Ben's studio takes tents and backpacks that are past their use-by — no longer functional for the extreme outdoors — cleans them, cuts them back into their original components, and sews brand new products from those pieces.
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Waste and Progress works primarily with the outdoor education industry. Outdoor gear has a use-by date set by the manufacturer because waterproofing wears out or the gear gets damaged; oftentimes it's still really good but has small issues, and repairing it is time consuming. Ben's process is to clean the gear, cut it back into its original components, and sew new products. He frames the whole operation as a funnel: the Second Life Project sits at the top collecting material and giving back the still-good gear, and the studio takes the rest and divides it into what's good for consumer products versus commercial products.