ON THE ROAD TO F-ABRIC
Is it possible to grow fibers in the European climate?
Do textiles really have to travel around the world three times before we wear them?
Can fabrics and clothes be manufactured without toxic chemicals?
Why do eco-friendly clothes look so crappy?
Shouldn’t quality enhance sustainability?
Is it possible to make compostable clothes?
[F-IABIRIC] noun: Durable, 900% 足compostable and 足sustainably produced textiles. Developed by the Swiss company Freitag.
Actually … … our original intention was to provide our employees with sustainably produced workwear so that we would no longer have to rely on the cotton and synthetic materials that are so common in the globalized textile industry. Five years later, we now have our very own line of compostable fabrics made entirely of European fibers. We think and act in cycles. Cycles are a part of life: from composting in the garden to our favorite mode of transportation, the bicycle. It’s a principle that goes beyond just manufacturing bags for FREITAG: dirty truck tarps are washed with rainwater collected from the factory roof and everyday objects like product packaging are designed to be reused. As we couldn’t find anything on the market that fit the bill, we decided to take matters into our own hands and develop our own employee clothing from scratch. A logical decision and quite a daunting task. Our mission: to develop fabrics that could be produced without wasted resources and endless transport distances and under fair conditions. Of course, our clothes should also be able to withstand the harsh wear and tear of the factory, and the even harsher afterwork parties. And when a garment made from these new textiles wears out, it should be possible to throw it on the compost heap where it will biodegrade organically without leaving behind any harmful residues like a guilty conscience. In order to meet these requirements, we had to return to the very beginning of the development cycle: the fiber. Suspecting that we would have to overcome a lot of hurdles and challenges, we sought out professional and motivated partners to accompany us. And we finally made it. Together with photographer Lukas Wassmann, Markus and Daniel Freitag traced the journey from the raw material to the finished fabrics by bike and train. Join us on the road to F-ABRIC. Yours, The F-Crew
FROM FIBRES TO F-ABRIC (AND BACK AGAIN)
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RESOURCES F-ABRIC is made of bast fibers and Modal, so it requires much less water and doesn’t burden the soil like more common raw materials. Our hemp and linen grow mostly in France, and the Modal is derived from Austrian beechwood.
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COMPOST F-ABRIC is ready for its own self-destruction. When a F-ABRIC garment is finally worn out, it will completely biodegrade in any home or garden compost heap within a matter of months. Pants to earth, dust to dust.
When textiles made from F-ABRIC reach the end of their useful life, you just throw them on the compost heap. So a shirt or a pair of pants becomes fertile soil for plants whose fibers can be turned into yarn which will be used to create fabric for new clothes. What goes around comes around.
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MATERIALS The raw materials that make up F-ABRIC all originate from Europe, and F-ABRIC is manufactured in Europe as well. Those are two big reasons why manufacturing F-ABRIC requires much shorter transport distances than conventional fabrics.
The small but big exception in the biological cycle is the F-Button. Made of metal it is not compostable, but can be un-screwed and re-used. For ever and ever.
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PRODUCTS The products are all designed and developed by FREITAG. Special attention is devoted to the specific properties found in each of the natural fabrics. Then they’re subjected to rigorous testing by the F-Crew in Oerlikon, Zurich until the quality and style are just right.
BACK TO THE F-UTURE
If you want to make biodegradable clothing in your own neighborhood, you’ve got to go back to the beginning of the development process and start with the fibers. In our quest for the right raw materials, we ran into two old acquaintances and one new one.
EUROPEAN BAST-ARDS
LINEN
HEMP
MODAL
Linen (also known as flax) is the oldest textile fiber in the world. It’s also an economical jack-of-all-trades. The fibers are extracted from the bast, the tissue under the plant’s bark. Linen fibers are comfortable to wear thanks to their cooling effect, and they’re extremely durable. Farming flax requires quite a bit of know-how, but the good news is that it doesn’t need a lot of fertilizer or pesticides, or additional irrigation. It grows best in temperate climate zones.
Hemp fibers are versatile, easy to care for, and virtually perfect. They’re warm, breathable, and extremely strong, which is why hemp has been embraced by so many cultures for thousands of years. Hemp fibers are extracted from the plant’s bast. The plant thrives in almost any climate, doesn’t need much water or any pesticides and doesn’t deplete agricultural soil.
Modal is a fiber whose properties are quite similar to those of cotton. It’s made from cellulose that has been extracted from beechwood. First, beechwood shavings are dissolved in acid and then the cellulose is extracted, processed into a viscous pulp, and spun into threads. Beech trees are self propagating, which means no planting is required to produce Modal.
THUMBS UP – THE ADVANTAGES OF F-ABRIC TEXTILES AT A GLANCE:
Resilient, tearproof and therefore very reliable
Thermo- regulating
Higher absorbency than other fabrics
Anti-bacterial + anti-synthetic = less odor and more freshness!
0% COTTON Five good reasons we decided not to use cotton:
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TOO FAR AWAY Cotton plants love summer weather. They can’t really deal with the European climate.
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TOO GREEDY FOR SPACE Cotton needs much more space to develop than other fibers, for example the beechwoods used in Modal production.
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TOO THIRSTY Cotton plants are water guzzlers. The huge amounts of water used on cotton fields has increased soil salination and lowered the groundwater level in many places.
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Q U E L L E N : N A T U R F A S E R A L S C H A N C E / F A S E R F A C T S / L enzin g
…AND MUCH TOO POORLY TREATED TOO WELLTREATED… Cotton is a delicate plant which in many places is rigorously treated with pesticides and mineral fertilizers. These substances are major contributors to the worsening of the world’s carbon footprint and are harmful to the health of cotton farmers and their families (see 5).
An estimated 100 million cotton farmers around the world live below the poverty level and often work in inhumane and unhealthy conditions.
The F-lax Farmer Family The sixth generation of the Cabot family farms its flax fields for linen production in Normandy as it has for 90 years. They know their fields and their soil better than anyone else, but every season is a new game. Each fiber is unique, every year is different – that is the nature of natural fibers.
EURO WIDE WEB
If you haven’t got much experience, but a lot of ideas and are determined to do everything differently, you are bound to fall flat on your face, at least at first. Especially in an industry with highly complex processes like the globalized textile industry.
THE THREE FIRST BORN
THE WEAVER
Broken Twill
Jersey
HeRringbone
The FREITAG pants fabric was our greatest challenge: countless attempts were required until we finally managed to weave the linen and hemp yarn into a dense, tearproof and scrub-resistant fabric.
This FREITAG fabric is a soft, breathable, moisture- transporting Jersey knitwear. The special structure emerges from the various yarns.
The tear-proof FREITAG lining fabric is used for pants pockets, a specialty area that is closely related to the core business of us bag manufacturers.
— Weave: knitted single jersey Mixed yarn: Modal, linen, and true hemp Knitted in Norte, Portugal
— Weave: herringbone Warp: Modal Weft: linen Woven in Lombardy, Italy
81% linen, 19% true hemp
— Weave: broken twill Warp: linen, spool-dyed Weft: linen/true hemp Woven in Lombardy, Italy
75% Modal, 15% linen, 10% true hemp
51% Modal, 49% linen
Our weaving mill isn’t far from Milan, Italy’s fashion capital. In this familyrun company, Zio handles the business side while his nephew is in charge of technology and innovation. Because both are committed to their jobs with heart and soul, the weaving mill’s priority is not necessarily large contracts and immediate cash. Instead they enjoy somewhat more complex challenges like creating our Broken Twill and inner lining. It is no easy task to turn the raw materials into a dense weave. And it takes a true master with a lot of t echnical knowhow, patience and expertise. That’s why we would like to extend a big Grazie Mille to Zio and his incredible team!
The ODYSSEY of the broken twill WHO WILL WEAVE, WHO WILL LEAVE? We want pants fabric! But the hemp weaving mill in Romania doesn’t have the capability to weave a dense pants fabric from our bast fibers. And the German weaving mills can’t figure it out either, not even on special weaving looms.
YEAR ∂
YEAR 2
20 METERS OF HOPE HELLO BROKEN TWILL! Excitement is in the air when the first fabric patterns arrive in October. We opt for a broken twill weave. And stick to it.
NO INIDGO FOR US… The attempt to dye hemp indigo fails – the yarn tears, The same thing happens to the linen, which is almost ten times as strong. It’s clear: indigo is out. From now on, spool dyeing is the answer.
YEAR 3
We approach a dozen manufacturers with our fabric patterns. Almost all of them think our project is too complicated. Only two companies in Italy are left. One of them manages to produce 20 meters of fabric for us.
GOOD NEWS. AND BAD NEWS. More mail, more broken twill: we choose the best two from the 11 fabric patterns in various colors and densities. But, at almost exactly the same time, we get a depressing piece of news: our weaving mill in Germany is facing financial difficulties and is backing out. Back to year 1?
READY FOR APPROVAL
YEAR 4
And now the pace picks up: the fabric properties are enhanced, the pattern adapted to the overhauled design. First large order for the test in our F-actory.
YEAR 5
GETTING CLOSER
VERY WEARABLE!
Every fabric has one-of-a-kind properties. As a result, we spend a lot of time getting acquainted with our broken twill in wash and wear tests and designing the initial prototypes for the pants.
The result of our test: very wearable! After a final design update, the broken twill is processed for the WORKPANT and WORKDRESS and supplied to selected F-Stores.
THE F-ABRIC 足FAMILY TREE
Mixed wood
Lyocell yarn
Consistent with no compromise from start to finish: we present the family tree of our workpant.
Hemp seeds
Blossom
Thread
Dye
Beech
Spin
Flax seeds
Pulp
Wood
Pulp
Sow
Pull up
49%
Rett
Modal
51%
Harvest Dye
Weave
Scutch
Lining material Hemp fibres
Finish
Linen fibres Cut
Stamp
19%
81%
Warp
Spin
Selvage
Dye
Weave
Spin
Weft
Weave Jacquard Spin Dye Fold & Cut
F-Label
Finish Desize
Singe
Wash
Ventilate
Sanforize
Broken Twill
Cut
Vegetable starch Recycled paper
Tapioca plant Potatoes
Zamac
Corn Sugar cane
Print Zinc
Aluminium
Magnesium
Copper
Die cut
Hangtag Paper rejects Die cast
Packaging
Tissue paper
F-Button Assembly
Finish
Package
Iron
Wash
E 550 MALE WORKPANT
Exit through the compost …
Thread cut
LITTLE THINGS, BIG EFFECTS
It’s not just the fabrics in a F-ABRIC garment that are biodegradable – the inner lining, sewing thread, selvage, and shirt buttons are all compostable as well.
ALL THAT MATTERS Thread
SHIRT BUTTONS
More than 270 meters of sewing thread are processed in our WORKPANT alone. Our thread is made of 100% vegetable Lyocell, and the production process is based around a solvent spinning technique. The raw material is pure wood, just like Modal. So it comes as no surprise that just the thread for F-ABRIC costs as much as all of the material needed to make a pair of conventional pants from the Far East.
Europe has everything … except compostable shirt buttons. So we had to search a bit further afield. The seeds of the tagua palm tree, found mainly in the highlands of Central and South America, serve as the raw material for the ivory nut. After drying, the once soft nuts become hard as rocks, which makes an ideal base for our biodegradable shirt buttons.
Selvage
LABELING
The search for the right raw material for our selvage led us once again to flax. An 18 mm wide, highly resistant selvage was created from two different colored yarns. It provides ample cohesion for WORKPANT and WORKDRESS.
If the label says F-ABRIC, then F-ABRIC was used. Of course, our labels are also 100% compostable. And we have completely dispensed with annoying tags on our clothing – the washing instructions and other important information are printed directly on the inside of the product.
WASH FOR IMPROVED KARMA
Because F-ABRIC fibers take in odors more slowly than conventional cotton and synthetic fibers, they don’t have to be washed every time you wear them.
You can improve your karma by using only small quantities of a laundry detergent that is free of lead and other additives.
The seamstress Our seamstresses in Poland had already worked with materials similar to ours. But because F-ABRIC upholds such rigorous environmental standards, it’s still pretty complex for them. «These new kinds of materials and threads posed a lot of challenges at the beginning: sewing takes longer than usual because the fabric and threads behave differently. But now we have the materials under control and are making progress faster and with less effort», explains the manager.
Improving your eco-footprint starts with cleaning your F-ABRIC product.
Even if you spend your free time in mud baths, our fabrics only need to be washed at 30°C and they’ll be clean again.
Our fabrics don’t like dryers – they like to be hung out in the fresh air. The best way to dry your pants is to lay them on a flat surface, which also saves you from having to iron them.
Welcome to the compost heap
F-ABRIC will biodegrade completely within around a couple of months if you throw it on the compost. All it takes to let it rot in heaven without leaving residues is a damp, warm compost heap – and a little help from the busy inhabitants of the pile.
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A mixture of water, chemically active gases in the air, bacteria and fungi attack the surfaces of the material.
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THE GODMOTHER
Springtails, moss mites and giant aphids chew holes and windows in the material.
Margreth Freitag is Markus’s godmother and the lady who introduced the family to the art of composting. While Markus and Daniel can still recall the reluctance with which they used to carry the bucket full of kitchen waste to the garden, there’s no denying that Margreth’s lesson stuck with them. The source of the F-ABRIC cycle is therefore Margreth Freitag.
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Various fly larvae join in and also start breaking down the fibers.
Species of wood lice, land snails, assorted beetle and fly larvae set to work and their nutrient-dense droppings are consumed by springtails, mites, millipedes, other beetle and fly larvae, not forgetting worms.
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Plant residues ingested by these busy co-workers now attract additional fungi and bacteria to us, in this way establishing a mini cycle here in the compost.
Back to plant and to the next pant…
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NO TOXIC WASTE F-ABRIC meets all the requirements of the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100/ Class I: Our products are therefore approved for babies and infants, too (incl. the harmful substances requirements of European REACH legislation).
F MEANS FOR EVER
We have asked, searched and hunted. But we have still not found a biodegradable material suitable as a raw material for a pants button. We have therefore invented a very simple button that can be used for ever and ever. And the patent office thinks so too!
ABOUT THE SCREW-CAP […] Where the two parts of the button are connected by a screw, the form lock serves as a rotation prevention to stop the screw from becoming loose.[…] The ring or disc-shaped contact surface of the first and/or second part of the button preferably contains several homogeneous elevations arranged at the same angular distance from each other. This means that the structure arranged on the ring or disc-shaped contact surface and comprising several elevations is essentially rotationally symmetric. […] The button disc is shaped in such a way that it can be locked into a buttonhole inside the fabric, with the fabric coming to rest between the two disc-shaped sections of the second part of the button. […] The shaft-shaped attachment 3 has an external thread 8 that interacts with an internal thread 12 of the second part of the button 2 [see Figure 2a]. […] The sloping levels 7’ of which there are three are in turn arranged at the same angular distance from each other and with steeply falling sides 16’ form common edges 17’. The edges 17’ are also radial so that when the two button parts 1 and 2 are screwed together they press through the fabric lying in between against the sloping level 7 of the contact surface 4 of the first part of the button 1 until one edge 17’ slides behind an edge 17 of contact surface 4 of the first part of the button 1 and engages this to bring about a form lock.[…] From patent application «Button for garments», section entitled «Disclosure of invention», Niederglatt, 2013. p. 5, para. 5 et seq. / 21 et seq., p. 7, para. 30 et seq., p. 10, para. 3 et seq., p. 12 para. 9 et seq.
NEW PANTS, OLD BUTTON When your F-ABRIC pants finally depart this life after many years of use, they may bite the dust but they’ll leave you buttons behind made of Zamac, a recyclable alloy of zinc, aluminium, magnesium and copper. They are light, robust and can be easily unscrewed and reused. We therefore stamp our initials on our buttons at the FREITAG factory.
ON THE ROAD TO F-ABRIC
You only understand something once you have experienced it. Which is why the Freitag brothers traced the production path of a pair of F-ABRIC pants by train and folding bike in a week .
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ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Design, logistics and q uality assurance in the FREITAG headquarters
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NORMANDY, FRANCE Flax farming and processing
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LOMBARDY, ITALY Weaving mill
4 Berlin
Paris
Milan
DISTANCE FROM THE FIBER TO THE PRODUCT
F-ABRIC WORKPANT: less than 5,000 km CONVENTIONAL JEANS: around 40,000 km
STETTIN, POLAND Sewing workshop
DAY 9 5:00 AM, FREITAG FACTORY, ZURICH OERLIKON, SWITZERLAND
2:30 PM FLAX FIELDS OF THE CABOT FAMILY NORMANDY, FRANCE
The bast fibers are separated from the stems on the conveyor…
1 photographer, 1 cameraman, 2 assistants, 1 production manager, 3 folding bicycles, dozens of bags with our stuff and 2 camp cots – did we forget anything? Oh yeah, 2 Freitag brothers, of course! Markus spent the night right in the factory, to warm up his camp cot.
The flax fields of the farmer Jean-Marie Cabot and his son Guillaume are in full bloom. Monsieur Cabot proudly shows us his blue sensation and gives us a few insider tips about harvesting flax.
Laurent and Anne welcome us to their flax processing site. The bales from the surrounding farmers are collected here. Even though flax farming has only been a secondary source of income for farmers here, it still has a long tradition in this region.
…and then subject to fine- brushing to clean the bristly fibers until they shine like Rapunzel’s hair. Très joli, messieurs!
Chairat «I probably pay attention to sustainability and origin more for food than for fashion.»
4:00 PM FLAX PROCESSING NORMANDY, FRANCE
First bike ride from Oerlikon to Zurich main train station. We continue from here by train in the direction of Normandy.
Ludmilla, 23 «I find naturally produced fibers interesting. I think it is a bit disturbing, for example, when my body has an allergic reaction to a piece of clothing.»
DAY 2 A FULL DAY, FROM ROUEN TO PARIS AND
6:30 PM VEULES-LES-ROSES, FRANCE
ON TO MILAN
The day comes to an end with fish from the grill and a bottle of wine. You might think we are living like kings in France. The right key visuals should communicate who we are! After several attempts, the photo grapher settles on flax wigs, sexy bare bellies and brazen flowing locks as the ‹F-ABRIC Look›.
Tatar in Rouen only to get diarrhea on the way to Paris. Not the most relaxing train ride for Daniel. We have a few drinks and sleep on the beach. Hopefully with dry feet. Santé et bonne nuit!
Lydia, 23 «There are lot of critical reports on the issue but few alternatives: no one tells you where you can buy sustainably produced fashion.»
Traveling by train and bicycle in Europe is fast and stress-free. Essentials for train travel: books, buddies, and a lot of coffee.
Work-travel balance: Film material for the F-ABRIC preview is gathered on the train between picnicking and Scrabble.
Benvenuti! The manager is there to greet us in person and gives us a tour of the weaving mill.
The finished material is loaded right onto the bikes and we start heading north.
Clemens «The older I get, the longer I use my clothes. I have been wearing the same t -shirts for years and try to only buy new ones when I absolutely have to.»
DAY 3 5:10 AM, MILANO CENTRALE,
Kevin, 20 «My old clothes end up in the trash… compostable? Sounds good to me.»
We cover the last part of the trip to the weaving mill on folding bikes.
ITALY
2:00 PM ARRIVAL AT THE WEAVING MILL, OUTSIDE OF MILAN
Machines are good, people are better: a lot of experience is needed to turn spun yarn into fabric.
Quality check under the lights. Result: picobello.
We are not looking for fashion inspiration in Milan, just a good espresso. Or two.
DAY 4 9:30 AM, ST. GOTTHARD PASS, SWITZERLAND
Daniel and Markus battle their way to the top of the pass on their folding bikes like professional cyclists. The boys have clearly earned that sausage.
An astonishing result from the first 7 hours: the phone pocket can also be used for toiletries. Unbelievable!!
Customer research instead of street style – Daniel and Markus get some constructive criticism on the F-ABRIC project from the fashion-conscious Berliners.
Alexis, 25 «A lot of manufacturers today advertise with eco-fabrics and sustainability, and it is not easy to know what’s what.»
Another pair of pants is composted right next to the Reichstag in honor of our farewell.
Right underneath their bikes up to 3500 trucks pass the St. Gotthard tunnel every day. The bros prefer the transfer with a view.
3:15 PM ANDERMATT, SWITZERLAND At the top, filming starts without even a chance to catch their breath.
Markus takes a shot at fashion design and has created the next summer collection even before they start heading down. Pant legs are composted on-site.
DAY 5 10:20 PM, REICHSTAG, BERLIN, GERMANY
Freitag in transit. Dani and Markus descend the infamous north-south route of Switzerland.
SARAH «I don’t throw my old clothes away if they are still in once piece. I like online clothes swaps and at our university we also have a swap where I can bring my old stuff.»
5:30 PM TIME TO CHANGE TRAINS AGAIN, ANGERMÜNDE, GERMANY
Long train rides are the ideal setting to test durability, compare colors and solve functionality questions.
Wet, but sexy. The German capital shows off its most elegant gray side. Our agenda for the day: field research on the streets of Berlin and a visit to the F-Store.
The workers are on a tight schedule. But even though the ladies don’t have any time, they still share a few jokes with the brothers.
…Kazimiera, Maria, Eugenia, Dorota and Joanna show Daniel and Markus how the fabric is turned into pants.
In Angermünde something terrible happened – our crew missed the train.
Group photo with the ladies.
No visit to Poland is complete without a bit of schnapps and a beer. After a short sightseeing tour of Stettin, we celebrate the wedding anniversary of Iannina and her husband. A fitting end to our journey!
DAY 6 8:00 AM, SEWING WORKSHOP, STETTIN, POLAND
DAY 7 12:30 PM, STETTIN TRAIN STATION, POLAND In the company of women: we have never met so many charming women in such a short time. Zofia, Teresa…
A bit hung-over, a bit melancholy and dead tired, we begin our j ourney from Stettin back to Zurich.
Before visiting the sewing workshop, the bros do a bit of truck-spotting on the highway. Nice truck tarpaulins in Poland!
DAY 8 7:00 AM, FREITAG FACTORY, ZURICH Patterns are not cut out but sawn and then sewn together with Lyocell threads. The workers need to be highly concentrated to handle the new materials. But our F-ABRIC seems to be in good hands!
OERLIKON, SWITZERLAND
After a 15-hour train ride, we are back where we started our tour. Our baggage: 2 Freitag brothers, 1 photographer, 1 cameraman, 2 assistants, 1 production manager, 3 folding bicycles, dozens of bags with our stuff, 1,000 e xperiences, 1 new pair of pants. And the certainty that F-ABRIC is headed in the right direction.
A nondescript high-rise on the outside, a busy sewing workshop on the inside.
Finally, a Zamac button from Bavaria is added and the pants are finished.
A—Z
A ABRASION TEST: Whether the retted straw (≥ Peter and Paul’s Day) is ready or not for further processing can be tested by the farmer in what is known as an abrasion test. When the flax and stems of the plant can be easily separated from one another, the dried retted straw is collected from the field. ADVANTAGE: The advantage of our F-ABRIC fibers? They are strong yet comfortably light to wear. They also don’t stick to your skin, are thermo-regulating, mold to the shape of the wearer and don’t smell of sweat as quickly as cotton clothes. Have we already mentioned that they also look pretty good, too?
B BAST FIBERS: Bast fibers have been used to process string, rope and textiles for thousands of years and grow in bundles in the stalk, stem or bark of the plant. We use the bast fibers of the hemp plant (≥ H) and flax (≥ Linen ) for F-ABRIC. BEECH: Beechwood is the raw material used to make Modal (≥ M). It’s not hard to find beech trees: because beech forests are selfpropagating, beech is one of the most common types of wood in Europe, making it a sustainable and in every sense natural source for our Modal. BIOBAG: F-ABRIC products are not supplied in plastic packaging but in what are known as biobags. These are made of renewable raw materials and can also be composted without a guilty conscience – just like the tissue paper which has already proven to be an excellent filler for the reference bags. BROKEN TWILL: An extremely strong woven fabric. The process used to
From start to finish: Our F-ABRIC glossary provides answers about F-ABRIC from A to Z.
make broken twill creates a characteristic pattern on the surface of the fabric.
C CHEMICALS: Chemistry class was a pain at school. Luckily, F-ABRIC can be produced virtually without pesticides and other toxins. COMPOST: Dirt to dirt and dust to dust is the supreme law of F-ABRIC. Anything that can’t completely biodegrade on the compost pile is categorically ruled out as a raw material. Only exception: the F-button (≥ Zamac). CYCLE: The apple was our muse, just as it was for Isaac Newton. If you eat an apple and throw the core in the compost, the seeds will grow and produce more apples – why shouldn’t this principle also work for pants, t-shirts and sweaters?
D DIPTERA: Diptera are, along with springtails, oribatid mites, bark lice, ground snails, millipedes, fly and beetle larvae, responsible for actively turning F-ABRIC products into compost. We would also like to thank these staff members for their dedication.
E EUROPE: Our fabrics are made from European fibers. And to do away with unne cessary transport routes, all of our F-ABRIC products are also processed on the old continent.
F F-ACTORY: Our fabrics and products were tested by our FREITAG employees in Zurich Oerlikon. F-ABRIC can therefore withstand not only the day-to-day
working environment in the factory, but also the most punishing party. This we are completely sure of. FLAX: See linen (≥ L).
G G O P F E R TA M M I S I E C H : Swiss German expletive that roughly translates to ‹That really annoys me›. Was used by the developers of F-ABRIC a total of 8,637 times in the last five years.
H HEMP: Hemp fibers are extremely strong and have therefore been used to produce cloth, rope and other day-to-day objects for almost 5,000 years. In addition to linen (≥ L) and Modal (≥ M), the natural fiber is one of the three main components of F-ABRIC.
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JERSEY: The basis for the F-ABRIC single jersey is a blend of 75% Modal (≥ M), 15% linen (≥ L) and 10% hemp (≥ H). The result: a practical and comfortable knit that is appealing with its breathability and easy wear.
K MESSENGER BAG: Every thing started at Freitag in 1993 with messenger bags. The messenger bags are still our first love!
L LINEN: Linen (also called flax) was replaced by cotton in the textile industry only in the late 19th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, natural fibers have been gaining ground again. The natural fiber is the main component of our Broken Twill (≥ B) as well as all F-ABRIC selvages and labels.
INDIVIDUAL: Our clothing may feel a bit stiff the first time you try it on but it adapts to the exact shape of the wearer over time.
LINING MATERIAL: The ma terial that lines our bags and pants is made of 51% Modal and 49% linen. Highly resistant herringbone weave makes it tear-proof.
INDESTRUCTIBLE: Our fabrics aren’t just biodegradable, they are actually also pretty indestructible. So unless you spend your free time being run over by monster trucks, it will take a long, long time before your F-ABRIC product gives up on you.
LONGSLEEVE-SHIRT: Our longsleeve-shirt made of single jersey (≥ J) was designed for everyday work in the F-actory. Since 2013, it has been tested and further developed there. The longsleeve shirt is available for men and women in different colors.
IVORY NUT: The base material for our shirt buttons comes from the seeds of the tagua, a type of palm tree that grows at an altitude of 1,800 m, mainly in Central and South America. After drying, the nuts, as their name suggests, become as hard as ivory and are therefore ideally suited as buttons.
LYOCELL: It is no exaggeration to call this man-made natural fiber the material of the future. Lyocell is plantbased and therefore completely biodegradable. All F-ABRIC threads are made of Lyocell.
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M MODAL: Man-made natural fibers with a character simi lar to cotton. Basic material for our Modal fibers are
beechwood shavings from Austria. The fabric is compostable as a result and is the perfect complement to the raw materials hemp and flax for F-ABRIC.
N NO COTTON: Even though cotton is a great raw material for textiles, more chemicals are used to grow it than any other agricultural crop and it is not exactly economical when it comes to water consumption. Which is why we prefer to use linen (≥ L), hemp (≥ H) and Modal (≥ M) as raw materials.
O OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100/ Class I: All F-ABRIC fabrics were tested for harmful substances. The result? Approved for babies and infants.
P PETER AND PAUL’S DAY: In Switzerland, the 29th of June in the cantons of Ticino, Graubünden and several communities in Lucerne is a public holiday. Peter and Paul’s Day also serves as a marker for the flowering season of flax (≥ Linen). Between the middle and end of August, the seed capsules of the plant are removed and threshed, then the flax stalks are dried over several weeks on the field to become retted straw, which is used for linen production. PILLING: When small fuzzy balls form on a piece of cloth. Especially fabrics with short fibers have a tendency to pill. Pilling can be prevented by using laundry detergent that contains cellulose. But life is still good with the fuzzy fabrics. PRICE: The thread for our workpant alone costs as much as all of the material needed for an average
pair of pants. Which is why F-ABRIC products have their price. Just like all good things in life.
Q QUALITY: All of our products – be they bags, clothes or accessories – are of outstanding quality. This principle also holds true for all F-ABRIC products.
R RAL 6011: The favorite color of Freitag, also known as Reseda. Our workpant, workdress and t-shirts are thus also available in glorious industrial green. REACTIVE DYES: Reactive dyes can be used to color fibers. Unlike vat, pigment and direct dyes, they are less brilliant but much more effective and environmentally friendly. RESOURCES: All resources have something in common: they are finite. F-ABRIC therefore relies on resource- saving, renewable raw materials from Europe. RIVETS: Metal rivets have secondary importance. We have thus dispensed with using rivets of any kind for our pants.
S SANFORIZING: The Sanfor process is a popular variant of common shrinkage. It is an intentional mechanical pre-shrink process which prevents textiles from shrinking. We also shrink our fabrics. SCUTCHING: Scutching refers to a process in linen production. The retted straw is cleaned and broken up in the scutch. There are small pieces of wood in the straw that are removed manually or by machine. The result: 60 cm to 100 cm long fiber bundles, ready for further processing.
SHIVES: The broken stalks of flax and hemp fibers are called shives. Each part of the shive is completely reused after harvest; there are no waste products for bast fibers. STYLE: Is also important. Very, very important. SUSTAINABILITY: Since this word was discovered by the automotive industry, it has unfortunately lost some of its credibility. We prefer to talk about biological cycles (≥ C) and compostable fabrics.
T T-SHIRT: Our men’s and women’s E720 and E320 t-shirts are made from F-ABRIC jersey (≥ J), have a left breast pocket and are available for men and women in different colors. The t-shirts have been subject to rigorous testing by our F-CREW for over a year. TWILL: Twill refers to how threads are woven to form fabric. The type of weave contributes both to the look and feel as well as to the resistance of a fabric. The weave for broken twill (≥ B) alternates in no consistent direction and alternates to the left and right creating a zig-zag like pattern.
U
Used truck tarpaulins: Tarps are the foundation of our company. For F-ABRIC, however, we try to reduce the use of trucks and other means of transport as much as possible and to eliminate long transport routes through our selection of materials, partners and suppliers.
V VISION: In our vision, the raw material for F-ABRIC would grow right in front of the F-actory. We would like to ‹pick› our clothing right
from this field and then be able to dispose of it again here after many years of wearing it intensively.
W WASHING: Your F-ABRIC product will need to be washed on occasion. But not every day and not at a high temperature. Because F-ABRIC will be clean and ready to wear again if you wash it at 30°. WORKPANT: Our E550 male workpant doesn’t just meet the needs of a hard worker, it also withstands the pressures and critical glances after work. The functions include a special pocket for tools or cell phone, felled seam and the removable pants button. The F-Crew has been testing the E550 for over a year. WORKWEAR: Our original intention was actually to find a sustainably produced and versatile material for the workwear of our F-Crew. Our quest led to F-ABRIC 5 years later.
X ≥ Y.
Y We can’t think of anything relevant that starts with Y.
Z ZAMAC: Small button, big exception: our pants button is made of zinc die-cast Zamac and is therefore the only component of the F-ABRIC pants that is not compostable. The button can be customized with a personal engraving and removed and reused before composting the pants.
Published by: FREITAG lab. ag Binzmühlestrasse 170b 8050 Zurich, Switzerland www.freitag.ch Creative Direction: Daniel & Markus Freitag OVERALL RESPONSIBILITY: Daniel Rohrer Concept, Art Direction, Design: Studio Marcus Kraft Photography: Lukas Wassmann (roadtrip), Pascal Grob (look shots), Roland Tännler (F-actory) Text: David Keller, Wessinger and Peng (Rainer Brenner) Illustrations: Ilg/Trüb (graphics), Marcus Kraft (scans) Production roadtrip: Sturm&Anker GmbH (Lukas Widmer) Styling LOOK SHOTS: Andrea A. Serrano ©2014 FREITAG lab. ag. All rights reserved.
TRUCK TARPS AND MORE: OUR F-ACTORY
LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT CUT As our bags are all produced in the halls of our factory in Zurich Oerlikon, the question of suitable work clothing fairly quickly arises. Robust clothing is particularly important for the hard work in the cutting department where the truck tarps are split into sections using sharp knives. So that’s where it all started…
CLEAN MADE CLEANER The gigantic washing machines of our laundry room have space for around ten pieces of tarp. This is equivalent to a weight of 50 to 60 kilograms per washing cycle. And the changeable Zurich weather is the ideal partner when you need this quantity of water. We procure the water for our laundry room directly from our own in-house rainwater tank.
A brief tour of our F-actory is essential if you want to find out about the origins of F-ABRIC.
INDIVIDUALS, NOT BAGS The FREITAG bag designers are responsible for the unique look of the bags. They tailor them using a set of seethrough templates. The individual tailored elements of the bag are labelled with numbers to prevent them getting mixed up during sewing.
READY FOR THE ROAD AGAIN After sewing the bags are subjected to strict quality control in the F-actory. Then they are packed into boxes and sent off to F-dealers throughout the world.
FROM TRUCK TILL BAG SINCE 1993 It all began in 1993 with the idea of giving discarded truck tarps a second lease of life as a messenger bag. Handmade from old truck tarpaulin, bicycle inner tubes and seat belts, the FREITAG classic has been a loyal companion for decades.
LET’S WORK IT OUT Sustainability is something we practice each and every day. The so-called biopoints at the FREITAG offices serve as central supply and disposal centers: Staff can separate and dispose of their waste here – in tarp bags, of course.
THE F-CREW’S VERDICT: A GOOD FIT!
Each version of the pants and t-shirt was put through its paces by a critical workforce in the factory, the laundry, the office and on the dance floor. Here’s what their verdict – by word and deed.
Little bits of fuzz, little balls, build up around the thighs. Maybe because that’s where I cross my legs. Maybe they’ll just come off in the first wash. —Dan
The t-shirt is perfect for work and feels good against the skin. —Anne
Even though just about every shirt is usually too short for me – this one’s the right length! :) —Carla
Pants practical. —Kendim
The shirts could have a bit more defi nition, to make them look less like a potato sack. Otherwise perfect. —Nina
The breast pocket’s still in the wrong place. At the moment it looks like my boobs are drooping to the side. Sexy, isn’t it? —Laurence
E720 MALE T-SHIRT in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
E350 FEMALE 足LONGSLEEVE E550 MALE 足WORKPANT in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
in: ocher, industrial green, dark blue
E720 MALE 足T-SHIRT
in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
E720 MALE 足T-SHIRT
in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
E550 MALE 足WORKPANT in: ocher, industrial green, dark blue
F799 F-ABRIC CONCEPT BAG in: ocher, industrial green
E750 E550 MALE MALE 足LONGSLEEVE 足WORKPANT in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
in: ocher, industrial green, dark blue
F799 F-ABRIC CONCEPT BAG in: ocher, industrial green
E750 E550 MALE MALE 足LONGSLEEVE 足WORKPANT in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
in: ocher, industrial green, dark blue
E320 FEMALE T-SHIRT E970 FEMALE 足WORKDRESS in: nature, industrial green, dark blue, black
in: ocher, industrial green, dark blue
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