I am a big fan of messenger bags and messenger bag style purses, especially since having a baby. There is so much stuff you have to carry around with you including the child when “I’m tired. My legs don’t work anymore (said in a particularly whiny voice)” starts kicking in. A regular purse just slides off my shoulder while performing super mom duties, which makes the messenger bag a match for me.
I love my Freitag bag! Other than being indestructible , it’s made out of recycled material so good for my conscience too. Freitag makes their bags from used truck tarps, worn-out bicycle inner tubes, discarded seatbelts , and recycled airbags. Sounds horrible, doesn’t it? In reality, they are actually pretty cool looking.
My friend Lee, who is new here, has noticed that these bags are everywhere and decided it was a must for her to have one as well. I am always up for a shopping trip to Zürich so I gladly joined her. Even though Freitag is a Zürich thing, I oddly enough bought mine in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have seen them for sale in various shops around but I was unaware of the main Freitag store. I looked up the location on the website and off we went.
It was about a 20 minute walk from Zürich main station. The first day of Spring and the weather was amazing so we decided to walk. The shop is located in the Züri-West district in Zürich. During the day, it’s a very multicultural area with an eclectic array of shops and restaurants. At night, Langstrasse becomes the red light district. We were in an industrial looking area and thought that we surely must be lost, but then I saw the words “Freitag Shop Zürich” on a tower.
As we got closer, I noticed that it was not a tower we were walking towards, but very large cargo crates stacked one on top of another. I was even more surprised when I went inside and looked up. The shop is indeed made out of a stack of hollowed out crates.
Each floor is very small with boxes of bags against the wall and a small staircase that leads all the way to the top. Each floor had a different style of bag. There are so many to go through it becomes quite a task. Which bag is right? It is a very personal thing and I don’t think it should be given as a gift to someone. Lee found the perfect bag and was a very happy customer.
You will have to check out their website (http://www.freitag.ch/) to see how they are made. Each bag is completely unique. The store is amazing, but on their site you can actually design your own bag. You pick the style and select the part of the tarp you want cut and displayed on the front. One big drawback is how expensive they are. My bag is the small size and cost CHF 145 ($160, £100) . While most bags are in the CHF 150- 200 range, you can pay up to 400 ($440, £275) for one of these. Luckily. they are indestructible and will last forever. If it was up to me, I would have numerous colors in numerous sizes.