce paltform “Taobao”. So today in China ,we can buy the Freitag easily on Taobao too!
