5 Reasons to Repair Your Clothes in 2022

1. Prevent textile waste and carbon emissions

Something as small as a lost button can prevent us from wearing our clothes. By learning how to repair or rework our clothes we can prevent that item from adding to the 336,000 tonnes of clothing that end up in UK landfill or incineration each year (Wrap Textiles 2030).

Our clothes can take as long as 200 years to decompose…so our planet is getting polluted by more and more unnatural material all the time.

What ‘s Wrong with Fast Fashion: Pebble Magazine

2. Wear the clothes you love for longer

The majority of the clothes people bring to our workshops are items that they cherish. It might be a pair of jeans that fit perfectly, a Kaftan that was owned by a grandmother, a dress that brings back a lot of fun memories on the events it was worn to. People leave our workshops happy that their favourite item of clothing can be worn again to create new memories.

3. Learn a new skill

You don’t need to be an expert dressmaker or tailor to fix clothes. At least 85% of our workshop attendees have never used a sewing machine before or not since they were at school. Bring along an item of clothing you want to fix and we will show you the techniques you need to repair it. Build up your sewing skills with each item of clothing that is repaired. Materials and equipment is provided.

4. Practice mindfulness

Often participants will talk of how calming simply sitting as a group and hand stitching their damaged clothing can be. As our repair and upcycling workshops are often aimed at beginner sewers, we place a focus on the doing rather than perfection. The practical task of clothes mending and sewing can offer respite from the scale of a problem for a short moment in time. Darning, for example, takes concentration to weave the yarn to build up the hole. Read our article in Pebble Magazine on why mending your clothes is good for the soul.

5. Save money

Window of Royal Trinity Hospice London Charity Shop, Islington.

Fast fashion is notoriously inexpensive to buy but it often doesn’t last very long as cheap fabrics and techniques are used to make them. There is no judgement at our workshops on where your clothes are from. We are happy to help you repair the item of clothing to prevent it from adding to the landfill issue. By mending an item of clothing that you can wear again, it reduces the need to buy something new to replace it. Our workshops are free or offered at an affordable rate.

Join one of our workshops

We host regular workshops in London on a Monday evening. If you are not based in London, we also offer a free online mend-a-long via Zoom. It isn’t a teaching session but we can give you advice on how to mend your clothes and send you videos of any techniques required. Find our list of ‘How To’ videos here.

Find the list of our workshops on our Event Calendar, including more non-London based workshops coming this year. Or sign up to our newsletter to keep updated on how to join us for some Fast Fashion Therapy.