The Rain Skirt – Made out of a Tent?

admin | Dec 07, 2009 | 0 comments

Butterflyrainskirt I went to St George’s Market Christmas Craft Fair today to check out what was on offer and came across these fabulous skirts made from old tents by the very talented, Joanna Karolini. Joanna gets a huge “GREEN” sticker for her product range. She is recycling old tents and using her creativity to come up with very original fashion items.

Joanna came up with the “Rain Skirt” concept after years of walking and cycling through Belfast in the pouring rain. She found rain trousers too awkward and unfeminine, and felt that she needed to come up with an alternative solution. One day, she picked up an old tent and decided to make a skirt out of it that she could wear over her jeans while out cycling in the rain. Tent material is generally very waterproof (although I do recall waking up rather soaked a couple of times back in my teens camping in the lovely damp Irish countryside) and also holds in the heat, so is ideal on your standard cold rainy day in Northern Ireland. The experiment was a success, and demand for the skirts among her friends quickly started to rise.

ABlack The Rain Skirt moved on to become a business venture after a trip to a weekend long Irish music festival. Once the festival came to an end, Joanna discovered that many people took their hangovers back home with them, but left their tents behind to an uncertain fate. Light-bulbs lit up and the rest is history! She is now expanding her product range to include hats, money bags, and there is more to come!