Visible mending: how patched clothes went from workshops to the catwalk

Visible mending — repairing clothes in ways meant to be noticed rather than hidden — is moving from hobby workshops and second-hand shops into high street stores and designer collections, according to a BBC Science report.

Alice Brown, a 27-year-old forest ranger from Lincolnshire, buys jumpers with holes in second-hand shops and covers them with needle-felted animals and insects. "I see it as challenge," she says, treating a damaged garment as an invitation rather than a problem. Her distinctive style has won her a large online following.

'Act of rebellion'

At a Saturday workshop in Brighton, Jayne Eagle teaches students to place a patch behind a tear so that a cat-face design shows through, then to stitch using techniques drawn from the Japanese traditions of Boro and Sashiko. Instead of matching thread to the fabric, the class uses large white stitching and geometric patterns to make the mend decorative. Eagle also runs darning classes that use contrasting colours to celebrate a repair rather than conceal it. She describes repair as an "act of rebellion" against fast fashion.

Two students illustrate the shift. Nicola used her new skills to stitch over sunscreen marks on a T-shirt, "making a feature of it", and says people "stop seeing the stains and just see the decoration". Lisa says her mother's generation would never have wanted mends to show, but that people are now proud of their work. After accidentally snipping a second-hand jacket while opening the package, she patched it so the repair "looks intentional".

Eagle says the trend began about six years ago and has boomed since. In her view, the throwaway fast fashion that took hold from the 1980s undermined the habit of looking after clothes and caused skills to be lost. She sees the revival as a backlash against the industry's overproduction and the pollution, carbon emissions, water use and poor labour conditions it causes.

Retailers join in

That the style has proved popular with retailers may come as a surprise. Ralph Lauren and the ultra-fast-fashion firm Shein both sell stitched and patched garments, although these are brand new rather than repaired. Other chains offer in-house repairs and workshops. Uniqlo, which uses Sashiko techniques in keeping with its Japanese heritage, says it wants to give customers "practical ways to extend the life of the clothes they already love, rather than simply replacing them," according to its head of sustainability, Maria Ledous. Primark's longevity lead, Vicki Swain, says: "We don't think that affordability and durability should be opposites."

Finisterre says about a fifth of the mends it carries out for customers are designed to be eye-catching, while the premium artisan store Toast says around a third of its customers choose that option. Toast has a team of 14 in-house "repair artists"; its repairs are free, but off-the-peg "renewed" pieces fetch higher prices than the originals. Chief executive Suzie de Rohan Willner says part of the "magic" is that customers can "choose what they'd like it to become next".

Levi's is rolling out a workshop programme this year after research found that younger customers in particular want to repair more but do not know how. At a launch event in London, its Gen Z participants were more interested in traditional skills such as sewing on a button and hemming than in visible mends. Bianca, a 16-year-old student from East London, says holes in clothing are still treated as a sign of poverty, while 19-year-old Theo wants his repaired jeans to look as they did when he bought them. Nicholas, also 19, says most people want to look "fresh".

Paul Dillinger, Levi's head of global design innovation, believes more creative repairs will win them over as their skills grow. "People crave agency," he says. "Mending is a demonstration of humanity: it's not a mustard stain, it's a memory of a great day in the ballpark."

Source: BBC Science.