what: the Freitag bag, a Swiss-made carryall manufactured entirely from recycled materials. Invented by Swiss brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag, who wanted bags just like the ones used by New York bike couriers (bags that were practical, weatherproof, quick and easy to use), the Freitag bag is an urban tool, a saddlebag for the city, durable enough to be carried all over the world. Very attractive to a visually-trained eye, it’s a pleasant surprise in a world of standardised, mass-produced everyday objects.
who: Markus and Daniel Freitag — also known as the Freitag brothers — were heavily influenced by the motorway. Living in an apartment near a highway in Switzerland, they had easy access to watching the trucks rolling by, covered in thick tarpaulin. In 1993, the DoItYourself duo began to create one-of-a-kind bags made of recycled waterproof tarps, bicycle inner tubes and seatbelts. Before long they were trucking; the company outgrew the brothers’ apartment and moved to its own space in Zurich. Freitag opened flagship stores in Davos, Switzerland, and in Hamburg, Germany. Perhaps more importantly, it established an international presence online. The website allows online hipsters around the world to shop, create custom bags, learn more about the company, play branded games, and even apply for jobs.
sustainability features: the Freitag bag is tailor-made on a small-scale, of recycled materials. Made entirely by hand, the unpretentious Freitag bag has distanced itself from trendy, brand-driven products as a durable and radical ‘anti-brand’ alternative for youthful urbanites who have made it their choice for toting personal necessities. In addition to covering the history of the bag and its particular ecological, economic, and socio-cultural contexts, Freitag.com contains portraits of 3,000 Freitag bags and their owners, most of whom are members of a generation that is as vain as it is critical of consumerism -a generation for whom the Freitag bag is the ideal brand-name product.
who: Markus and Daniel Freitag — also known as the Freitag brothers — were heavily influenced by the motorway. Living in an apartment near a highway in Switzerland, they had easy access to watching the trucks rolling by, covered in thick tarpaulin. In 1993, the DoItYourself duo began to create one-of-a-kind bags made of recycled waterproof tarps, bicycle inner tubes and seatbelts. Before long they were trucking; the company outgrew the brothers’ apartment and moved to its own space in Zurich. Freitag opened flagship stores in Davos, Switzerland, and in Hamburg, Germany. Perhaps more importantly, it established an international presence online. The website allows online hipsters around the world to shop, create custom bags, learn more about the company, play branded games, and even apply for jobs.sustainability features: the Freitag bag is tailor-made on a small-scale, of recycled materials. Made entirely by hand, the unpretentious Freitag bag has distanced itself from trendy, brand-driven products as a durable and radical ‘anti-brand’ alternative for youthful urbanites who have made it their choice for toting personal necessities. In addition to covering the history of the bag and its particular ecological, economic, and socio-cultural contexts, Freitag.com contains portraits of 3,000 Freitag bags and their owners, most of whom are members of a generation that is as vain as it is critical of consumerism -a generation for whom the Freitag bag is the ideal brand-name product.
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