Repairing and Repurposing Clothing and Accessories
Post Summary: How repairing shoes and attending Moving Thread sewing classes forever changed my feelings on buying new in an era of climate crisis.
During last year’s winter, we discovered some water damage in the wall of our built-in bed. It wasn’t until months later— when fall rolled around— that we reached for our cold/wet weather boots and realized that half of our shoes had also been harmed by exposure to the moisture.
In evaluating the damage, we had a choice to make: either get rid of all 8 pairs and purchase just 2 or 3 new pairs in their place, or invest in repairing the sets.
As we’d recently learned that about 80+% of donations end up in landfills, we decided to spend on professional restoration. After all, one of my goals for 2020 is to repair and repurpose as many belongings as possible instead of acquire anything new, which is why I began taking sewing lessons— but more on that later in this post.
The repairs weren’t cheap, but they cost far less than replacing each pair, and probably the same price as buying 2-3 new styles. Plus we knew where our money was going; to skilled and friendly crafters who’ve been restoring goods here in West LA for nearly 4 decades.
In chatting with the team at Buster’s on Main Street in Santa Monica, I learned that not only do they repair boots, but they also work on all sorts of leather goods, handbags, luggage, zippers, dyeing and more.
I was eager to share that information, as I’ve seen mountains of bags, coats and suitcases pressed up against the glass in the nearest Goodwill, destined for who-knows-where, and I imagine that shoe repair shops in other communities are likely multi-service like Buster’s is.
A month or so later when I pedaled the cargo bike over to collect our like-new boots, it was so satisfying to see them all ready to live our a second life, WITHOUT requiring manufacturing, shipping, and packaging like new shoes would have.
Inspired by this, I signed up for introductory sewing classes at Moving Thread. The classes have a maximum of 4 participants each, and are conducted within a beautiful home-studio space in Venice. Lead by Lissa, an expert who has been sewing and designing garments for over 25 years, Moving Thread offers intro and beginner workshops during which students can learn to make their own bags, and ultimately repair or alter an existing article of clothing.
One of the things that struck me about Lissa’s mission was this statement from her website:
“Today, we could all have less. The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world and a massive contributing factor to global warming. A lot of change needs to be made to undo what we’ve already done but there are some small steps we, as individuals, can take. By repairing or making our own clothes and refusing to buy from companies that don’t do their part to improve our environmental standards is just one bit closer towards a cleaner Earth.”
I signed up immediately.
Moving Thread was one of the highlights of my holiday break. I’m eager to attend a few more classes, and then thrift a sewing machine of my own so we can begin to alter and repair our own clothes and repurpose linens around the cottage.
(On a fun side note, Lissa has a lovely outdoor shower, as well as a cargo bike similar to ours. I feel as though we were destined to meet and become close. She even attended my low waste holiday decor workshop at Big Red Sun, which was such a sweet surprise.)
So, while we’re still not one of those single-mason-jar-of-household-waste-per-year families, I’m determined to get there before it’s too late.
