Wayne Hemingway

16 September 2013

Why a festival about being thrifty?

It all started from a place called Lingfield Point in Darlington. This was a wool factory that has been redeveloped taking account of its history and upcycling it into something great to work and live in.

But it doesn't get any publicity. If it had been in London it would have everyone talking about it - it's that good.

So how would we get publicity? Why not have a festival about it?

There is a massive increase in people sewing, baking, making their own things. It seems the time is right to be doing this sort of event.

Tell us about your background

My whole home was brought up on thrift: plastic bags for bin liners; all my toys were made by Pop; all the bits of soap were melted down to make a bigger bar of soap.

Tell us about your move into fashion

We started off in Camden Market, London, out of necessity to live. We sold the clothes we made. Red or Dead was a very political company - there was always a message behind what we did.

Can designers help people become greener?

The projects we take on are socially responsible. Many designers think like that.

But what's going wrong is that sustainability is still a minority sport and people don't care.

If everybody cared about sustainability when they bought things, then manufacturers would respond. But if people demand disposability then maufacturers will cater for that.  

Find out about our Make It Better campaign for products made in less harmful ways