810-032-1

Condensed version

Designing a Brand from Nothing but Waste

Distributed by The Case Centre North America Rest of the world

www.thecasecentre.org
case centre All rights reserved
t +1 781 239 5884
f +1 781 239 5885
e info.usa@thecasecentre.org
t +44 (0)1234 750903
f +44 (0)1234 751125
e info@thecasecentre.org
 810-032-1

FHNW University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland

FREITAG – Designing a Brand from Nothing but Waste

This case was written by Professor Thomas Buergi and Marc-Elliott Spafford, FHNW
University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. It is intended to be used as
the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective
designing and handling of a brand strategy.

The case was made possible by the co-operation of Markus and Daniel Freitag,
founders of FREITAG in Zürich.

Copyright Thomas Buergi, FHNW University of Applied Sciences Northwestern

Switzerland

2
 810-032-1

1 Introduction
In an oversaturated world of people and things, durable attachments to objects have
become rare. But it is precisely long lasting – sometimes never ending – relationships
that users of the Swiss design FREITAG bags are willing to enter into. Interestingly
enough, this not only holds true for the passionate early stage of a relationship marked
by intense energy in which everything is thrilling and new, and could be described as the
honeymoon period.

What unites the brothers Grimm and the Freitag brothers is their talent with regard to
fairy tales. What differentiates them is the Freitag brothers' astounding ability to make a
fairy tale come true. Remember Grimms' Rumpelstiltskin who could spin straw into gold?
This is exactly what Markus and Daniel Freitag, graphic designers from Zürich, were
trying to apply as their core business principle in 1993, when they decided that turning
waste into bags would add a lot of value to bag owners' lives.

So good was their idea and the design of the bags offered by the names of TOP CAT,
DRAGNET, JOE or REX, that the bags not only sold worldwide in large numbers, but in
2003 even made it to the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where the
archetype TOP CAT is proudly displayed in the department of architecture and design.

3
 810-032-1

2 From the street to the street

Every FREITAG bag is composed of used materials only: old truck tarpaulins, used seat
belts for the straps and bicycle inner tubes to keep the edges from fraying, a specification
that places it at the more imposing end of the spectrum of sustainable design. Ultimately,
it is all about great design marked by dirty roads and exhaust fumes, telling stories about
travelling the world. These bags are to keep their promise of durability and quality. The
promise has its price for the company as well as for the consumer, though. Ranging from
200 to 400 Swiss francs, FREITAG bags are placed in a high price segment. But who
would call that luxury?

The FREITAG bag is a carry-all, inspired by the way New York bike couriers transport
stuff for their customers. Made entirely by hand, the bags have to be attractive to the
visually trained eye, and meet high expectations with regard to being waterproof,
practical, repairable and easy to use. Some bags are expandable. Every bag is unique
as it is cut from a distinctive part of used tarpaulin.

4
 810-032-1

FREITAG: where it all comes from1:

Some consumers cannot get enough of them. "I would like about a dozen of these bags",
states a member of the FREITAG consumer family. "All made from actual, used truck
tarps. […] This is creative, cool, and green. I love that the tarps are big commercial
graphics – lots of color fields and bold type. Right up my alley."2

3 The FREITAG company

One and a half decades after having gone in search of a durable bag to use themselves,
the founders proudly present a company that has not only gone international but has won
more than a dozen design awards.

By early 2010, the FREITAG company with headquarters in Zürich sold bags and
accessories, many of which are designed for Apple products, through two online shops
(in Zürich for Switzerland and in Hamburg for Europe), via five company-owned F shops
(flagship stores in Zürich, Davos, Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin) or from 350 designated
points of sales worldwide. FREITAG is home to a workforce of 88 employees (76 in
Zürich, 2 in Davos, 4 in Hamburg, 3 in Cologne and 3 in Berlin).

Zürich is also home to the first and only "FREITAG Individual Recycled Freeway Shop"
next to a transit bridge. It is made from 17 used freight containers, with a height of 26
meters that proudly displays its rusty surface. For the fearless, the top of the pile of

1
http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/freitag1-730379.gif, accessed 24 January 2010,
09:30 CET
2
http://moderncraft.blogspot.com/2008/09/freitag-bags.html, accessed 18 November 2009, 20:30 CET

5
 810-032-1

gutted, reinforced and secured containers serves as a well-fitted platform for a lorry-
watch. It provides the same view over the noisy fast-moving traffic that inspired the
Freitag brothers to design their bags.

There is a heavy smell of PVC in FREITAG's factory in Zürich. FREITAG produces over
200,000 products per annum re-using a former production site where gear wheels had
been manufactured. As the huge, soiled truck tarpaulins arrive they are spread out on
the ground and, based on their specific patterns which will transform them into
attractive bags, cut up into sections. Thus, the heavy tarp is easier to carry. The
sections are then washed in one of the giant industrial washing machines and then
groomed.

After the washing process, the sections are again hand-cut by designers who use
transparent stencils enabling them to envision what the bag will eventually look like.
The individual fronts, sides, backs and bottoms of a bag are then arranged,
sometimes rearranged, clipped together and sent to FREITAG sewing stations in
Switzerland, France, Portugal and Tunisia. As stitching is not one of FREITAG’s core
capabilities, it is the only production process that does not take place on its premises.
Since 1996, FREITAG has been working with a workshop staffed by disabled people.

All the bags and accessories undergo strict quality control in the FREITAG factory
and photographed from different angles one by one. The photos of the individual
bags, along with an illustration, are affixed to the packaging by the bag designer.
Only then is the bag ready to be sent out to Japan, the United States of America,
France, England or elsewhere3.

FREITAG also offers a website to create a customised bag. The customer can
choose from several truck tarpaulins on display, drag and drop the stencils on and
put the bag together. In case the bag still does not please its creator's gusto, the

3
FREITAG lab ag, 2008
6
 810-032-1

process can be repeated. Once the virtual bag looks alright it can be ordered and will
become reality.

More than 50 models are ready to be manufactured in large quantities. What unites
them is having been invented and designed by Markus and Daniel – they think out,
sketch out, develop and accompany every new FREITAG generation up to the
finished product. Their latest innovation encompasses a new line – a kind of more
mature FREITAG bag, less rebellious, maybe, but still incorporating all the values the
brothers and their products have always been loyal to. They are meant for the bag
owners who have slightly changed, grown up, while remaining the same.

4 The story
When Markus Freitag, born in 1970, and his brother Daniel, younger by only fifteen
months, designed a prototype of a bag for themselves, they would never have
guessed that FREITAG bags were to make the transition from niche product, advertised
by word of mouth, to cult object, and from cult object to classic within a decade.

Successful brands have created a kind of myth, they tell stories and so does FREITAG.
Markus and Daniel are students at the local "Schule für Gestaltung". Markus is
specialising in visual communication while Daniel is aspiring to become a graphic
designer. They are constantly on the lookout for new ideas.

In 1993, they share a small flat with a friend on the outskirts of Zürich, overlooking a
highway extension. What would have put other people off, the noise, the dirt, the
constant motion of the traffic, is viewed by them as a paradigm for being on the move, for
staying connected with the world. Over time, they even develop an enthusiasm for the
rhythm and flow created by the intersection of the busy roads, the trucks with large bright
surfaces carrying the logistics company logo and colourful letters floating past.

They imagine the bag they might want to take on their journeys abroad, eventually
concluding they need a kind of pragmatic bag that would at times extend to provide more
volume. They also decide that it should be robust, waterproof, easy to carry and it must,
of course, look good.

7
 810-032-1

One afternoon they watch truck after truck passing by. It is a rainy day, the water on the
road is swirled around by hundreds of truck tyres. But the transported goods are
protected from getting wet by tarpaulin. In Europe most trucks are the "curtain sider"4
type. The trailer frames are covered with large curtains, made of heavy duty PVC. This is
exactly what Markus and Daniel have been looking for: truck tarp. The material matches
the purposes they have ascribed to their bag. Moreover, they can prevent the PVC from
being destroyed after serving the street. The tarp can be taken back to the street. And so
they went in search of the first used truck tarp they could get hold of.

It was clear from the beginning that several issues were of essential importance to the
designers. They had agreed upon three core values: quality, functionality and
sustainability. The bag needed to be tough, useful and special. They would use other
recycled materials such as old car seatbelts for the straps, bicycle inner tubes for lining
the cut tarps, and pieces of airbags for labels. Velcro was chosen to keep their precious
belongings safe.

Their bag was based on the messenger model. It was designed as a single shoulder
strap bag and was of a size and shape that would allow for comfort when on the move. It
would also guarantee its bearer fast retrieval when needed.

The first bag was produced on their mother's sewing machine which had never been
designed to cope with such heavy materials. Jointly working on the project, the brothers
soon went for a second bag. As they started using and proudly displaying their new
objects of desire at school, their friends began to develop a keen interest. Some asked if
they could get one too. Taken by surprise, Markus and Daniel decided they had to react
and bought an old industrial sewing machine. A new business was up and running.

4
http://www.tesco.ca/curtain.htm, accessed 24 January 2010, 10:30 CET

8
 810-032-1

5 The strategy
The Freitag brothers have always tried to remain modest as individuals but to think
international while growing big. "In a way, we were rather naïve, when we started. But it
was the naïvety that proved to be our luck," says Markus, recalling the early days.
"Actually, we did not have a clue how to proceed in a professional way. Everything we
undertook, though, turned out to be just right. Our first step in public relations led us to
the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger in Zürich. We did not even care to have an
appointment. We went there, rang the door bell, put our FREITAG bag prototype on the
till and asked the receptionist to put it in the magazine, on the page reserved for products
in trend."5

When journalists asked where the bag could be bought, Markus and Daniel didn’t have a
good answer ready. Well, that would not be that much of a problem, they said. Anybody
interested should just ring the doorbell at Hochstrasse in Zürich, walk up to the fifth floor,
where they lived, and purchase the desired object from them directly. Eventually 300,000
readers of the magazine were provided with the opportunity to see this innovation first
hand.

Approaching the first vendor turned out to be a piece of cake too. Not knowing anything
about retail, Markus and Daniel asked the owner of a newly opened shop for snowboard
fashion articles if he was interested in selling their bag as an additional accessory. When
he agreed they wanted to know how much customers might be willing to pay for the bag.
They were pleased to hear that at 189 Swiss francs, the smaller one would remain a
potential bag user's object of desire. They offered to sell him the bags at 169 Swiss
francs, so he would earn 20 francs each time he sold one. His job, they assumed, was
fairly simple. What was putting a bag on a shelf and waiting for a passer-by to come in
and get it as opposed to having to buy used tarp, wash it, cut it, sew the parts together
and add the FREITAG tag.

5
Interview with FREITAG founders Markus and Daniel Freitag, conducted by Professor Thomas
Buergi on the production site in Zürich on 29 November 2009 (hereafter referred to as "Interview 29
November 2009")

9
 810-032-1

As they never wanted to borrow any money from the bank, they were trying to raise
money by selling bags. At one stage they even considered going out of business, as they
were not able to pay themselves decent wages. "We were struggling on 1,500 Swiss
francs each", says Markus while looking back at a time when their one and only
employee earned about three times as much. What held them back from unplugging their
sewing machine for good was a pile of tarp lying around – coupled with the fact that their
only employee, who was an immigrant, would have been out of work and would thus no
longer have been able to pay for his costly dental treatment. For corporate social
responsibility's sake they kept production going.

They point out that even though they had always dreamed of creating an international
company, they had their feet firmly on the ground. "We have always applied a step-by-
step approach," Markus states, "and after producing our first bags with the aid of
mother's old sewing machine, which eventually broke down, it was not without worries
that we spent 2,300 Swiss francs to buy a second-hand industrial machine that would do
the job more efficiently"6 – a heavy psychological challenge as they were not used to
spending any money they could not really afford.

To date, Markus and Daniel have not borrowed one single Swiss franc. Whatever
development, whatever move or change they make, it is always grounded in earnings
that come through producing and selling bags. It goes without saying that the Freitag
brothers have no intention of going public.

6 Designing a brand
When asked about the core value, the Freitag brothers put honesty at the centre of their
value system. As graphic designers, they developed a belief that proved to be
fundamental for their further developments: an honest product should be true; it should
never lie, regardless of other values it transported. Markus and Daniel also emphasize
their thinking in links of a chain. "If we derive from sustainability", says Markus, "we will
be talking about our capability to master our future. In order to do that, we should behave
in an intelligent way. There is no choice."7 They know that they are to be held
responsible for the implementation of intelligent behaviour on all levels and in all sectors

6
Interview 29 November 2009
7
Interview 29 November 2009

10
 810-032-1

of their company. Or, as Daniel puts it: "All our values, whatever we derive from them,
lead to responsibility, lead to acting in a responsible way." 8

FREITAG has linked itself to fashionable Apple products, manufacturing protective gear
for its precious technology. In recent years, FREITAG has gained a considerable
reputation with its iMac, iPod and iPhone cases. It has even started to sell its iPhone-
wrappings through Swisscom, one of Switzerland’s main telecommunications firms.

At one point, the founders’ creativity led them to explore other areas of sports besides
bicycling. The FREITAG Prolo sports line (prolo is short for proletarian)9 included a
football, a punching bag and a snowboard bag. Interestingly, it was the link to the
mountains and the upcoming fashionable downhill craze that would eventually lead
FREITAG all the way to New York, Tokyo and beyond.

It was always about creating excellent design. Good design is characterized by an

emphasis on pure form rather than decoration, a restrained palette and an appropriate
use of materials.10 Great products are not just objects, they are about ideas. There is
nothing so powerful than an idea which matches a community's main focus.

7 Challenging future
The new collection of FREITAG bags was launched in early 2010. In collaboration with a
local weekly publication called Das Magazin, a supplement to the main newspapers in
the north western part of Switzerland, the classy new model is presented with style. It
appears on a full page photograph where the owner, a relatively well known local
personality is portrayed along with her or his bag. Fancy and humorous, the ads carry a
completely different message to the urban ruggedness that originally made FREITAG a
success.

8
Interview 29 November 2009
9
FREITAG, Individual Recycled Freeway Bags, Lars Müller Publishers, Bern, 2001
10
Woodham, Jonathan M, A Dictionary of Modern Design, Oxford University Press, 2006, p 177

11
 810-032-1

Below, one of the ads from "the bag we always wanted" series featuring the columnist
Max Küng and his new FREITAG R099 WYSS.

Source: Das Magazin, N° 9 2010

The latest model is a limited edition. The bright colours and motifs are replaced by a
single sober tone. The youthful cycling community-inspired messenger model has
evolved into a sleek and refined version that resembles a smart leather duffle bag. As in
the beginning, the Freitag brothers have once again managed to design a product that is
first and foremost to their own liking. As they have matured, so too have their ideas.
What remains is the fact that they stay true to themselves.

In the middle of this radical new product launch, the Freitag brothers are in search of a
CEO to oversee the management of their firm. They wish to find a qualified person
whose experience will ensure a stable future. Someone with whom they will be able to
work in close co-operation and who will preserve the core values of FREITAG. The
Freitags have always tried to think modest and humble while growing big and they now
need to look forward and find an optimal solution for the years to come.

12
 810-032-1

Annual FREITAG bag production

1993...............................................40
1994.............................................200
1995.............................................400
1996.............................................600
1997...........................................2,000
1998...........................................6,000
1999........................................10,000
2000........................................25,000
2001........................................40,000
2002........................................60,000
2003........................................80,000
2004......................................100,000
2005......................................120,000
2006......................................140,000
2007......................................160,000
2008......................................200,000
2009......................................202,000

13