Trad Collective is a sustainable fashion and lifestyle store based in Headingley, which also offers tailoring services, mendings and alterations. The company was founded by Josefin ‘Jo’ Wanner and James Fenwick in 2021.
This year, after the annual Leeds festival, James went to Bramham Park to partake in the clean up. He also collected abandoned tents which they later up-cycled into a variety of products to sell in store.
The idea came through “a bit of luck” after they were informed by another local business owner of the clean up. Jo said the business owner thought it would be a good place for them to find more material and also help with the salvaging.
From the material the pair acquired from the abandoned tents, they’ve been able to make reusable tote bags, bum bags, laptop cases and even a jacket. Jo said: “We’ve made one jacket, that was a bit more of an advanced piece, its taken me like 20 hours to make. The bags just take an hour.”
The pairs efforts have been widely recognised. They have been interviewed by BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Look North about their journey. ” It’s great, a bit unexpected obviously when we went, we didn’t expect it to go that far but it’s been great for business.”
They advocate for small habitual changes which can lead to a bigger impact. “I usually tell people to start small. The sustainable journey can be quite a big and overwhelming journey so rather than thinking I have to start everything right now and change all my habits start with one thing.”
The company is now looking ahead as they make their next big move from Headingley to Leeds City Center. Although the move will occupy a lot of their time for the next few months, Jo and James plan to head straight back to “the drawing board when it comes to the up-cycling and see what other bits and bobs” they can make.
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