FREITAG Store Amsterdam: THINK AND ACT IN (BI)CYCLES

Following the opening of the store in Rotterdam, the Zurich bag manufacturers have been venturing further into the lowlands with a new outlet in Amsterdam in 2020. Here, everything revolves around recycled bags and recyclable forms of transport.

More than 25 years ago, founders Daniel and Markus Freitag made their first messenger bag from used truck tarps for their daily bike ride to work. So cycling and FREITAG bags have always somehow belonged together. And there’s hardly any other city where you can get around by bike as easily as in Amsterdam. That's why the new store not only sells bags but also hires out bicycles.

The new location for FREITAG’s unique models is located in the middle of the individualistic "9 Straatjes" at the heart of Amsterdam’s canal network. But it’s not only the approximately 1000 bags and 1200 accessories in the 70-sq.m store that are made of recycled materials. The same thing applies to the six cycles available for hire from Roetz Bikes. Instead of truck tarps, the partner gives rickety old two-wheelers a second life by pimping them up as city runabouts. Apart from a bicycle, visitors can also rent a bike bag and take it for a test ride.

And to find out more about the meaning of cycles as well as giving their own circulation a boost, visitors are welcome to operate the store’s bike cinema themselves by using their own muscle power. FREITAG teamed up with 1kg - a creative studio based in Berlin, Amsterdam & Paris - to design a bespoke aluminum bike frame that holds three recycled bicycles that each drive a dynamo. The installation is connected to sensors, battery management systems, and custom software that converts energy created by the rider and powers a 360° sensory experience. Light and sound elements enhance the screening of FREITAG company movies. Or, as a less sweat-inducing option, you can check out the interactive visualization by the Zurich based design studio Lucid showing the FREITAG production process.