Freitag is a Swiss bag brand that has gained popularity in the fashion industry over the last 3-4 years. When you walk down the streets in Seoul, you can often see people with Freitag bags. Why is Freitag popular? One of the leading upcycling brands, Freitag recycles seat belts from disused cars, rubber from bicycles, and tarpaulin from trucks to produce stylish, modern bags. How does Freitag make bags from recycled materials?

The founders of Freitag are Markus and Daniel Freitag. Markus was a student majoring in design at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. As it rains a lot in Zurich, he was always worried about his books and sketches getting wet even when they were in his bag. Consequently, he and his brother, Daniel, needed bags to protect their books from the rain. One day, Marcus looked out of his apartment window and saw the tarpaulin on trucks, giving him the idea that it would be suitable as a material for the bag they wanted. The brothers found it easy to get tarpaulin and additional materials such as the tires of used bicycles and seatbelts from disused cars at a nearby factory. Using these materials, the brothers began to make a bag they had been designing for a long time. This is how Freitag’s first bag, the Messenger, came to be.

How did Freitag grow into a global brand? There are three main reasons for their growth:

1. Product Scarcity and Durability

First, all Freitag products are handmade. The designers cut different used tarpaulins, with each product having a unique design due to the nature of using limited upcycling materials. Hence, all of Frietag’s products are highly valued. Also, they are durable, waterproof, and offer plenty of storage space.

2. Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable fashion is a type of slow fashion, which is the opposite of fast fashion. It is a fashion always thinking about the environment, people, and communities. With this in consideration, environmental-friendly approaches are applied to product design, manufacturing, and consumption. Freitag pursues this sustainable fashion, so the company makes a steady and persistent effort to reuse materials discarded in our daily lives. The headquarters was even built using renewable concrete, and the interior is environmentally friendly.

3. Non-Fancy Marketing

Freitag has implemented a green marketing strategy. Green marketing focuses on creating profits, ensuring competitiveness, and promoting the brand as environmentally friendly. Freitag always explains how its bags are produced by saving resources and what its beliefs about the environment are to consumers.

Freitag currently sells more than 300,000 products annually at more than 400 stores globally. Materials viewed as worthless and worn out are reborn as unique bags thanks to the Freitag brothers. There are four Freitag stores in Korea—three in Seoul and one in Jeju. If you want to share the second life of a piece of tarpaulin, which has covered a truck for five years or more, and are interested in eco-friendly products, why not visit Freitag today?