Clothing business provides solution to impact tourism has on community

An entrepreneur says he hopes his organic clothing brand will provide a “circular solution” to the impact of tourism on coastal communities.

- by CORNISHMAN REPORTER

Will Besant of Primitive Vision Studios Ltd collects raw food waste from restaurants in St Ives and uses it to dye organic cotton garments – including uniforms for the restaurants’ own staff.

He launched the business using £17,000 from the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme, which offers personal loans of up to £25,000 per director and free mentoring to anyone starting or developing a new business.

Having worked in the catering industry, Will said, he was well aware of the waste it produced, mainly food and single-use plastic: “This is amplified in a place as popular as St Ives, where tourism generates £85 million a year, the second-highest visitor-related spend in the UK.”

Kitchen waste is collected by electric bike to minimise the company’s carbon footprint and processed at Will’s workshop, in a Grade II-listed former church.