Even before one or two generation, it was common for a broken piece of clothing at home – broken zippers, crushed knee or elbow areas, separated hems, fallen buttons – that was not a problem. Every household had loyal stuffing and sewing utensils, many even a sewing machine. Difficult cases were handed over to the tailoring of trust, which was still on almost every corner.
Nowadays the situation looks different – clothing, even with small problems such as a fallen button, land in the back angle of the wardrobe and later on the trash. How does that come? What has changed?
On the one hand, people hardly have time to sit down and to repair clothes. On the other hand, it is no longer a “cool” leisure activity, she got out of fashion and also the skill, because after all it is an art to stuff a hole so that you can hardly see the repair and hold it. Or just sew a hem again or even to make clothes closer or further.
The main reason, however, is that clothing (unlike most other use of use) has not become more expensive over the decades, but has become cheaper. This is due to factors such as mass production, globalization and the emergence of fast fashion. This means that, in 1980, a T-shirt still cost 10 to 12 euros (or 20 to 24 D-marks), it is for half today.
As a result, people have bought two or more instead of a T -shirt, and do this with all articles – we have too much of all clothes – pants, shirts, t -shirts, skirts, skirts, etc. Our wardrobes burst from all the seams and if a piece of clothing can no longer keep up because it has a stain or a hem is missing, then we sort it out, then sort it out of it, Patch it and are secretly happy to have reduced our clothes a little.
“Mend in Public Day” on April 26th
The question of repairing arises for most consumers: not inside. Unless it becomes a public, revolutionary act. As on this Saturday, April 26, for example, when the non -profit organization Fashion Revolution calls again as part of the Fashion Revolution Week to the “Mend in Public Day”, that is, a whole day that is dedicated to the mutation of clothing together. Anyone who has forgotten how to sew, stuff and deal with the needle (or maybe never got it), for those there are instructions, tips and tricks.
In Germany, too, Fashion Revolution Germany calls for the “Mend in Public Day” in many cities, which is all about repairing and beautifying clothing. The materials are often provided and there are also snacks and drinks as well as information on the subject of “clothing”. This can also be exchanged.
Exact information, what is going on in the individual cities and where you can swap clothes, repair, participate in discussion and find out more, can be found in the calendar area of fashion revolution.
Fashion companies offer repair services
Incidentally, fashion companies have also come to the fact that it is more sustainable to offer the repair of the clothes they produce than to cover up with more and more new goods. Just yesterday, for example, the Hamburg fashion group Tom Tailor announced a partnership with the Dutch repair platform Mended, which started with armedangels as a partner in Germany almost a year ago.
The German outdoor provider Schöffel offers its customers: inside for decades the opportunity to have products in the in-house workshop repaired and talked about more about it in an interview with Fashionunited.
The Swiss manufacturer of functional clothing Odlo has been offering a repair service in all Swiss branches since October as part of its REWEAR program and resale platform Vestiaire Collective since June with the repair and change platform soyo to provide Vestiaire-Kund: Interior access to tailoring and repair services.
The French company Prolong has developed a business-to-business software that helps fashion companies to build a cost-efficient Care & Repair Service for their products.
Clothing retailers with ambitions for size such as Decathlon and Uniqlo are now also focusing on repairs: Decathlon through repair workshops in all 90 German branches and Uniqlo through its Re.Uniqlo Studios, which offer repair, change and donation offers. In Japan in particular, “Sashiko”, Japanese technology for the Denim repair, has a long tradition.