The Festival Of Thrift

The Festival of Thrift at Darlington in the North East is a free, fun and family-friendly celebration of everyday living, with upcycling, recycling and sustainability at its core.

One of the founder organisers is Wayne Hemingway and with 27,000 festival-goers this year in Wayne's own words, “The festival proved that ‘thrift’ isn’t just a flash in the pan. It’s a genuine response to the economy and the state of the world that is creaking under mass-consumption.”

Now in its third year and with the Observer Ethical Award for Culture and Arts 2015 under its belt, The Festival of Thrift has become an annual event which we enjoyed enormously.

PLAY VIDEO

The philosophy behind The White T-Shirt Co fits perfectly with the festival. Our quality organic basics are made to last "Designed and made with sustainability in mind. We don’t believe in throwaway fashion." So in the spirit of thrift we were selling our 'not so perfect' t-shirts; seconds with small fabric flaws, design and pre-production samples.

We found ourselves selling alongside gorgeous vintage and upcycled clothing reflecting the quality and style of another era. First impressions may have been one of a strange, ecletic mix but the thread that ran through us all was of beautifully made clothes. Clothes made to last - clothes with sustainability.

 We also took along some re-cycled and up-cycled items of our own. We try not to waste anything and use our packaging off-cuts as 'scribbling paper' so we made some into small notelets, banded with our hand stamped ethical promise.

We also used our t-shirt off-cuts to make up into lavender bags, dusters and glass cleaning clothes - all things that could be up-cycled from old clothing and linen. I've still got some dusters my Grandmother made from old cotton winceyette sheets!

The Festival Of Thrift is all about living sustainably in style.

It shows you how reusing, recycling and up cycling can be fun, save you money and benefit the environment, featuring leading and emerging artists, demonstrations, stalls, talks and workshops offering thrifty advice, tips and tricks as well as innovative tasty food and drink.

A fantastic weekend. See you all next year!