Fashion brands from Levi's to Primark are embracing visible mending, a trend that hobby crafters and community workshops have driven for about six years. Brands are now selling stitched and patched garments, and some are offering repair services and workshops.
Forest ranger Alice Brown, 27, from Lincolnshire, needle-felts animals and insects over moth holes and stains. She has built a large following online. "I see it as challenge," she says.
Jayne Eagle, who runs workshops in Brighton, calls repair an "act of rebellion" against fast fashion. Her students learn Japanese Boro and Sashiko stitching, which makes mends decorative rather than hidden. Eagle says the revival feels like a backlash against overproduction and its pollution, carbon emissions, water use and poor labour conditions. She says the "throwaway" fast fashion of the 1980s onwards undermined mending skills.
Retailers are taking different approaches. Ralph Lauren and Shein sell new garments with stitched or patched designs. Uniqlo offers in-house repairs and decorative Sashiko mending. Uniqlo's head of sustainability, Maria Ledous, says the aim is to help customers extend the life of their clothes. Primark's longevity lead, Vicki Swain, says affordability and durability "don't have to be opposites." Outdoor brand Finisterre says about a fifth of its customer mends are designed to be eye-catching. Toast says about a third of its customers choose that option.
Levi's is rolling out a workshop programme this year. The company says its research shows younger customers want to repair more but do not know how. Its current workshops focus on traditional mending, such as sewing on buttons and hemming, rather than visible mends. Some young participants said they would rather mending not show. Bianca, 16, said holes in clothes can prompt people to mock wearers as poor. Paul Dillinger, Levi's head of global design innovation, says creative repairs will appeal to people as they learn more skills. "People crave agency," he says.