Examining clothing repair practices, core competences, techniques, tools and community structures involved in extending the life of garments

Abstract

The rise of fast fashion as a feature of post-industrial societies has distanced people from many of the habitual practices associated with caring for and valuing clothes. This includes both acquiring and applying the skills to make and mend clothes and understanding fibres and fabrics to develop deeper connections to materials. The principles advocated by a circular economy (CE) require societies to recover these once held values and restore our relationship with materials and practices to keep clothing in use for as long as possible and to reduce consumption. Such CE practices will require our societies to align with current socio-technical developments, where people are increasingly adopting technologies (through e.g. applications, tutorials), to support making and mending practices, and to play and express themselves creatively whilst keeping apparel in use. The study aims to examine self-repair practices and repair services from practitioners’ viewpoints, evaluating available support, and identifying challenges and opportunities to integrate repair practices more widely in society. The results suggest it is critical to develop the skills to mend and customize the garments people own and provide additional support for people to become custodians of clothes. This study is part of a larger project to identify opportunities where technology could intervene in a repair process and facilitate opportunities for people to reconnect with materials and acquire repair skills. To develop this idea, we designed an interview study to investigate practices of clothing repair to determine if and where such support might be welcomed. Researchers conducted interviews with three groups of people – brands, repair practitioners and community initiatives to gather insights into repair practices, core competences, techniques, tools and community structures involved in extending the life of garments. Insights from the findings address some of the underexplored areas of a clothes repair practice across the three settings. We identify the important relationship of material knowledge to repair and the limited attention given to different types of repair tools and their application. As material skills and knowledge diminish across society it can undermine the drive to scale-up the practice of repair. Knowledge from the findings will inform further research to map the repair process and break it down into stages to identify opportunities where digital tools could intervene to help facilitate aspects of the process for people across different settings.