Designer Jess O’Riley on circular fashion, salvaging tents, and building creative community in Manchester.
If you’ve been to one of our events, chances are you’ve met Jess, or at the very least, seen one of her vibrant, tent-rescued designs floating through the room. Founder of J.O.STUDIO and co-creator of Making Room, Jess is a designer and maker with bold ideas and a big heart for the planet. Her work brings together creativity, circularity, and collaboration, demonstrating that fashion can be both joyful and low-impact.
We caught up with Jess to chat all things tents, micro-factories, and post-graduation hustle. From building a brand out of salvaged materials to creating a space where Manchester’s creative community can thrive, Jess is helping to shape the kind of future we want to see, one where fashion is fairer, slower, and rooted in real values.
Hello! We’d love the non-LinkedIn lowdown on who you are and the scope of your work at J.O.STUDIO?
Hi! I’m Jess, a sustainable designer, and maker based in Manchester. I founded J.O.STUDIO as a way to turn post-consumer waste, specifically abandoned festival tents into functional, wearable clothing and accessories. I’m passionate about circular design practise, bold colour and shapes, and proving that low impact design doesn’t have to be boring. Everything I make is made from 100% discarded festival tents, every year I take part in the salvage operation after the festival weekend to save as many tents as possible from landfill.
What are you working on at the moment? Any challenges that are particularly hard to chew? Our readers might be able to help…
I’ve been running the brand for around a year now, and having developed a range of recycled tent pieces, I am currently working on refining my offering to ensure every piece is perfect and ready for market! The biggest challenge I am facing is scaling production sustainably while keeping prices accessible and staying true to my circular ethos. I’m also looking to form more formalised partnerships with festivals to collect tents at source, so if anyone has any links with sustainability or operations at UK festivals I’d love to connect!
I’m also navigating post graduation life and freelancing for the first time (I graduated from Manchester fashion institute this time last year). I’m super passionate about my work being able to help others and provide opportunities for those in a similar position leaving uni and making their first tentative steps into industry. This led me to co-found Making Room.
You’ve also recently set up the Making Room! Tell us about the vision there, and how readers can get involved!
Making Room is a new micro-factory and rentable studio space I co-founded with my mates James Robinson and Conner Thomas-Davidson, based at The Yard, Cheetham Hill . We’re building a space for local, transparent production in Manchester, where designers and makers can work and collaborate in a relaxed and sociable environment. Our goal is to support small labels and creatives with the space, tools, and skills needed to produce ethically in the city and grow their brands sustainably. We’re also running public workshops too to engage Manchester residents and teach basic sewing and mending skills. We want these to be as friendly, accessible and enjoyable as possible, no prior experience is needed so feel free to come along to the next one!
Instagram- @making_roommcr
Website- https://making-room.uk
What are some tips you have for people who want to work freelance/in the fashion industry?
Ok, magic wand time; if we could grant you three wishes for the fashion industry, what would they be?
Finally - We’d love some recommendations; one climate-related resource, one person to follow online and one consumer brand that’s killing it!
Brand: Brand wise I don’t really shop at brands as such, but I love following @wipwrk and their work with tents over in Australia. It’s interesting to see the comparison between my brand and theirs, and how each brand approaches the same problem in completely different ways.