The brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag behind the trendy messenger bags, Freitag, made of used truck and plane inner tubes, have come up with an apparel collection that uses their new fabric called F-abric which is completely biodegradable. The trend is on target with the growing appreciation and demand of young consumers for fashion that takes into consideration limited fossil fuels and the effects of global climate change.
The idea started about 5 years ago, according to Sportswear International, when the brothers were trying to create workwear for their employees, but couldn’t find something completely eco-friendly. The story ends with a funny video of their journey to create their own fabrics, and a small collection that will be released on Halloween of this year.
The other aspect of their goal was local sourcing: The wanted to travel no further than 2,500 km from their home-base of Zurich.
Their F-abric uses flax (linen) and hemp fibers from France, Holland and Belgium as well as modal fibers made from Austrian beech trees; yarn is spun in Slovenia, Italy and Tunisia; fabrics are woven in Italy and the final styles are sewn and washed in both Poland and Portugal. The pants, for example, will biodegrade in 3 months in a composite bin.
Their first collection includes men’s pants in 3 different colors, men’s and women’s Henley shirts, T-shirts, and a women’s bib dress. You can bet that this collection will also be a favorite for urban cyclists, which is another strong category for sportswear these days.
According to Markus Freitag, “We don’t see Freitag as a fashion brand and as with our bags, we will not introduce products in season cycles.” They say their distribution will grow at their own pace, organically.
