Freitag Case
Freitag — The Designer Bag With a Conscience
Credit-Suisse: 17.03.2008 It's been 14 years since the bag made from recycled truck tarpaulins and seat belts was invented by the Freitag brothers. A decade ago, their designs caused a furor in Zurich and now that interest has traveled as far as Tokyo. This is the story of a company that is holding on to its Swiss roots while growing globally, but at a sustainable pace.
Freitag: Two teenaged Japanese tourists sit in a Zurich restaurant over coffee, admiring each other's latest textile acquisitions: a Freitag F13 bag, a Freitag wallet, a Freitag iPod case. It's no surprise that tourists from around the world know about Freitag. In fact, its flagship store in Zurich figures prominently in lots of guidebooks. Not only the selection of unique bags lure customers in, but also the store itself, which is a 26-meter tower made of old shipping containers. But what is it really about Freitag that tempts tourists to add the Freitag store to their list of sights to visit, and then spend up to 200 Swiss francs on a bag made from old truck tarps? It's a product with distinct values.
Freitag Is a Strong Zurich Brand
It was 1993 when the brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag introduced their first Freitag bag with its distinctive, unisex design. The bag caught on fast with young people in Zurich, and soon became a must-have item, mainly because they were colorful, original and carried a message about environmental friendliness, as they were pieced together from bits of recycled truck tarps. That year, the brothers produced just 40 bags – by 1994, it was five times as many. The brothers' timing was just right: This was the period when people, students especially, were getting into heated arguments about the destruction of the forests, the importance of recycling and the detriments of environmental pollution. So the two designers were suddenly hailed as visionaries. Sales growth has continued uninterrupted since 1994, and it's still
Credit-Suisse: 17.03.2008 It's been 14 years since the bag made from recycled truck tarpaulins and seat belts was invented by the Freitag brothers. A decade ago, their designs caused a furor in Zurich and now that interest has traveled as far as Tokyo. This is the story of a company that is holding on to its Swiss roots while growing globally, but at a sustainable pace.
Freitag: Two teenaged Japanese tourists sit in a Zurich restaurant over coffee, admiring each other's latest textile acquisitions: a Freitag F13 bag, a Freitag wallet, a Freitag iPod case. It's no surprise that tourists from around the world know about Freitag. In fact, its flagship store in Zurich figures prominently in lots of guidebooks. Not only the selection of unique bags lure customers in, but also the store itself, which is a 26-meter tower made of old shipping containers. But what is it really about Freitag that tempts tourists to add the Freitag store to their list of sights to visit, and then spend up to 200 Swiss francs on a bag made from old truck tarps? It's a product with distinct values.
Freitag Is a Strong Zurich Brand
It was 1993 when the brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag introduced their first Freitag bag with its distinctive, unisex design. The bag caught on fast with young people in Zurich, and soon became a must-have item, mainly because they were colorful, original and carried a message about environmental friendliness, as they were pieced together from bits of recycled truck tarps. That year, the brothers produced just 40 bags – by 1994, it was five times as many. The brothers' timing was just right: This was the period when people, students especially, were getting into heated arguments about the destruction of the forests, the importance of recycling and the detriments of environmental pollution. So the two designers were suddenly hailed as visionaries. Sales growth has continued uninterrupted since 1994, and it's still