Breathing a New Lease of Life into Our Brollies | Fulton Umbrellas

Breathing a New Lease of Life into Our Brollies
Concerns of the environment are trickling down into virtually everything. At the moment, there’s a growing emphasis being placed on tackling the ‘throwaway culture’ in the UK with the 5 Rs; refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle. Every gesture helps when it comes to combatting climate change, whether customers choose to buy longer lasting products or simply make a habit out of upcycling goods that are of no use anymore, we could all make a huge difference. Here, we’ll look at some clever tips for you to upcycle your umbrellas into new household products.

Flower Vase
Perhaps you bought a new windproof umbrellas, replacing your old and battered brolly — you don’t want to just put it in the bin and contribute to the growing waste in our landfills, so what can you do instead?

You can turn your brolly into a quirky flower vase wall decoration. Everyone loves flowers, so you could give this as a thoughtful, homemade gift to your loved ones, or use it to make cheap bespoke decorations for your own home. Simply wrap a pretty ribbon at the point of the umbrellas to keep the fabric held tight, placing your favourite flower arrangement inside — if your umbrella has a hooked handle, you could use this to hang as a fixture on the wall.

Party banners
Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, baby gender reveal, graduation party, or baby shower, this nifty little trick will save pointless amounts of money on party decoration when you could be DIY’ing! Craft your own banners or streamers from the fabric of your umbrella to hang up around your home or the venue you’re partying at. These will add a unique touch to your parties as the banners won’t be like generic decorations from the store. They’ll also be a great backdrop for some fun mid-partying snaps!

A unique skirt
Umbrellas come in unlimited styles, colours, and patterns, and can be a great fashion accessory in the sun and rain if you have one that matches your style. But what if you could wear your beloved umbrella pattern in a new way? You might be wanting to switch things up or your umbrella has just broken, but luckily for you, you don’t need to be a sewing master to rock this look. Particularly useful if you have a pretty patterned ladies umbrellas, simply remove the canopy of the umbrella from the frame, add a belt and you’ve got yourself a one of a kind skirt that nobody else will have!

Scrapbook material
If you’re an avid arts and crafts fanatic and are looking for new material to use in your scrapbooks or photo albums, create swatches and shapes from your broken umbrella material to add a touch of individuality to your memories!

So, what upcycle idea will you use? Umbrellas are a lot more versatile then you might realise…

Raising ADHD Awareness with the Umbrella project | Fulton Umbrellas

Statistics show that in the UK, around two to five per cent of school-aged children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with 60 per cent of those continuing to display symptoms into their adult life. Symptoms include not being able to control their responses, including paying attention, siting still, and their speech. However, studies have suggested that not enough children are receiving treatment for ADHD, with many children being undertreated.

This raises the issue that maybe not enough of us are aware of ADHD and its symptoms. Many of us are unable to identify the condition and don’t know how to accommodate those with ADHD’s needs to help them excel, with children struggling in school, and as a result, underperforming. It can be very frustrating and overwhelming for a child to feel excluded or not understood, mislabelled as troublemakers or being undisciplined. Click her for more information on understanding ADHD.

To tackle this issue and the stigma and discrimination around ADHD, the Umbrella Project is a neurodiversity charity that celebrates the gifts, talents, and employability of those with neurological conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia. Have you ever noticed unique shapes such as birdcage umbrellas hanging up and you’ve been unsure why? The Umbrella Project is a movement that is becoming more and more popular around the world each year to help people understand individuals who are neurodiverse. World leading companies like Apple, Microsoft, and IBM actively recruit neurodiverse employees because of their fantastic abilities to innovate, solve creative problems, and analyse information. The Umbrellas Project earned its name because ADHD and autism are ‘umbrella terms’ for a range of neurological differences that challenge the stigma of these disabilities, which are often invisible.

To help the rest of the world become aware of their capabilities, beautiful and colourful rainbow displays of umbrellas are designed and installed on public streets and spaces such as Heathrow Airport and Liverpool city centre. A recent campaign invited schools across the world to have their own display suspended from classroom ceilings so children can understand the unique talents among their peers. It also raises money for the charity — 2018 was so successful that it attracted over 30 million media hits and installations in Dubai, Spain, Argentina, the U.S, Romania, and Czech Republic.

Photo by Ricardo Resende on Unsplash

Businesses can get involved and sponsor an umbrella for £250. Each umbrella is signed and decorated by a neurodiverse child who writes what their ‘superpower’ is on the brolly, whether it’s a talent, gift, or ability, to celebrate their cognitive differences.

This challenges the myths and stereotypes that people may have about children with these disabilities and helps to recognise their contribution to our society and lives.