January's Sewing Stories

January's Sewing Stories

By Alex Guerrero>

Happy New Year! We’ve been repairing kit from any outdoor brand since 2004. We never tire of hearing about our Repair Heroes’ creative, intelligent and unexpected solutions to gear problems. In 2021, we completed over 2850 repairs. Nearly 3000 bits of kit that didn’t go to landfill. That’s why we love celebrating the work of our Repair Stations.

Soggy Feet Prevention

waterproof sock for sleeping bag
waterproof sock for sleeping bag

Repair Hero Rosanna in Betws-y-Coed spoke to a tall Welshman about his rainy camping dilemma. When he’s as snug as a bug in his Alpine Dream sleeping bag, his toes touch the end of his tent and get wet. Rosanna had a solution. She made a waterproof, removable sock for his sleeping bag. The fabrics used are remnants from the Alpkit factory and it has waterproof taped seams.

Zips Replacementszip repair

At lots of our repair stations, it’s zips, zips, zips. And more zips. It might sound a little boring. But with every functional zip replacement, we save a garment from going to landfill. We keep stuff going. We mend, we don’t end. Loving gear for longer.

A Trouser Refresh

reinforced trousers
reinforced trousers

Hathersage Repair Hero Chris went above and beyond when reworking this pair of trousers. The customer asked for them to be a little tighter, shorter and stronger. The hems were reinforced with a stronger material to prevent breaking and fraying. He asked the customer to come in for fittings to make sure the trousers were juuuust right. Like Goldilocks and her porridge.

A Well-Loved Life. Extended

repaired jacket
repaired jacket

A customer brought in their well-loved jacket to our Betws-y-Coed Repair Station. Repair Hero Polly sewed the fleece lining back together. Then, she patched the outer and replaced the broken zip. For the customer, more wears mean more memories.

Mend. Don’t End

repaired dry bag
repaired dry bag

In Edinburgh, we have a customer on a mission. A mission to be zero waste. To help her along the way, Repair Hero Monika repaired a recently ripped dry bag. She cut the top off, sewed the fittings back onto it and used heat patches to cover the holes. Now, the bag will have a longer life!

What Now?

If you have any well-loved kit in desperate need of repairing, hand it into any of our eight stores or chat to our lovely repair heroes in Hathersage, Keswick, Edinburgh, Betws-y-Coed, Ilkley and Bristol.

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