15 Mending and Repair Businesses that Will Help You Make Your Loved Clothes Last
By Stella Hertantyo
“We aren’t repurposing and mending clothes because we can’t afford to buy something new – we are doing it because we can’t afford to throw something away.” – Orsola de Castro, author of ‘Loved Clothes Last’
I wholeheartedly believe in this quote, and I think it is one that we should all try our best to live by. Mending is a slow fashion practice that really matters, because it places the focus on care and rewear, instead of consumption.
But, let me be honest for a second: I have a little pile of clothing – tucked near the back of my closet – patiently waiting for the rainy day that I promised I’d use to learn how to mend them properly. Somehow, the weeks are always a little too short and the rainy day always gets pushed out. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
The need to revive a culture of mending and repairing that was so prominent in previous generations is absolutely clear. But the reality is that learning and applying these skills can take time, which is something that many of us feel short of, these days.
Luckily, there are a growing number of businesses that are offering tailoring, mending, repairing, and altering services that can help us bring mending and repairs back into our slow fashion practices, no matter how busy we are:
1. Clothes Doctor
Whether you’ve got a hole in your favorite sweater, need to shorten the sleeves of a top, restore your old leather jacket, or are looking for an eco-friendly washing liquid, Clothes Doctor is your one-stop-shop for all things sustainable clothing care. They offer online alteration, customization, and repairs services. If you are based in the UK, send your items off to them and they’ll be given a new lease on life and be back in your wardrobe within 10 days.
Care and repair services: Alterations, customizations, repairs, restorations, laundry and cleaning, and the sale of various eco-friendly clothing care products
Country: United Kingdom
2. Coblrshop
On a mission to make repair mainstream, Coblrshop is a new female-founded startup set on modernizing the shoe repair experience. The Boston-based company, co-founded by Leslie Bateman and Emily Watts, is solving the inconvenient problem with repair, by systemizing the process and providing an easy tech-enabled experience from anywhere.
This on-demand repair service is reviving the declining, but important, cobbler trade by educating consumers on repair and utilizing tech to make repairing your shoes, bags, or leather goods as effortless as online shopping. Coblrshop also only uses recyclable and compostable packaging materials to reduce the impact of shipping and delivery.
Care and repair services: Shoe repair on women's flats, heels, and boots and men's dress shoes and boots; shoe shining; handbag restoration & other a la carte options
Country: United States
3. Eva Joan
This New York-based store is pioneering a culture of wear, care, and repair by offering in-house services for you to repair, customize, and upcycle anything your heart desires. Eva Joan focuses on the abundant creativity in reworking your clothing and their goal is to inspire customers to use patches and embroidery to repair their old favorite pieces or create new ones. When someone comes into the shop with a project, they first get a consultation about how the team of makers, including a tailor or embroiderer, can either restore or reimagine the piece. It really is a collaborative process of reworking your closet.
Care and repair services: Mending, tailoring, embellishment, repair, embroidery, upcycling
Country: United States
4. Fix That Shirt
Fix That Shirt is a Parisian fashion-tech start-up that is building an app to help you repair and upcycle your clothes with ease. Their app, which can be accessed on the Apple Store and Google Play, connects you with local artisans and makers who can help you bring new life to your clothes, depending on what you require. They also focus on creating jobs for people with sewing skills – established tailors, fashion students, or sewing hobbyists – who can become “Fixers” on the app, set their prices for each service, and easily connect with people who are looking to make their loved clothes last.
Care and repair services: Repairs and upcycling
Country: France
5. Hidden Opulence
Based in Portland, Oregon, Hidden Opulence is a Queer, Black, Latinx-owned business that aims to celebrate inclusivity, sustainability, and uniqueness, one garment at a time. They are here to help you extend the lifespans of your well-worn garments a little longer, and refurbish and repair your cherished heirloom pieces. Hidden Opulence sparks conversations about how to care for your clothing, while providing services to help you do so.
Care and repair services: Alterations, upcycling, mending, repairs, tailoring
Country: United States
6. Little Cliff
Specializing in clothing repairs and vintage revivals, Little Cliff is on a mission to extend the life cycle of clothes by reviving secondhand garments and providing custom repairs. Little Cliff aims to add newness and durability to your wardrobe using existing resources, plant-based dyes, and slow mending techniques. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Alexis Giger founded Little Cliff out of necessity after being retrenched from a job in the fashion industry and wanting to find a way to promote radical acts of care in a careless fashion system. They also sell mending kits for those that want to give mending a try, at home.
Care and repair services: Repairing, mending, vintage revivals
Country: United States
7. Make Nu
Make Nu is encouraging us to fall in love with our wardrobes all over again and inviting us to interrogate and redefine our ideas about ‘waste’. They are influencing a shift in consumer mindsets by showing people a more sustainable way of engaging with their wardrobes. Make Nu works exclusively with local embroiderers, weavers, darners, and seamstresses, whilst providing a seamless door-to-door service and 1-3 week turnaround period. On top of their repair and alteration services, they also sell a range of clothing care products, as well as cute patches and embellishment services to add a new spark to your garments.
Care and repair services: Alterations, repairs, customizations, restorations
Country: United Kingdom
8. MendIt App
Currently in their pilot phase and based in Houston, Texas, MendIt App is here to help you invest in the clothing you already have. Available on the Apple Store or Google Play, MendIt aims to support local businesses that specialize in mending clothes by offering a marketplace where local businesses can connect with people who are interested in using their services. They will soon be offering customization services too, which will connect people with local artisans and artists who can embellish and reimagine their garments. Who says that sustainability can’t be convenient too?!
Care and repair services: Mending, repairs
Country: United States
9. Old Flame Mending
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Old Flame Mending is ready to help you reignite your love for your well-worn clothes by offering a range of repair, mending, and tailoring services. You can mail your – clean – items to them, they will collaborate with you to decide on the best mends and alterations for each item, and then they will be back in your wardrobe within 2-3 weeks. They also offer digital gift cards and mending kits, so you can give your loved ones the gift of mending – a perfect introduction to slow fashion!
Care and repair services: Repairs, visible mending, basic tailoring, darning
Country: United States
10. Repair Rebels
Repair rebels is a repairs service, based in Düsseldorf, that is daring us to rebel against the culture of disposability in the fast fashion industry by taking care of our clothes and making them last. With their digital service that includes collection and delivery and a turnaround time of 7 days, they are aiming to make textile and shoe repairs as convenient as buying new, so that you have no excuse to not care for and rewear the clothes you already have.
Care and repair services: Shoe and clothing repairs
Country: Germany
11. Second Stitch
Second Stitch is a Melbourne-based social enterprise that believes in second chances. They aim to economically empower highly skilled migrant, asylum seeking, and refugee women through textiles. Second Stitch trains these women in all things textiles – including pattern-making, learning how to use industrial machines, and alterations – and then connects them to people who want to get some more life out of their most loved items. They also sell ethically and locally made products – such as napkins, tea towels, and cushion covers – made by their team of seamstresses.
Care and repair services: Alterations and repairs
Country: Australia
12. Sojo
Sojo is here to revolutionize our relationship with our clothes. It is the UK’s first clothing alterations and repairs app and they are on a mission to bring back the culture of mending and repairing while supporting local artisans and tailors who have the skills we need to make our loved clothes last or adjust a preloved purchase so that it fits just right. Available on iOS and Android, the Sojo app makes clothing alterations and tailoring easier than ever by offering a pickup and delivery service so that you’ll be wearing your favorite items again before you know it.
Care and repair services: Alterations, repairs, tailoring
Country: United Kingdom
13. Splendid Stitches
Splendid Stitches is London’s only dedicated, vintage alterations studio and repairs service. Specifically focussing on clothing from the 1920s to the 1980s, as well as vintage reproductions, Splendid Stitches knows how to handle your delicately made, decades-old vintage and heirloom pieces with just the right care, so that you can continue wearing them for years to come. They can help you with anything from alterations (such as shortening hems and re-sizing), and repairs (such as changing broken zips, fixing rips, and patches), to replacing old linings, or refashioning something new out of something old.
Care and repair services: Vintage clothing alterations, repairs, customizations, and restorations
Country: United Kingdom
14. The Artful Menders
Mending really is an art form, and The Artful Menders are here to turn your well-loved pieces into works of wearable art. Using visible and invisible mending techniques, and following their ethos of “no item is too small or too strange”, The Artful Menders will bring your favorite clothes back to life to make them "better than new" whilst giving them a unique edge and a new story to tell. They also offer various mindful mending workshops and events, so that you can learn how to give your garments a new lease on life.
Care and repair services: Repairs, alterations, upcycling
Country: United Kingdom
15. The Seam
The Seam offers care and repair services for people and brands, based in London. The Seam allows you to search for local makers who specialize in the type of project you need doing, whether that’s a simple repair or something made to measure. You can use their simple search filters to discover local makers near you who specialize in the service you need. You can even request for your maker to visit you for a fitting at home or your workplace, making the process of getting your clothes mended or altered as seamless as possible.
Care and repair services: Alterations, repairs, made-to-measure custom projects
Country: United Kingdom
By mending and repairing our clothing, we are making sure that we can wear it for longer, which means we are slowing down how much we consume and making sure that less goes to waste.
These businesses are helping to revive a culture of mending. They are also making the mending movement more inclusive, by providing those who may have been put off by the time commitment of mending with alternative options, and amplifying the skills of artisans and makers who already know how to make our loved clothes last.
Hopefully, these businesses can help you welcome a culture of mending into your life.
About the Author:
Stella Hertantyo is based in Cape Town, South Africa, and is currently completing her PGDip in Sustainable Development to accompany her undergraduate in Multimedia journalism. She is a slow-living enthusiast and a lover of low-impact fashion.
She is passionate about encouraging an approach to sustainability that is inclusive, accessible, and fun as we try to figure out how to create a more sustainable and just world, together.
When Stella is not in front of her laptop doing uni work, you'll probably find her reading, writing, illustrating, or baking/cooking. A dip in the ocean, or a walk in the mountains, are the two things that bring her the most peace.
