Festival Tents Into Bags: The Viral Video That Sparked an Upcycling Business

Lauren Mason started Retribe after witnessing massive tent waste at Creamfields, now turning festival tents into bags and accessories to combat environmental damage.

Two years ago, Lauren Mason volunteered for festival cleanup, thinking she might score free fabric to make a jacket. What she found instead shocked her into starting a business that transforms festival tents into bags and other useful products, helping to address one of music festivals’ biggest waste problems.

At the Creamfields music festival, Mason discovered something that stopped her cold. Nearly 80% of the tents were abandoned in the fields. Hundreds of perfectly good tents, some barely used, were about to be bulldozed straight into landfill trucks.

Mason grew up treating camping gear like treasure. Her family borrowed equipment because it was expensive. The unwritten rule was simple: unless your tent caught fire, you packed it up dry and took it home. Her mother, who she describes as “an amazing seamstress,” had taught her the value of taking care of materials.

But what she saw at Creamfields was different. Tent after tent sat empty while crews prepared to haul them away as garbage. She pulled out her phone and made a quick TikTok video showing the waste. When she checked her phone later, the video had exploded online with millions of views.

That moment completely changed Mason’s life direction. She realized the viral response meant other people cared about this problem too, and maybe she could do something bigger than just making herself a jacket.

That summer, Mason teamed up with friend Benjamin Harman to launch Retribe. Their mission addresses a significant issue: collecting abandoned tents and transforming them into bags, bottle carriers, jackets, and other accessories. The process of transforming festival tents into bags requires creativity, as each tent presents different materials and challenges.

Every piece is unique because they work with whatever materials they collect. Even damaged tents work perfectly for their purpose. The waterproof nature of tent fabric makes it ideal for creating durable bags that can handle heavy loads and weather.

The fabric in these tents is typically nylon or polyester. Both materials are waterproof and strong, but they take hundreds of years to break down in landfills. That means every tent thrown away today will still be sitting in the ground when Mason’s great-great-grandchildren are adults.

According to the Association of Independent Festivals, about 250,000 tents get abandoned at UK festivals every year. Festival-goers often treat cheap tents like disposable items, part of the ticket price rather than gear worth saving.

Mason has two sons, ages five and seven. When she shows them photos of abandoned festival fields, they ask if police arrested the people who left the mess. Even young kids understand that throwing away working items is wrong.

This throwaway culture started after World War II, when mass production made replacing items cheaper than fixing them. The UK now generates about 1.7 million tonnes of textile waste annually. Clothes that don’t go to landfills often end up polluting beaches in Ghana or piling up in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Retribe joins a growing fight against overconsumption. Secondhand clothing platforms like Vinted and Depop have exploded in popularity. Research from resale platform ThredUp reveals that the used clothing market is growing 2.7 times faster than traditional retail.

The repair and upcycling culture has also reached mainstream media. TV shows like “The Repair Shop” and viral social media tutorials teach people to fix things instead of throwing them away. In 2023, the European Union passed landmark right-to-repair laws that require manufacturers to repair products at reasonable prices.

Each abandoned tent contains at least 10 meters of fabric. When Retribe converts festival tents into bags, that same fabric prevents future plastic bag purchases, too. Small changes add up to big differences, Mason says.

Retribe has upcycled over 500 tents to date. Each festival tent that gets transformed into bags represents a small victory against waste culture. But running a sustainable startup focused on turning festival tents into bags isn’t easy.

The company operates from a small factory space in Sheffield. They make most items to order, preventing overproduction. Mason does much of the sewing herself, with help from her mother, her best friend, her husband, and anyone with spare time.

See also: United Airlines Handbags From Recycled Life Jackets

Finding funding has been frustrating. Most sustainability grants target technology companies, and Retribe doesn’t fit that category. EU grants that supported similar businesses are no longer available to UK companies after Brexit. Mason took out a startup loan instead. Some weeks, sales don’t cover the loan payments.

Despite financial challenges, Mason stays motivated by seeing her products in use. She also runs workshops that teach people how to upcycle their own materials. Every workshop participant leaves with a finished product and new sewing skills. Mason calls these teaching moments “really big wins” because they multiply her impact beyond her own production capacity.

Mason describes Retribe as “small and mighty.” In a world where throwing things away is often easier than reusing them, making something meaningful from trash feels powerful. Her message is straightforward: we need to think differently about what happens to products when we’re done with them.

And I have to agree. In a world where waste is often easier than reuse, making something meaningful from trash is a powerful act.