Festival Tents Become Ponchos, And That Is Only Half The Story

Every festival season leaves a mountain of abandoned tents behind. EXTNT CIC exists to rescue that waste and turn it into paid, skilled work, real second chances, and products people are proud to wear.

I co-founded EXTNT CIC with Kemi Gbadebo, the designer behind the upcycling brand GBADEBO, and Jon Green from Unity Radio.

Three different worlds, festival waste, community radio and workforce development, brought into one social enterprise.

What EXTNT actually does

The model is straightforward to describe and hard to pull off well. Damaged and abandoned tents get collected from partner festivals.

The fabric gets sorted and cleaned. Then it goes into creative workshops, where participants learn upcycling and screen printing skills and help design and make the finished garments, starting with ponchos.

Every participant gets paid for their time. We call this empowerment over charity: real opportunities and real economic participation, not a handout dressed up as help.

The values behind it

• Circular by design: we rescue, repurpose and reimagine what has been left behind, extending the life of materials that would otherwise go to landfill

• Fair work, fair pay: everyone in our chain, from sorters to stitchers, gets paid a living wage

• Second chances: we believe in rehabilitation through creativity, discipline and purpose, and in supporting people as they rebuild their lives with pride and possibility

• Community rooted: from festival fields to fashion runways, we connect people, products and purpose through collaboration

Why this model, why now

Festival waste is a genuinely under addressed textile stream. Tents are cheap to buy and easy to abandon, and most are not designed to be repaired or recycled. At the same time, there are not enough paid, skills based creative programmes that treat people as capable of real economic participation rather than charity cases.

Kemi's brand has already proven there is a real market for high end upcycled design. Jon's work with Unity Radio has shown what creative engagement can do for people building something new. My job is making sure the environmental and ethical story behind the product actually holds up, not just sounds good on a swing tag.

That means transparency and accountability: no greenwash, just impact backed by data, design and real human effort.

Where this is heading

EXTNT is registered as a Community Interest Company, which legally locks its assets and any surplus into the community mission rather than private profit. For every five ponchos sold, one is donated, adding purpose to every purchase and motivation to every maker.

We have not fully launched yet, so I will not pretend every detail is public. What I can tell you is the model itself: real waste, real wages, real skills, and a supply chain story built to survive being properly checked.

If you want to know more about EXTNT, whether that is festival partnerships, stockists, or just genuine curiosity, email or DM me.

Sources

EXTNT CIC company registration, Companies House (company number 16498408). Details of the model, partnership and values drawn from EXTNT CIC's own founding documents.