This week saw the launch of the Re-Action Collective’s Alternative High Street at the Better Business Summit in Manchester—and it was epic!
The Re-Action Collective was “born out of protest” and is a group of incredible organisations challenging the status quo with community-based circular solutions for the outdoor industry. The Party Kit Network is proud to be a member.
The Alternative High Street was the vision my sharing economy buddy, Rebecca Heaps from TentShare. It showcased the power of repair, repurposing, and sharing, bringing together members of the Re-Action Collective who embody this ethos every day.
Thanks to the Better Business Network, we had the opportunity to trial Rebecca’s vision for the first time—and it was epic!
The Alternative High Street Mission
The Alternative High Street is designed to:
Promote reuse, swaps, and repairs over landfill
Encourage sharing over individual ownership
Foster up-skilling and knowledge-sharing
Build resilient communities
Boost the local economy
Champion a local, adaptive approach
These principles are at the heart of the Re-Action Collective’s purpose, which values community-driven action and increasing access to the outdoors as a way to reconnect with nature.
How It Worked
The Alternative High Street featured four stations: Reuse, Repair, Rework, and Share.
At the Reuse station, attendees donated unwanted items, demonstrating how outdoor gear and clothing can be diverted from landfill. These donations will be used by Re-Action members like KitSquad, which provides outdoor gear to low-income families, and PreLoved Sports, which sells secondhand running gear.
At Repair, members of the collective worked throughout the event to repair clothing, bags, and shoes brought in by summit attendees. This showcased various skills, from sewing and patching to darning, that keep items in use for longer.
At Rework, we highlighted innovative repurposing projects, such as creating bags from old event banners and ponchos from festival tents which would otherwise be binned, showcasing how discarded items can be given new life.
At Share, we talked about sharing economy solutions like the peer-to-peer platform TentShare and our own party kits, illustrating the value of sharing what we already own to reduce the demand for new products.
We also had a Community Action Wall, where attendees could share a commitment they planned to take after visiting the Alternative High Street.
As visitors made their way around, they could earn ribbons (rescued festival wristbands) to pin to their tops. Those who completed the challenge by collecting all four ribbons were awarded a limited edition patch, and it was great to see how thrilled people were to earn theirs!
The Response
I was stationed at the Share section, chatting with visitors about the sharing economy solutions offered by members of the Re-Action Collective. This includes TentShare and our own party kits. I loved hearing about their own sharing experiences and the connections they made.
The response to our Alternative High Street was fantastic! Visitors found it informative, fun, and full of joy. Over 50 repairs were carried out of the 2 days and it truly demonstrated the power of interaction and sharing. It was such an exciting step up from the traditional conference stand!
However, the experience also highlighted a real challenge: people often struggle to access local and affordable repair services. This shows just how important it is to share skills and knowledge to keep items out of landfill.
Final Thoughts
I’m so proud of the collective for pulling this off. So much work went into creating the Alternative High Street, and it was absolutely worth it.
A huge thank you to Hannah at the Better Business Network for trusting in Rebecca’s vision - it was truly epic!
Would you like to host an Alternative High Street? Please get in touch!
Find Out More
Find out more about the Re-Action Collective https://re-action-collective.org
Members of the collective who took part:
