Sonder Bikes
This year's KitSwap at Kendal Mountain Festival was all about giving outdoor gear a second life, and the outdoor community showed up in force.
Here's something worth knowing: keeping your kit in circulation is one of the single most impactful things you can do as a consumer to reduce carbon emissions and close the loop on waste. When a jacket, rucksack, or pair of boots gets swapped instead of discarded, it avoids the carbon-heavy production of something new and keeps perfectly good gear doing what it does best.
Kendal Mountain Festival proved to be the perfect setting for this message. As one of the UK's largest gatherings of outdoor enthusiasts, the festival brings together people who share a genuine passion for adventure and the wild places we explore. KMF's own commitment to sustainability, working year-on-year to reduce their environmental footprint across everything from energy use to waste, creates the ideal platform for initiatives like KitSwap. Their tagline, "Share the Adventure," captures something essential about what we're doing: redistributing kit isn't just about sustainability, it's about community, and ensuring more people can access the gear they need to get outside.
The energy over the festival weekend reflected that perfectly. The KitSwap space was buzzing from open to close, with hundreds of swaps taking place and well-loved gear finding eager new owners. We took in mountains of clothing, rucksacks, and footwear, and by Sunday evening, nearly all of it had moved on to its next adventure. The few pieces we left with were essentially what people had swapped in on the final day, proof that the circular system worked beautifully.
Beyond the swaps themselves, the conversations throughout the weekend reinforced why events like this matter. We connected with local charities including the Bendrigg Trust and a new refugee running club, and were able to support them directly with kit donations. Visitors were genuinely excited to learn about initiatives like our Continuum down recycling programme, and many left with goody bags containing care products and information about the Alpkit Foundation's work.
Being part of a festival that prioritises sustainability alongside celebration makes KitSwap more than just a stand, it's a meeting point where values align and real change happens. The visibility and footfall at Kendal gave us the opportunity to reach thousands of people with a message that matters, and the response showed just how ready the outdoor community is to embrace circular gear.
Thanks to everyone who brought kit, made a swap, or simply stopped by to chat. And thanks to Kendal Mountain Festival for providing a space where we can all share the adventure, and share the kit that makes it possible. You're keeping great gear in action and making a real difference to the planet in the process.