Repairing your clothes can be a revolutionary act.We tell you how to do it

The Coronavirus has led many people to explore their most manual side while spending more time locked up at home, in tasks such as needle or crochet fabric.Just look at how the Cardigan of Harry Styles patches was made, which turned the sensation on Tiktok when his fans began to recreate JW Anderson's fabric (the designer himself later released the patterns to celebrate the response that the garment received).On the catwalk, we have also seen a return of the spirit ‘fix and repair’, whether in the reusing coats of Marni or in the designs of Recycla, by Maison Margiela, comforted from vintage pieces.

Orsola de Castro, co -founder of Fashion Revolution and author of Loved Clothes Last: How the Joy of Rewearing And Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act (Penguin, 2021), expects this new mood to mean that we are all going to take theTime to play the pieces we already have in the closet.‘There is an implicit poetry in the act of gathering that we have forgotten during the last 30 years of hyper-dimensionability,’ he tells us on the phone, from his home in southern London.‘It's about lowering the speed to the system a little.’

Speaking in practical terms, repairing your clothes - in place of applyLess than 1% of textiles are recycled and turned into new pieces, according to Ellen MacArthur Foundation).You are also reducing its environmental impact.According to a Wrap organization report, which works with waste data, extending the life of a piece of clothing for just nine months can reduce its carbon, waste and water traces between 20 and 30%.

Beyond this, taking the time to repair your clothes is also a way to learn to value it and fall in love with it.‘For me, my clothes are like photographic albums: each repair reminds me of a story,’ says De Castro.‘The relentless speed at which we consume clothes has eradicated the concept that human hands are the ones that manufacture these products.It is now about restoring the culture of understanding our clothes, how to take care of it and how to keep it.’

The visible removal - which can be done by sewing patches in your old jeans or recovering your jumper holes using fabrics of different colors (look at the work of the artist Celia Pym) - it can also be an important political pronouncement, particularly at a time in a moment in a moment inThe one that the struggles of the manufacturing industry workers who make our clothes have been exacerbated by the COVID-19.De Castro says that it is probably much more important.’

‘Repairing our clothes is sending a very strong message to these brands: we don't want anymore, we want better.Both a better quality in garments and in the lives of the people who do them, ”he explains.‘If we pay our workers a decent salary and ask them to make fewer products, we would be taking a step in the appropriate address.’

So if you have garments that desperately need an arrangement by languishing in the back of your closet, here are Castro's error -proof tips so you can start right now.

Start with something small

If you never had a needle in your hands before, you are unlikely that you become an expert gathering overnight.‘This is not something you do for a week: it is a lifestyle, a change in your habits,’ says De Castro.Start with a button or a basic stand that you can do by hand before getting into a more ambitious project.

Do an undercover job

A simple trick is to cover any small hole or that stubborn stain in one of your garments with patches or appliques (to inspire you, take a look at the work of Tetsuzo Okubo, who recently worked with several pieces of Wearable Art by Damien Hirst for a disseminated projectBy virgil pop).‘It's my number one trick.I buy most of my appliques in this wonderful place called Cenci, south of London, ’explains De Castro, and adds that with that method he has customized whole pieces, such as jackets and jumpers with accessories.

Use your resources

Of course, repairing your clothes with materials that you already have at hand will give you extra ecological credits.That means saving any material that over you at the end: be it an old scarf or that piece of extra fabric that you took out a skirt, which will help you on your repair trip."You may decide to undo an old woven piece and reuse it as wool," he says as an example of Castro.

Discover what type of repair you are

With so many options available, it is worth discovering what kind of remo.‘I love to sew buttons and I am very crochet, but I am bad sewing by machine, so I would not, 'says De Castro.‘If you do something you think, you end up dominating it.’

Know your limits

Part of discovering what type of repair is the one that is best for you to recognize your limits and put those arrangements in the hands of a professional.This may include a broken closure or repair in a designer dress that you don't want me to go wrong.‘It depends on your skills, and the time you have,’ concludes from Castro.