IKEA FRAKTA Bag
The world’s most functional and hard working bag
Pretty much anything will fit inside … whether you’re shopping, schlepping, doing the laundry or going to the beach; and we dare you to claim that you’re not involved in an IKEA blue bag hunt at home from time to time.
The origins of FRAKTA can be traced back to the 1960s, when the Swedish company IKEA, founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, started selling more and more small home furnishing products … candles and such. The yellow FRACTA was developed to give customers a big carryall for collecting their shopping at IKEA. The blue FRAKTA was made to provide customers with a reliable bag for carrying their new stuff home.
FRAKTA has become a classic that’s found in almost every home.
Over the years, several variations on FRAKTA have made temporary appearances in limited editions. And in 2017 the luxury fashion brand Balenciaga designed a large blue tote bag that bore a striking resemblance to the FRAKTA, but in blue leather and with a significantly higher price tag: £1,705. IKEA was classy in its response, declaring itself to be “extremely flattered” … and proceeded to publish a guide for people to know how to identify a genuine IKEA FRAKTA, e.g. if it doesn’t rustle when you shake it, it’s not the real deal.
Millions of people have come up with crazy and imaginative ways to use FRAKTA: apple pickers and recycling collectors, parents with young children, football coaches, people rescuing swans, paddle boarders catching the wind, brides looking to pee without soiling their dress – the list is endless. And it can carry heavy loads. FRAKTA does after all mean “to freight” in Swedish … and it can comfortably handle a 50 kilogram load.
Most amusingly, when the New York City authorities introduced a rule that all dogs on public transport had to be transported within a bag, inventive owners of large dogs could soon be seen carrying them in FRAKTA bags with holes cut out for the legs.
It’s fitting that in 2017 IKEA made a film tribute to FRAKTA. You can watch that below.
The FRAKTA is emblematic of the IKEA mission to serve everyone. In a recent US ad campaign that was supported by giant 6-metre-tall FRAKTA bags installed in various cities, a couple walks into a home filled with moving boxes, followed by a child carrying that big blue IKEA bag. Soon enough, the bag begins to glow, and the kid starts to pull out furniture items from it – a lamp, a dog bed, a stool, a floor lamp – until the entire home is furnished with IKEA products. The ever-so-slightly-cheesy ad is designed to highlight the IKEA commitment to affordable design, using a big blue bag that has become the most ubiquitous symbol of the IKEA brand’s vast offering.
Story Idea: Melanie Giuffré
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It makes a terrific laundry bag! That’s how I use it here in NYC… 😉
If you have a yellow bag then shame on you lol.