Clothing designer upcycles abandoned Leeds Festival tents

Josefin Wanner owns her own sustainable fashion label Wanner

Abandoned tents from Leeds Festival are being transformed into clothing by the owners of a sustainable fashion store.

Hundreds of tents as well as clothes, sleeping bags and other equipment were left behind at Bramham Park after the annual event last month.

Josefin Wanner and James Fenwick, who own Trad Collective in Headingley, said they had upcycled salvaged material.

Mr Fenwick said the fabric would be turned into "useful things" and would help "avoid landfill".

Mr Fenwick said: "I think Leeds fest do a great job by inviting people to collect this stuff, but there's always stuff left over which ends in landfill so it's not a completely solved problem.

"If we can get to a point where they're not putting stuff in landfill and everything was either reused, recycled or upcycled that would be ideal."

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The leftover material is redesigned and repurposed by Mr Fenwick's partner, Josefin, who sells the items in the store.

So far Miss Wanner has upcycled two bags' worth of leftover material, turning it into a variety of bags, and has plans to create coats for people and dogs.

The couple opened their store in 2021 after making a resolution to shop sustainably. It stocks only upcycled fashion, sustainable brands and preloved clothes.

The couple opened the shop after agreeing to only buy sustainably

The couple said their aim was to make sustainable fashion more accessible and dispel misconceptions that shopping sustainably was an expensive option.

Miss Wanner said: "Sustainable fashion can be expensive, but it can also be cheap. If you have a shirt lying around with a hole in it it and you haven't worn it for ages, it can be repaired by us much cheaper than going to the high street and buying a new one."