In the third part of today's collaboration between Virtual Design Festival and Forward Festival, Freitag creative director Pascal Dulex explains how the Swiss accessories brand evolved from making bags out of truck tarpaulins to creating compostable clothes.

Freitag was founded by the Freitag brothers, Markus and Daniel, in 1993.

"If you look at Freitag, the defining thing is two designers owning a company, and not some management or investment crew owning a company and hiring designers – it's exactly the opposite way," Dulex said.

Recyclable buildings and compostable fabric

Its first product was a messenger bag and made from used truck tarpaulins, car seat belts and discarded bicycle inner tubes. The company's motto is RIP, which stands for "Recycle Individual Products."

"We take something that's out there on the streets, could be tarps, and turn them into bags, giving them a new life," Dulex said.

The company's use of recycled materials extends to its store in Zurich, which is currently the world's tallest building made out of shipping containers.

Freitag's research into materials has also led it to take part in projects like Rossana Orlandi's initiative to create "guiltless plastic" and to create its own compostable fabric, which is called F-ABRIC, using flax, hemp and modal.

"We ended up creating clothes that are completely biodegradable," Dulex said. "Once you want to get rid of them, you just compost them – you bury them and there's hopefully growing something new."

About Forward Festival

Based in Vienna and founded in 2014, Forward Festival runs conferences for creatives in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. The conference, the centrepiece of the festival, is accompanied by various side events, such as workshops, live art sessions and networking events.

Past speakers at the festival include Oliviero Toscani, Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, Kate Moross, Erik Spiekermann, David Carson and MoMA New York. The next edition of the festival will take place on 8-9 October 2020.

About Virtual Design Festival

Virtual Design Festival, the world's first digital design festival, runs from 15 April to 30 June 2020. It is a platform that will bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

VDF will host a rolling programme of online talks, lectures, movies, product launches and more, complementing and supporting fairs and festivals around the world that have had to be postponed or cancelled and it will provide a platform for design businesses, so they can, in turn, support their supply chains.