Fashionable innovation-web

Editor's Notes

1. Starting screen \n
2. Starting screen \n
3. Starting screen \n
4. We are presenting FREITAG\n
5. In 1993 two brothers from Zürich (Switzerland) developed a new product, successfully started a business and launched a cult brand out of a student project. Daniel and Markus Freitag created fashionable bags from truck tarp, bicycle tubes, seat belts and airbags in an attempt to solve a problem they themselves encountered every day. \n\n
6. As students in graphic design they needed a bag that could hold large sheets of paper (posters, graphic designs) and at the same time allow them to transport everything by bicycle or subway. The bags needed to be waterproof to withstand the Swiss climate, and strong and sturdy in order not to break while in traffic. The inspiration for the bags was drawn from the typical messenger bag used by urban bike couriers originally found during the fifties in New York. \nTheir educational background allowed them to see things differently than contemporary bag-producers and forced them to look for the right material in unexpected places. In an interview with Micheal Conrad (2011) they explain that they had no idea where to find such strong and waterproof materials and looked at what was available around them. They found trucks with tarpaulin protecting the goods they transported, seat belts and inner tubes from bicycles. Later on they added the material from used airbags. \n\n
7. As students in graphic design they needed a bag that could hold large sheets of paper (posters, graphic designs) and at the same time allow them to transport everything by bicycle or subway. The bags needed to be waterproof to withstand the Swiss climate, and strong and sturdy in order not to break while in traffic. The inspiration for the bags was drawn from the typical messenger bag used by urban bike couriers originally found during the fifties in New York. \nTheir educational background allowed them to see things differently than contemporary bag-producers and forced them to look for the right material in unexpected places. In an interview with Micheal Conrad (2011) they explain that they had no idea where to find such strong and waterproof materials and looked at what was available around them. They found trucks with tarpaulin protecting the goods they transported, seat belts and inner tubes from bicycles. Later on they added the material from used airbags. \n\n
8. As students in graphic design they needed a bag that could hold large sheets of paper (posters, graphic designs) and at the same time allow them to transport everything by bicycle or subway. The bags needed to be waterproof to withstand the Swiss climate, and strong and sturdy in order not to break while in traffic. The inspiration for the bags was drawn from the typical messenger bag used by urban bike couriers originally found during the fifties in New York. \nTheir educational background allowed them to see things differently than contemporary bag-producers and forced them to look for the right material in unexpected places. In an interview with Micheal Conrad (2011) they explain that they had no idea where to find such strong and waterproof materials and looked at what was available around them. They found trucks with tarpaulin protecting the goods they transported, seat belts and inner tubes from bicycles. Later on they added the material from used airbags. \n\n
9. They found trucks with tarpaulin protecting the goods they transported, seat belts and inner tubes from bicycles. Later on they added the material from used airbags. \n\n
10. The first messenger bag was created in their parents’ house. \n\n
11. They washed the tarp which smelled from the exhaust fumes, and used "Mom's" sewing machine to stitch up the pieces and create the first model of their Freeway-bag (Conrad, M., 2011). Each bag is unique because of the typographic pattern cut out of the tarpaulin. Even though the company expanded and today the Fundamentals line comprises over 40 models, each and every bag touts a unique pattern hand-cut from the same type of truck tarps the Freitag brothers seized in 1993.\n
12. Besides the original Freeway bag, the models on sale include iPad and laptop sleeves, backpacks, wallets, sports bags and a business bag aimed at finance professionals named after Alan Greenspan.\n\nNowadays the company produces around 57 different models (Freitag, D., 2012), \n
13. Nowadays the company produces around 57 different models (Freitag, D., 2012), processes 390 tons of truck tarp, 36000 bicycle tubes, 22000 seat belts and 1400 sq. recycled airbags. FREITAG employes 140 people around the world, most of them in the factory in Zürich. The nine stores are located in high profile cities such as New York, Tokyo, Davos and Vienna. The location of the stores is rather revealing and suggests a high-income customer segment.\n\n
14. \n
15. \n
16. \n
17. \n
18. When people think of the fashion industry and everything it entails, they normally don’t make the link with sustainability. Fashion is an industry where trends change every season which is contradictory to the concept of sustainability which implies a much longer perspective, perhaps reaching into infinity (Koefoed, 2008: 61). FREITAG proves that the fashion-industry and the concept of sustainability do not have to be on the far end of the scale but that they can be reconciled with one another. \n\n
19. We found several definitions for the concept of sustainable innovation given by many experts. Kemp (1991) stated that sustainability on the one hand covers a stance towards the possibilities of future generations with all the difficulties that this perspective implies, and that on the other hand sustainability is about the connection to the present with a particular sensitivity, acutely aware of resources and processes. This definition can be situated more within the ecological or environmental sustainability.\n\n
20. There is also the concept of sustainable business, which according to Lovins, Hawkins and Lovins (2008) should include the sustainable development and use, of, at least, the following four types of capital: financial, manufacturing, natural and human. \n\n
21. M. de Brito et al. has identified three main drives towards sustainability in fashion business: compliance with legislation, the attempt to obtain a competitive advantage and the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility in companies over the last decade (de Brito et al, 2008). \n\n
22. These definitions are reconciled by Michael E. Porter in his paper “Green and Competitive: Ending the Stalemate”. He shows that in some cases environmental regulations can be effective and force companies to use resources more effectively as well as gain competitive advantages such as reduced production costs and early-mover advantages. Companies should focus on the production process itself, instead of favoring end-of-pipe solutions like secondary waste treatment. \n\n
23. - Good design is invisible. Consider the products produced by FREITAG: a person that does not know that the brand is using old truck tarps, bicycle tubes or seat-belts will just see a bag that answers to the special needs of certain professions. \n- Good design solves a problem. What she means here is that the industry, instead of creating waste and polluting the environment, should look for a way to either evade those issues or put them to their use. FREITAG uses materials to create products that are otherwise difficult to recycle or use again.\n- Good design considers the life cycle of the product. A producer considers how long his product will last, whether it can be reused at the end of its lifecycle. \nFREITAG shows that it is possible to deliver a fashionable product while considering the full life-cycle of the production process and making that process as eco-friendly and efficient as possible. Even though the raw materials used in their final products cannot be seen as eco-friendly materials, they avoid to create more waste and give a second life to those materials. \n\n
24. - Good design is invisible. Consider the products produced by FREITAG: a person that does not know that the brand is using old truck tarps, bicycle tubes or seat-belts will just see a bag that answers to the special needs of certain professions. \n- Good design solves a problem. What she means here is that the industry, instead of creating waste and polluting the environment, should look for a way to either evade those issues or put them to their use. FREITAG uses materials to create products that are otherwise difficult to recycle or use again.\n- Good design considers the life cycle of the product. A producer considers how long his product will last, whether it can be reused at the end of its lifecycle. \nFREITAG shows that it is possible to deliver a fashionable product while considering the full life-cycle of the production process and making that process as eco-friendly and efficient as possible. Even though the raw materials used in their final products cannot be seen as eco-friendly materials, they avoid to create more waste and give a second life to those materials. \n\n
25. - Good design is invisible. Consider the products produced by FREITAG: a person that does not know that the brand is using old truck tarps, bicycle tubes or seat-belts will just see a bag that answers to the special needs of certain professions. \n- Good design solves a problem. What she means here is that the industry, instead of creating waste and polluting the environment, should look for a way to either evade those issues or put them to their use. FREITAG uses materials to create products that are otherwise difficult to recycle or use again.\n- Good design considers the life cycle of the product. A producer considers how long his product will last, whether it can be reused at the end of its lifecycle. \nFREITAG shows that it is possible to deliver a fashionable product while considering the full life-cycle of the production process and making that process as eco-friendly and efficient as possible. Even though the raw materials used in their final products cannot be seen as eco-friendly materials, they avoid to create more waste and give a second life to those materials. \n\n
26. FREITAGs business model revolves around a product and the message it communicates. The brand and the bag express several messages attracting similar customers: eco-friendly (production process / factory), typography as a unique element, strong and sturdy materials, the bags smell from the exhaust fumes, mid-range price level for fashion bags.\n\nEvery material used in the hand-made manufacturing had, in other words, a different purpose in the past but was recycled to be part of a completely new product. Although FREITAG has not revolutionized the idea of the messenger bag, and uses existing materials, it has brought materials from a whole different context into its production process. It both saves costs by recycling old tarpaulin and also helps the environment by reducing the amount of waste.\n\n
27. n the process of creating the products, it is interesting to note that FREITAG only creates hand-made products and does not rely on automated machinery to speed up the production. Every truck tarpaulin also has unique characteristics (colors, texture, logo, etc.) and therefore every messenger bag is one-of-a-kind piece. The idea of creating hand-made bags is certainly not new but doing it on a larger scale and selling the products over all the world, makes it a quite radical type of process innovation unseen in the industry.\n\nEach product has a unique typographic pattern and is hand made. This requires specific employees with specific skills in deciding which part of the tarpaulin to cut and which tarpaulin to buy. Finding transport companies who are willing to sell their tarpaulin and inevitably seeing their brand reused in a fashion item looks like one the main challenges they have, especially in a company that now produces over around 1150 bags per working day.\n\n
28. n the process of creating the products, it is interesting to note that FREITAG only creates hand-made products and does not rely on automated machinery to speed up the production. Every truck tarpaulin also has unique characteristics (colors, texture, logo, etc.) and therefore every messenger bag is one-of-a-kind piece. The idea of creating hand-made bags is certainly not new but doing it on a larger scale and selling the products over all the world, makes it a quite radical type of process innovation unseen in the industry.\n\nEach product has a unique typographic pattern and is hand made. This requires specific employees with specific skills in deciding which part of the tarpaulin to cut and which tarpaulin to buy. Finding transport companies who are willing to sell their tarpaulin and inevitably seeing their brand reused in a fashion item looks like one the main challenges they have, especially in a company that now produces over around 1150 bags per working day.\n\n
29. n the process of creating the products, it is interesting to note that FREITAG only creates hand-made products and does not rely on automated machinery to speed up the production. Every truck tarpaulin also has unique characteristics (colors, texture, logo, etc.) and therefore every messenger bag is one-of-a-kind piece. The idea of creating hand-made bags is certainly not new but doing it on a larger scale and selling the products over all the world, makes it a quite radical type of process innovation unseen in the industry.\n\nEach product has a unique typographic pattern and is hand made. This requires specific employees with specific skills in deciding which part of the tarpaulin to cut and which tarpaulin to buy. Finding transport companies who are willing to sell their tarpaulin and inevitably seeing their brand reused in a fashion item looks like one the main challenges they have, especially in a company that now produces over around 1150 bags per working day.\n\n
30. The customer segment is willing to pay more for a unique and eco-friendly bag. The bags smells from the exhaust fumes and thus cannot really be classified as a luxury fashion item such as a Louis Vuitton bag.\n
31. All these choices give the impression that FREITAG uses a different mental model than the average enterprise, because it is much more aware of the social and ecological responsibility a company has. The idea of making bags but also thinking in a green and clean way has penetrated all its organizational levels and shows the company uses its own paradigm. This can be observed in their choice of location for production: an old contaminated factory site that has been cleaned and renovated so it fits the purpose of creating sustainable products. It is also reflected in the eco-friendly way they promote their bags in clothing stores.\n\n
32. All these choices give the impression that FREITAG uses a different mental model than the average enterprise, because it is much more aware of the social and ecological responsibility a company has. The idea of making bags but also thinking in a green and clean way has penetrated all its organizational levels and shows the company uses its own paradigm. This can be observed in their choice of location for production: an old contaminated factory site that has been cleaned and renovated so it fits the purpose of creating sustainable products. It is also reflected in the eco-friendly way they promote their bags in clothing stores.\n\n
33. All these choices give the impression that FREITAG uses a different mental model than the average enterprise, because it is much more aware of the social and ecological responsibility a company has. The idea of making bags but also thinking in a green and clean way has penetrated all its organizational levels and shows the company uses its own paradigm. This can be observed in their choice of location for production: an old contaminated factory site that has been cleaned and renovated so it fits the purpose of creating sustainable products. It is also reflected in the eco-friendly way they promote their bags in clothing stores.\n\n
34. The Freitag brothers themselves were the lead users, or “users as innovators”, that looked for a radical solution to their specific problems. However, they also used an incremental approach by looking at others (on the market) and checking what was missing at the moment. Their quality function deployment showed that the main elements that make a good bag are strength, space and durableness. On the basis of their observations, they decided to make a bag that fits these elements. Subsequently, it proved also interesting to release their product to the wider consumer market.\n\n
35. FREITAG started in 1993 and and more than 10 years later sells over 300.000 fashion items worldwide. Mixing an eco-friendly production and, unique and custom made product designs allowed FREITAG to portray itself as an eco-conscious company. This concept, the product is the message, was rather new to the fashion industry and even though FREITAG is still a small company, several copy-cats tried to sell similar bags (“Tonnerstag” in Switzerland) but eventually failed due to the lack of credibility, something which FREITAG had built over the past 10 years. This company shows that being innovative in an environmentally friendly and thus sustainable way, provides a clear competitive advantage towards competitors who merely use end-of-pipe solutions and add-on marketing messages.\n\n
36. FREITAG started in 1993 and and more than 10 years later sells over 300.000 fashion items worldwide. Mixing an eco-friendly production and, unique and custom made product designs allowed FREITAG to portray itself as an eco-conscious company. This concept, the product is the message, was rather new to the fashion industry and even though FREITAG is still a small company, several copy-cats tried to sell similar bags (“Tonnerstag” in Switzerland) but eventually failed due to the lack of credibility, something which FREITAG had built over the past 10 years. This company shows that being innovative in an environmentally friendly and thus sustainable way, provides a clear competitive advantage towards competitors who merely use end-of-pipe solutions and add-on marketing messages.\n\n
37. FREITAG started in 1993 and and more than 10 years later sells over 300.000 fashion items worldwide. Mixing an eco-friendly production and, unique and custom made product designs allowed FREITAG to portray itself as an eco-conscious company. This concept, the product is the message, was rather new to the fashion industry and even though FREITAG is still a small company, several copy-cats tried to sell similar bags (“Tonnerstag” in Switzerland) but eventually failed due to the lack of credibility, something which FREITAG had built over the past 10 years. This company shows that being innovative in an environmentally friendly and thus sustainable way, provides a clear competitive advantage towards competitors who merely use end-of-pipe solutions and add-on marketing messages.\n\n
38. FREITAG started in 1993 and and more than 10 years later sells over 300.000 fashion items worldwide. Mixing an eco-friendly production and, unique and custom made product designs allowed FREITAG to portray itself as an eco-conscious company. This concept, the product is the message, was rather new to the fashion industry and even though FREITAG is still a small company, several copy-cats tried to sell similar bags (“Tonnerstag” in Switzerland) but eventually failed due to the lack of credibility, something which FREITAG had built over the past 10 years. This company shows that being innovative in an environmentally friendly and thus sustainable way, provides a clear competitive advantage towards competitors who merely use end-of-pipe solutions and add-on marketing messages.\n\n
39. Starting screen \n
40. Starting screen \n
41. Starting screen \n