For decades, the luxury industry has sold handbags on the strength of their leather. Brands wax poetic about full-grain calfskin, supple lambskin, and the family-owned tanneries that produce them. But would you spend $600 on a luxury bag made from a used truck tarp?
Freitag, the design-forward Swiss bag brand, is betting on it. The company is launching a new premium line called Reference that features four bags, ranging from delicate baguettes to roomy totes, priced from $460 to $660.
The collection taps into Freitag’s long history of making sustainable accessories from discarded materials and builds on it with more elegant, feminine designs.
The question is whether the customer who carries a rugged Freitag messenger bag on her morning commute will spend a lot more money on a product to wear on date night or to a job interview.
Freitag was founded in 1993, when brothers Markus and Daniel Freitag—both graphic designers—needed a waterproof messenger bag that could survive their rainy bike commutes in downtown Zurich.
One day, as they watched trucks drive by their apartment in inclement weather, they had the idea to repurpose old truck tarps as a material. For a strap, they used an old car seat belt, and they added bicycle inner tube to the edge. That original bag—the F13 Top Cat—quickly developed a cult following.
Three decades later, Freitag makes roughly 400,000 products a year. To acquire enough tarps, they have a team of “truck spotters” who go around Europe in search of tarps close to the end of their life. This material is then washed with rainwater from the factory roof and cut so each bag features a unique combination of letters and colors.
Freitag has experimented with a higher-end line before, dropping a limited-edition collection of dressier handbags 15 years ago. Customers have repeatedly asked for the company to bring it back.
“In the past few years, we started to hear more and more requests from customers to bring Reference back, alongside a broader desire for Freitag bags that are suitable from day to evening,” says Elisabeth Isenegger, Freitag’s longtime communications lead.
With this new line, Freitag’s designers went back to the drawing board. The products reflect how aesthetics have evolved, as well as how the company has improved its production processes.
Isenegger says it is meant to show “three decades of upcycling expertise meets the precision of traditional craftsmanship.”
The four bags range from a $460 minimalist crossbody to a $660 shoulder bag roomy enough for a 13-inch laptop. They come in a range of colors, including white, silver, red, and blue, with a limited-edition black.
They all share a design language: a trapezoid silhouette, structured side seams, and magnetic metal clasps. Product designer Anne Bachmann says she modeled the clasp on a hook she spotted on shelving in Freitag’s factory.
Despite their feminine aesthetic, the Reference bags—like all Freitag bags—are unisex. Isenegger says they’re meant to serve longtime Freitag fans as well as design lovers who prize quality.
They’re also meant to appeal to consumers who care about their environmental footprint. Each bag comes with a repair kit, also made of tarp, so it can be patched with the original material years later.
But many luxury customers expect uniformity, and used tarps are, by definition, all a little different.
“Working with a used and hence a nonstandardized material at this high level is a challenge,” Isenegger concedes.
Freitag’s answer is to hand-select tarps for shade and patina. But ultimately the belief is that customers appreciate products that are one of a kind. “To us, consistency isn’t about an identical look,” Isenegger says.
Given the pent-up demand for a more elegant Freitag bag, the Reference line will likely be a hit. And the launch suggests that brands are leaning on durability, repair, and traceability as selling points.
For their part, the Freitag team believes that a bag’s eco-friendly story can be worth as much as high-end leather.