The History of IKEA’s FRAKTA Bag

IKEA’s carry-all tote has become an iconic item and has been produced by the furniture giant for over 30 years. So how did it get its start? In the 1960s, IKEA stores began to sell more small home furnishing products. In 1986, founder Ingvar Kamprad and his then-assistant, Sten Lundén, decided to observe what actually happened on the sales floor at several locations. They noticed that most IKEA stores provided only small plastic baskets or bags and that many of the home furnishing items did not fit into the provided carriers. In fact, many customers would give up on trying to carry products they picked up, often leaving merchandise behind well before reaching the checkout area! The two men decided it would be important to create a large bag that could be carried over a person’s shoulder, hung from one of the large trolly carts used for moving larger IKEA products, or carried in the hand. IKEA’s then-Head of Purchasing, Lars Göran Peterson (nicknamed LGP), was tasked with measuring many of IKEA’s items to work out what an optimal bag size would be. Then on a trip to Taiwan, Kamprad and LGP found a suitable manufacturer for the bag. The factory owner suggested polypropylene, a strong material often used to make large rice bags. (The trio went so far as to find a woman working there who weighed around 50 kilos, the weight they wanted the bag to be able to hold, and had her stand inside the bag while they lifted it up to ensure it wouldn’t break.) The earliest version of the bag was yellow and was used for carrying items around the stores, but was not available for purchase. However, customers were still struggling to carry their goods home after checkout. Despite Kamprad’s preferred plan of offering two differently colored bags, IKEA stores began selling some of the yellow bags to customers while others were used only in-store. This concept was tested in a German store in 1989, but quickly created a nightmare at checkout counters, as workers couldn’t tell which bags had been paid for and which were supposed to remain in the store. That’s when the blue bag, FRAKTA, was born. IKEA reserved the yellow bags for use in store, while the blue FRAKTA bags were sold to customers. The FRAKTA bags (notably, the name means “‘to freight” in Swedish) closely followed the blueprint of the yellow bags, which were designed by siblings Marianne Hagberg and Knut Hagberg, but were made by a supplier in Vietnam (and later, several others). Today, IKEA’s blue FRAKTA bags have become an icon of design in their own right, with many being used in creative ways after carrying IKEA items home, including as laundry bags, beach carry-alls, and even planters! There have even been several special editions made over the years and more than one high-end designer has put their own spin on the practical, modern classic. However, the low price point and high reusability of the original blue FRAKTA bag has made it a favorite of millions all over the world.