WiTHiNTENT – The Art of Upcycling Old Tents

At Glastonbury Festival, Kate Benton had a revelation. Tens of thousands of tents are left behind at fesitvals every year - with the majority of them ending up in landfill. Kate decided that something had to be done to help break the dispoable nature of our society. And so WiTHiNTENT was born, making beauitful and environmentally responsible waterproof clothing and accessories. With there being so many different tents, each garment is completely unique!

Kate and a group of willing volunteers go directly to the field (post festival) where they collect the raw material. The material is cleaned and hung out to dry. Kate will then cut the pattern by hand. Because each tent is different, each panel is cut one at a time, designing it along the way. Kate incorporates all of the interesting features of the tents into the designs - if there is a mesh door panel or a PVC window it will be included in the garment.

As much of the tent as possible is used in order to reduce the amount of waste. Any bits of elastic are utilised by inserting them in to the cuffs, guide lines go through hoods to become hood cords, tent zips are shortened and used on pockets, and tarp ground sheets get washed and are used to package garments up before posting.

Once all of the pattern pieces are cut they are then taken to Heba, a Muslim Women’s Project on Brick Lane. Here they stitch the pattern pieces together to make up each finished garment. I think you will agree that this is a fantastic use of the old and unwanted festival tents! Bravo Kate!

To find out more about Kate's designs visit the website WiTHiNTENT