Our factory packing up our ultrafiber for the two hour drive to our factory.
As a company that wants to do what’s best for workers and the environment, we invested a lot of time and energy into looking for the perfect material.
We make vegan bags, but I don't consider Freja to just be a "vegan" company. Veganism is a philosophy that seeks to avoid the exploitation and cruelty of animals. But for me, and for us, Freja stands for so much more than that. We seek to avoid all exploitation - of animals, of humans, of precious materials, and of the earth around us, and give more than we take whenever possible.
“Animal-free” is the bare minimum, but it shouldn’t be the standard for calling a product vegan.
It’s not enough to use animal-free materials, if they were created with harsh chemicals and toxins, or weren’t designed to last.
It’s not enough to use animal-free materials, if the bag was made in poor working conditions, with disregard for any pair of hands that touched it along the way.
It’s not enough to make animal-free bags, if they’re overproduced with lots of leftover inventory.
So yes, we make “vegan” bags. But we stand for so much more than that. I want the term vegan to be a reflection of our values and the care we put into each and every bag.
Not all vegan leather is created equal, just like how there are vastly differing qualities in real leather products. I knew I wanted to use a material that I felt 100% comfortable about ingredient and sourcing wise, and had a premium look and feel.
Polyurethane, or PU, is the most commonly used substitute for leather. It’s incredibly versatile, can be made into various colors and textures, and although more expensive than PVC, is still relatively affordable to manufacture. But while polyurethane is animal-free, it is a problematic textile.
Polyurethane is made by reacting polyols with disocynates, both of which are derived from crude oil (petroleum). The polyurethane is then painted onto a fabric backing. But to turn the polyurethane into a liquid “paint,” a solvent must be used. The most common solvent used today is DMF, a highly toxic chemical. The process also requires copious amounts of water and energy.
We wanted to find a better option, while not sacrificing aesthetic and performance expectations.
Silicone leather (made from silica and 100% renewable) was also a top choice, but it ended up being too soft and flimsy to be fit for bags. Fruit leathers like pineapple and orange leather were also interesting, but were severely limited in appearance and texture. Further research also revealed that these leathers were often made with a mix of polyurethane anyways, for structure and stability. The newer bio-leathers like mushroom and wine leather were still in the development stage, and cost prohibitive.
Our factory specializes in manufacturing waterborne non-woven ultrafiber - formed using 2 highly technical layers of high performance material.
The base is recycled microfiber, created using polyester from used water bottles. These get recycled into pellets, and stretched out into long microfibers. The top layer is a water-based PU coating. Water-based means we use water as a solvent, instead of the typical oil-based chemical DMF. You can think of it like making your morning cappuccino — you have espresso and milk but it needs to be dissolved in a solvent (water) to create a cappuccino. Using water instead of oil creates a cleaner, toxin free, energy efficient material.
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Water-based production eliminates the use of the highly toxic chemical DMF.
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Compared to the traditional polyurethane making process, the water-based process uses 95% less water and 55% less energy consumption.
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Although microfiber is a plastic-based product, we’re using microfiber made from recycled plastics to give it a second life. Our products are 100% PVC free.
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Water-based polyurethane is most often used where durability and performance are a priority (like sporting goods and airplane seats). It’s waterproof, air-permeable, and most importantly, designed to last.
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Our materials are REACH compliant, Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certified, and OEKO-TEX certified, all rigorous standards for chemical and textile safety.
In other words, water-based ultrafiber is pretty revolutionary. It delivers the versatility of polyurethane at a fraction of the environmental impact, with improved durability and lasting power. It's a material I feel good about using.