Repair as an act of healing: 10 ways that mending is beneficial.

It has recently been London Repair Week (March 20th-26th 2023) and I wanted to consider the ways in which repair is beneficial. An object repair undeniably reduces overall resource use, yet it takes time to mend. So how can it be both environmentally and emotionally beneficial? It’s not just about saving stuff from landfill, but potentially also about saving yourself.

I’ve written about repair previously only as a follow up to visiting the Eternally Yours exhibition at Somerset House in 2022, where it was considered how repairing, caring for and healing everyday objects could help us repair, care and heal.

This post considers from my own perspective the ways in which repair can support healing.

1. Repair is activism.

• By 2030 global apparel consumption is projected to rise by 63%, from 62 million tons today to 102 million tons-equivalent to more than 500 billion additional T-shirts. [Global Fashion Agenda & Boston Consulting Group, Pulse of the Fashion Industry (2017)]
• Clothing lasts for 3.3 years before it is discarded or passed on. The amount of clothing in active use in the UK in 2016 is calculated as 3.6 million tonnes (from 3.1 million in 2012). [WRAP, Valuing Our Clothes, 2017]
• 336,000 tonnes of clothing head to landfill in the UK each year. [WRAP, Textiles 2030: Six month Progress Report]
• The UN says that by 2050 the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles given the growth in global population. [United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns]

These statistics don’t cover all sectors, are unclear on what has been quantified, and aren’t for all nations — so of course there is more going to landfill each year than stated here. It doesn’t even mention what is being overproduced either.

So, while this point number 1 should essentially be about how repair can save the build up of landfills (or air pollution from incineration), I personally see repair as activism.

Rather than discarding your item — whether that’s clothing or appliances or furniture — you’re choosing to repair it. This gives the item a bit more use, and saves you spending unnecessarily. This is a big f*ck you to capitalism.

As is obvious with certain items — in particular our tech gadgets — planned obsolescence and intellectual property patenting prevent repair on most occasions. Those who teach themselves to repair nonetheless, and share that knowledge openly, are activists, fighting against corporations that don’t want you to know what they know.

These corps will still continue to produce, and there will still be folk who’ll still surprise you by flytipping their rubbish, so sometimes it can feel like your activism is worthless. But your action can have a ripple effect to someone else wanting to try repair, and that’s how systems are shifted.

The Right to Repair is a European campaign fighting to remove barriers set in place by manufacturers and by legislation that prevents citizens from repairing certain goods. The Repair Association is another fighting for the right to repair.

You can also read Bridget Harvey’s practice-based thesis Repair-making: Craft, Narratives, Activism (2013–19).

Image: A smartphone is open on a table being repaired. [Credit: Kilian Seiler on Unsplash]

2. Repair encourages us to slow down.

No matter if we’re repairing clothing, furniture, appliances, or even our own bodies, we have to take the time to understand how it must go back together. Even if you’re taking a haphazard approach with some duct tape, you’re still figuring out where the issue lies so that you can mend it. You may even need to seek external advice.

This can lead to mending piles or broken appliances in cupboards (and old tech in drawers) because we haven’t the patience to deal with it, and we’ll get to it on a “rainy day”. Sometimes we also need to purchase spare parts or find specific equipment. And then the idea of slowing down with your mending and some telly seems a bit of a faff. It’s easier just to buy new.

I do feel that if products were more expensive, and repair more affordable, then we’re more likely to choose repair over new. As it is, it’s generally quicker, easier and cheaper to buy new, especially if we’re talking about the pesky “obsolete” tech gadgets.

As I write this and mull, I rub my left thigh where I notice the ladder in my wool tights has gotten longer. I should’ve repaired it years ago, but I managed without. I even tried to find a second pair, but M&S was so badly stocked that I couldn’t find any, and in this instance it is simply easier to just accept that the tights are laddered until I fix them. And I know it’s repair week, but I have a wool jumper with no armpits or elbows.

This is knitting, not repair, but you get the idea:

In an online survey of more 3,545 knitters, by Betsan Corkhill, a UK-based knitting therapist who has done research on the therapeutic effects of knitting, more than half of respondents reported that knitting left them feeling “very happy.” And many said that they knitted solely for the purposes of relaxation, stress relief and creativity. ~ mindbodygreen.com

Images: 1. An example of kintsugi on a broken ceramic cup, via Yodomo’s purchasable craft kit; 2. An example of boroboro indigo cotton patchworking [Credit: Heddels].

3. Repair embeds material and design knowledge.

Similar to the above point, repair encourages us to assess the materials that need repairing, and how the item itself was constructed.

Often, unless we’re adept at problem solving, are a designer or engineer or maker, and have the required equipment, we probably can’t mend what we want to mend. Currently I have an iron in my cupboard unusable because the plug was smashed in the door, and I’ve never fixed a plug before and frankly at this time don’t feel I have the capacity to do so — but nor can I find a local accessible repair service. It’s the same with laptops or similar; we really want to be the person who has that knowledge and can just successfully pick up tech and fix it, but we can’t know it all.

However, we’ll still have a look to see if we can. As we traverse our hands over the object, the thought process and tangible connections made help us to embed material and design knowledge. We know the object a little more, and perhaps there’s a spark (emotionally, hopefully, not electrically) that inspires us to learn more.

If we do still require a bit more insider knowledge, then organisations are there to help, such as iFixit with their instructional guides. A local organisation to me is the Hackney Fixers, who host Restart Parties with The Restart Project and volunteers eager to have citizens fix their own stuff.

Here are some of my repairs where I’ve had to problem solve:

Images: A mended Socko sock, still needs work; A mended pair of Hoka Speedgoat using embroidery thread; A mended metal outdoor chair using decommissioned climbing rope.

4. Repair can build community.

Repair cafés are quite common now. Drop-in services funded by organisations and the government via councils, are made free to local communities so that they can repair what they have. Makers offer up their services to pass on skills, and sometimes even manage to make a living off of it, with platforms like The Seam providing you with professional expertise and services unique to your fashion item. Others provide their expertise for free to the community to encourage a system shift, such as ReRerun and Rubbish Shoes.

Instead of mending alone at home, you can do so in a group in physical settings or via online workshops. Work of this nature — for it’s definitely work, not a hobby — was usually done by women by candlelight in a group; they could share the candle and fire, and natter while they repaired. Of course, these women couldn’t particularly pop to the shops to buy a new outfit or fishing net — they made do and mended — so they found a way to make the situation work to everyone’s advantage.

Skills are shared, and so the mending feels lighter. Not only do you fix something previously not as functional, you’re probably also fixing yourself a little too, even when it does feel like you’ve been stitching the same hole for hours. Care for your object, and care for yourself.

Some London-based repairers:

Fabrications, Hackney, for hand repair workshops

Make Town, Hackney for a monthly mending meet

Socko do some live workshops, or buy their online workshop

Image: Barley Massey of Fabrications, shows how to mend a crotch using the sashiko stitching technique. [Credit: Yodomo]

5. Repair can focus the brain.

We also recognise what sitting for hours on end at the computer are doing to us. And when we’re not on the computer, we’re on our phones. While I am a trash TV-watching repairer, I can never put something on that requires concentration, as my energy goes entirely on the repair. I’ve never repaired anything electrical, but I have repaired ceramics and glass and for sure I was holding my breath during that, listening to Homes Under the Hammer rather than watching The Killing, for example. Though, to be fair, sometimes I’m on the edge of my seat with such property development shows.

“The science of neurogenesis suggests that aerobic exercise, brain exercises, stress relief, and other lifestyle habits can encourage brain regeneration, improve your brain health, and may help to prevent or treat degenerative diseases.” ~ DrJockers.com

Activities that can encourage brain regeneration can include meditation, daily thoughts and learning activities. Repair sets you up to learn, you can often get into a state of flow, and otherwise your mind drifts to what you want to eat once you’ve finished the section — because you absolutely won’t put it down until it’s complete.

6. Repair can build regenerative economies.

As I’ve already highlighted with repair cafés, the community surrounding fixing stuff can also embed a local economy. This isn’t necessarily monetary either, and could instead be a skills share.

Initiatives such as The Library of Things provide equipment and machinery that would otherwise be too costly to purchase or too bulky to house — and this in itself is a shift to our usual consumptive system. Citizens are encouraged to DIY, and most often there will be community wisdom to provide support to those that may need it.

Already mentioned is The Seam, which started with a small group of tailors and makers wanting to embed a culture of care over consumption. Others, including Repair What You Wear provide textile mending tutorials along with an education pack for schools, encouraging a system shift to one of citizen control.

Image: Page from the WRAP Valuing Our Clothes 2017 report showing the percentages of people who know basic repair skills such as sewing on a button (73%), removing stains (60%) and replacing a zip (17%).

7. Repair can prevent catastrophic overseas landfills.

Ok, so I did say in the beginning that repair isn’t just about saving stuff from landfill, and in point 1 mentioned it’s an action against capitalism than the landfill itself. But I would be remiss if I didn’t explain how repair can prevent the destruction of economies and health and the environment elsewhere.

In case you weren’t aware, the stuff we throw away most of the time doesn’t stay in our own country. Particularly for the Global North, our discard is shipped overseas for it to become some other country’s problem. It may not be the case for residual waste, which tends to go to local landfill or to “waste-to-energy” incinerators, but is the case for clothing you put in textile banks or give to charity shops. It becomes a question of, which is worse, and who is it worse for?

Back to that statistic above of most clothing being kept for 3.3 years before being discarded, there’s another statistic — that I can’t find in accuracy for now, but came from WRAP also — is that if we repaired our clothes, it would provide on average another 9 months of use. This would then additionally save a certain amount of CO2 emissions, water, energy and chemical inputs — and of course, your money by not choosing to buy new, just yet.

But as soon as discard occurs, it has to go somewhere. The Or Foundation are working to manifest alternatives to the existing dominant model of fashion that sees extortionate landfills take up useful agricultural land, contaminate groundwater through chemical leakage, pollute our atmosphere with greenhouse gases, remove local artisanal economies by making resale the only option, and destroy health by effectively forcing young women to break their spines by carrying clothing bales. Learn more about Accra’s Kantamanto market and the “Dead White Man’s Clothes” via Eco-Age and this Wardrobe Crisis podcast episode with Liz Rickett’s from the Or Foundation.

Image: A kayayei — a Ghanaian term for a female porter — carries a bale of second hand clothing. [Credit: Nana Kwadwo Agyei Addo, Accra Studios]

8. Repair is part of a circular solution.

Repair is only one action in the shift towards a circular model over a linear model. And generally repair is right at the end of a chain of devastating decisions over materials and labour and land.

You’ll either find repair actions before something is eventually discarded, or perhaps it’s resold or swapped, or after it has already been purchased or gifted preloved and needs mending. This is regardless of product category, though your mends may differ in longevity dependent on the size and type of break.

Brands are getting involved with repair as a marketing solution, to engage customers and embed loyalty. Others have been involved for some time, ensuring that their customers know the responsibility doesn’t end once the product leaves the shop. It feels like these days, consumers are more savvy about their rights, and that products shouldn’t fail, so retailers best have some facilities to accommodate the fixes.

Of course, repair does take time and skill — I mentioned above it’s work, not a hobby — so brands can rightly charge for their services. Such brands as Patagonia and Alpkit for outdoor clothing provide in-store services like Worn Wear or the Repair Station, or provide online tutorials, while others including Blackhorse Lane Ateliers for denim will tailor and hem your jeans. Most often the brands will be able to use this service as an additional revenue stream, to increase their resale catalogue, or just get people through the door where they’ll see a new tantalising item to purchase. But they’ll repair whatever, regardless of the brand, so proving that a shift to circularity can indeed be possible if everyone plays their part.

When Extended Producer Responsibility kicks in and manufacturers are legally embraced in mending our stuff — or encouraged to design better quality products in the first place — then perhaps a circular economy will seem more fruitful to those not yet playing ball.

Image: Alpkit’s in-store Repair Station showing a zip being replaced on an outdoor jacket by industrial sewing machine.

9. Repair could boost compassion.

I don’t have any studies to be suggesting this. But I’m referring to compassion more as an understanding of value. Once we understand something — even if we don’t totally agree — we generally are more empathetic.

By learning to mend or repair or fix, you will have gone on a journey with the materials producer, the designer, the product manufacturer or artisan, the branding team — and all the other labourers (and maybe some animals and plants too) that were involved in the creation of your product. By repairing, you’re actually valuing them. Ok, so the product may have been poorly made, but then that could highlight to you the conditions that they were forced to work under?

Establishing how a product was made, why the materials were chosen, what functions or aesthetic the design has and why, and then how you yourself used the item in order for it to fail in some way or another, just embeds further this knowledge of everything that went into it. And when you acknowledge that, surely you have compassion for the item and want to nurture it?

10. Repair as healing.

It sort of felt like I needed a number 10 point. But perhaps the nicest, most wholesome to finish on. Repairing ourselves — as in, our bodies — is an act of healing. Whether it’s through a more physical health act such as surgery or taking antibiotics or eating nutritionally dense food, or a more emotional act that involves eating comforts, having a cry, screaming, chatting to a friend, dancing about… it’s all repairing something.

And let’s not forget that sleep — that oh so beautiful action — helps repair our cells. Along with other bodily functions that operate without us noticing or even caring, we remember and take gratitude only when we realise something is broken. When we haven’t slept well, or we fracture a bone, or catch Covid — we are reminded of the good times. We take stock, aim to get better, and we do.

We are repaired through mental strength, receiving emotional support, and obtaining physical inputs. It may not be a quick fix, we may not be able to watch trash TV while we do it (or we may watch too much), and we may have to learn some stuff to move onwards, but we can repair, we can regenerate.

Thanks for reading.

I hope I have given you some inspiration to go forth and repair, and encouraged you to consider repair as something more than a long-winded task.

If you’d like to share your mended work, I think you should tell the world about it in your feed. But otherwise, send me a photo on Instagram and I’ll give you some gold stars.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on March 24th 2023, and then also on Substack publication Hot Water Bottle, and my website on March 28th 2023.