Denim is notorious for being unsustainable and harsh on the environment. But a Swiss firm, Freitlag, is breaking denim down, literally.
In the beginning, brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag produced bags from recycled taupalins.
But the young innovators wanted something more to offer fellow eco-fashion drivers and consumers. So they assembled a small team of textiles experts. Their task: to develop clothing that would meet the demands of factory life and still look good. F-abric was created and tested by the F-Crew for several months to prove its toughness, comfort, and quality. Then, last fall, the brothers launched a small apparel line made of the sustainable, biodegradable F-abric, expanding the company’s scope of inquisitive and sustainable living. Now, F-abric is being turned into a jean.
Freitag's "bast-cut" jeans are a classic slim-waist jean for men and women. Made from the label's F-abric denim, produced in house, the denim is a durable twill made from flax or linen and hemp. And, it is 100% biodegradable. Each jean has a rugged, five-pocket design without rivets or polyester threads. Made in Europe - using European bast fibers, makes the jeans naturally compostable.
The hemp and flax resources do not harm the fields they are grown in; nor do they require excessive amounts of water. Compared to the production processes of more common textiles, the journey from fiber to finished product is just a short trip for F-abric, with all stages of production taking place within a 2500-kilometer radius of Freitag's factory in Zurich.
“We continue what we’ve started with our broken twill for last year’s work pant with our jeans that are made of bast fabrics produced in a radius of 2,500 [kilometers] around Zurich. And when they’re worn out, you can take off the buttons, throw them into the compost and they will degrade entirely,” founder and creative director Markus Freitag told WWD.
Few chemicals as possible are used during the cultivation and further processing of F-ABRIC too, meaning the denim is Class I of the Oeko-Tex Standard.
