A University of Brighton student is tackling festival waste by transforming abandoned tents into a unique sustainable fashion collection.

Product design student Tilly Lawless created her graduate project, called Bâche, using fabric recovered from tents left behind at major music festivals and concerts across the UK.

According to the university, around 250,000 tents are abandoned at UK music festivals each year, creating approximately 900 tonnes of waste that often ends up in landfill sites.

Lawless collected discarded tent materials and redesigned them into stylish clothing, demonstrating how waste products can be repurposed into valuable and desirable fashion items.

She said the project aims to challenge perceptions about discarded materials and encourage more sustainable approaches to design and consumption.

“Bâche is about changing how we value materials that are usually discarded and proving that sustainability and desirability can coexist,” Lawless explained.

The project highlights growing efforts within the fashion industry to reduce waste and promote circular design practices by giving existing materials a second life instead of sending them to landfill.

By turning abandoned festival tents into wearable fashion, Lawless hopes to inspire greater awareness of environmental issues while showcasing creative solutions to waste management challenges.

Her collection demonstrates how innovative design can transform everyday waste into functional and attractive products, supporting a more sustainable future for the fashion industry.