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"Trash" bags

Business

30/04/2009"Trash" bags

The Freitag brothers produce designer bags made from recycled truck canvas, and the product is taking off worldwide.

Sorting waste: it's always worth the effort

TRANSCRIPT:

We're used to trucks collecting our recycling. But what about recycling our trucks?

At the Freitag factory in the heart of Zurich they do exactly that -- turning them into 150,000 bags every year.

It all goes back to a homemade project started by two brothers, 14 years ago.

Markus Freitag, Co-Founder: "We started our business in the old way. We produced 10 bags, then we sold them to some friends. Then we produced another 20. So it was a very very slow growing, but very sustainable."

It wasn't something that had occurred to anyone before. But the tarpaulins from old trucks turned out to make practical, very durable bags.

It's a philosophy of "waste not, want not".

Markus Freitag: "We tell ourselves a little bit, 'children of the Compost Generation'. So our parents teached us how to throw away the green waste that something new can grow out of it. And I think that's part of the basic concept of Freitag."

One which employs more than 70 people here.

They start by working directly with the material. Laid out and washed, the tarpaulins are then hand-cut into a variety of designs -- for sport bags, travel luggage, or shoulder bags.

Anything not used is sold on to be recycled afresh.

The customers are mainly young urban Swiss -- but the Freitags are starting to think bigger.

Filippo Castagna, Commercial Director: "We're showing huge growth in countries bordering Switzerland, that is, Italy, Germany, and also France, which is buying more and more bags. But also Holland, Scandinavia -- markets further afield, where we're selling very well."

The Freitags say it was never about making a fortune, but about starting a new green idea.

It's worked, though: their bags start around EUR 50 -- and they're selling by the truckload.

Video and text credits: AFPTV / Expatica 2009

Photo of messenger bag: by Marco Raaphorst