The story of the Swiss company Freitag started in the nineties when two brothers went looking for strong, waterproof bags to safely transport their drawings by bike. It was there and then that the brothers decided to upcycle used truck tarps to bags.

Yet Freitag creates and sells more than the bags they are perhaps best known for. A couple of years ago, during their search for suitable workwear for their employees, a new problem presented itself. The brothers Freitag wanted the clothes to be made in Europe, from a tough, sustainably produced and compostable material. Because they couldn’t find this anywhere, they simply decided to create it themselves: the result was called F-ABRIC and is 100% compostable. This material is also used for the clothes that are for sale in Freitag stores.

Always eager for new challenges, Freitag launched a 100% recyclable pair of jeans in 2015. The jeans, which are part of the compostable F-ABRIC line, have no rivets or polyester threads. The denim is completely cotton-free, and made in Europe from bast fibers, hemp and linen. The only thing that is not compostable: the buttons. These are metal, but thanks to the self-developed screw-cap (Freitag applied for a patent), they can be (re)used on all kinds of pants. Thus Freitag encourages its customers to remove the buttons from their pairs and to use them on others.