
VidCon using the Rewilder furniture to furnish a sustainability lounge. (Courtesy Freeman)
Jenny Silbert cofounded Rewilder in Los Angeles 11 years ago with Lisa Siedlecki, an accessories designer, and Stephanie Choi, who grew up playing in mountains of waste fabric in her parents’ garment factory. Their mission: to repurpose materials that would otherwise be trashed into functional, beautiful things. Using discarded airbags, seatbelts, climbing ropes, and other salvaged materials, Rewilder began designing and selling handmade backpacks, totes, and other items online, to promote, as the company’s website says, “a circular economy that prioritizes people and the planet.”
Their work repurposing surplus and waste materials within the world of events began, Silbert said, when a staff member at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who saw and loved Rewilder’s work, asked if the company could help them keep their organization’s street-pole and advertising banners out of the waste stream. Rewilder made pencil pouches and tote bags from the Philharmonic’s banners, material that is “super, super strong and durable,” Silbert said, because it is made to withstand wind and rain. The material is long-lasting in other ways as well: Most event banners are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) vinyl, which can take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills.

Rewilder’s sketches and notes for the ongoing VidCon Sustainability Lounge furniture project. (Courtesy Rewilder).
It was their first R&D project working with event waste, Silbert said, and Rewilder has gone on to create totes and other items from surplus merchandise and giant stage banners for Goldenvoice, a California music events company behind such festivals as Coachella, among other clients.
About three years ago, word of mouth brought VidCon, a huge convention for digital creators, platforms, and their fans, held in Anaheim, California, calling, Silbert said. “Their message was: ‘We have all these banners. They’re going in the trash. Is there something you can do with them?’” Silbert and Rewilder’s team suggested that banners be used to make furniture — armchairs and cube-shaped ottomans and chairs stuffed with trash foam salvaged from the movie and production industry in Los Angeles.
“It was really, really difficult to make those pieces,” Silbert said, “but was a lot of fun.” VidCon has used them to furnish a sustainability lounge and adds more upcycled furniture pieces at each convention. “Every year it’s like, how can we do this bigger?” Silbert said. “How can we integrate it more into the programming” and make it “an exciting, interactive, shareable experience?”

Jenny Silbert, labeling the VidCon banners, after evaluating each one for color, size, pattern and design potential. (Courtesy Rewilder)
Using upcycled materials to tell compelling stories about the thoughtful consumption of resources and its impact is at the heart of Rewilder’s business model and mission, Silbert said. The storytelling part is key, because turning banners and other materials into totes costs more than buying ones made out of new material. “You can buy $5 and $10 totes from China. And the totes that we’re making cost at the low end, $20 and go up to $65-$70,” and beyond, she said. Cost-wise, “it’s a big swing. It is actually an investment in sustainability,” she said. “You have to want to do the right thing, otherwise it doesn’t make financial sense.”
The typical way to measure impact is by financial metrics, Silbert said. “We measure impact in material saved from the landfill, and people and lives. They are just different metrics, and we have to move toward that for people to see value.”
Barbara Palmer is deputy editor of Convene.