Swiss bag manufacturer Freitag has opened its first store in China designed by Tokyo-based practice IIA Architecture Atelier. In 1993, Freitag was founded by graphic designers Daniel and Markus Freitag with the idea of making individual bags from recycled truck tarpaulins for their daily bicycle commute. Freitag thinks and acts in cycles. This philosophy is more than mere wordplay: Freitag uses recycled rainwater to wash tarps and sources materials that are either recycled or recyclable.
The store is located at 758 Julu Road in the French Concession district of Jing An, where “Shanghai Hu Guang Electronic Instruments” had their operations back in the 1950s. The Freitag Store Shanghai takes the location back from digital to analog and from industrial to individual with messenger bags, totes, backpacks, handbags and accessories that are cut from recycled truck tarps, making each product visibly unique.
The Freitag Store Shanghai is the brand’s 23rd shop worldwide and is operated by the brand’s reseller Harbook+, who are known for their curated selection of fashion, furniture, and magazines. On two floors spanning 150 sq. m. (1615 sq. ft.), the store will stock no fewer than 1100 individually designed bags to choose from. And looking to the distant future, if and when your trusty bag starts showing signs of age from years of use, there’s no need to send it back to the Freitag factory to be refurbished because the new Freitag store has a repair unit of its own.