Student uses abandoned tents in fashion collection

A University of Brighton student is turning abandoned festival tents into a sustainable fashion collection.

Every summer, an estimated 250,000 tents are abandoned at UK music festivals, generating about 900 tonnes of waste that ends up in landfill, the university says.

Tilly Lawless, a product design student, recovered tent fabric left behind at major festivals and concerts, and reworked them into clothing as part of her graduate project, Bâche.

Lawless said: "Bâche is about changing how we value materials that are usually discarded and proving that sustainability and desirability can coexist. Rather than treating festival waste as an endpoint, I want to reposition it as a valuable resource."

Lawless also says design has a role to play in "tackling environmental challenges and helping people see waste differently".

James Tooze, course leader for product design at the university, said Lawless' project challenged assumptions about waste, value and consumption.

"It is exactly the kind of forward-thinking work that the future of the design industry needs," he said.

Lawless' work will be displayed along with other students' at the university's Architecture and Design Graduate Show until Sunday.

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