FREITAG launches circular innovation with its new backpack

FREITAG’s new backpack is a circular innovation: after three years of development, the Mono[PA6] is the first mono-material product to be launched by the Zurich-based textile manufacturer, which has built an international reputation with bags made from used truck tarps. According to a press release issued by FREITAG, the company has a clear vision: “to design bags and accessories that are no longer simply made from used materials but also circular.” It has already achieved this with its compostable F-ABRIC clothing line and CIRC-CASE smartphone case.

The new Mono[PA6] backpack also meets the circular criteria, because it is made from a single material: PA6. This means the bag and all 17 of its components, including zippers, the carrying strap, buckles and sewing thread, can be recycled at the end of its life cycle.

“The circularity principle for which the FREITAG Mono[PA6] Backpack stands is one of shared responsibility,” says the company. “It can only work if customers use their products for a long time, take good care of them, and have them repaired when necessary. And, most importantly, return them to FREITAG when the time comes.” FREITAG sends the bags on to the Institute for Materials Technology and Plastics Processing (IWK) at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST), where they are shredded and processed into PA6 granulate. They can then be reused for new items.

Reused truck tarps were the starting point of FREITAG’s journey, and so they are now part of its circular vision for the future. The idea is to work with industrial partners “on the joint development of a circular tarp material, to ensure that after their long, second lives as FREITAG bags, truck tarps do not end up as waste but return to the cycle.” ce/mm