Repair Rewear Refashion: Expanding Sewstainability

Aim

The aim is to spread awareness of the benefits of rewearing, repairing and refashioning existing garments before buying new!

I have been writing Sewstainability as my personal blog for almost two years. I think it is time to start spreading the word about repairing, rewearing and refashioning clothes!

It takes around 2,700 litres of water to produce one cotton t-shirt. The world now consumes 80 billion pieces of clothing each year, which is up 400% from two decades ago. Imagine if we stopped considering fashion as disposable? I would love to raise the funds to make some gorgeous enamel pin badges so we can start some conversations about fast-fashion and the benefits or rewearing, repairing and refashioning our clothes.

The first enamel pin I am hoping to fund is going to be mint-green hard enamel with gold metal. If we reach this target then I want to raise funds to make another colour too - then you can choose!

We fortunately reached the first stretch target to fun another colour of the pin. There was a tense battle between pink, yellow, navy and black on all my social media channels but the public has voted and the navy blue pin won! If you pledge for a 'Rewear, Repair, Refashion' enamel pin then you will be able to choose whether you want mint or navy hard enamel!

Black Friday had a profound impact on me this year, I usually abstain from buying anything as I did this year but this time around I noticed a lot of people choosing to mend their clothes in protest against buying something new. Unlike my 'Repair, Rewear, Refashion' pin that has been rattling round my head for a year or more, this idea just popped in my head, so I've decided to add it as another pin design you can pledge for! In a world that wants us to buy buy buy, the most radical act we can do is make use of what we already have. And if when those things break, we decide to repair instead of buying new, then we are actually rebelling against the system that tells us we should want more. I have designed this pin with sewists and knitters/crocheters in mind as we mend and darn our garments but I think repairing *anything* is rebellious, be it a phone screen, a car, a shoe or the washing machine. So let's all be rebels and repair our stuff! The more money I can crowdfund, the more I can invest in developing my website and supporting others to repair, rewear and refashion what they already have. This is the new design:

Did you know that a UK woman wears each garment an average of 7 times?! Considering how much labour, resources, energy and water has gone into making that garment it's not much! Re-wearing our existing garments is the best way to make our wardrobes more sustainable. Aiming for 30 wears is a good start, could we aim for more?! I hope that by proudly wearing these pins we can show our commitment to rewearing garments!

You could pledge for an organic cotton t-shirt - but only if you think you will wear it at least 30 times! 

Of course, the more wear our garments get the higher the likelihood that they will need a little repair after a while. Did you know that a whopping 60% of the UK public say they cannot sew on a button?! I would like to raise funds to do some community outreach workshops on hand repairing clothes, visible mending and refashioning for those people with low incomes and no access to a sewing machine.

As well as making clothes last longer, engaging in a craft is therapeutic for so many as it can give us much needed me-time, opportunities for mindfulness practise, as well as a sense of achievement when we have learned something new or created something.  I am passionate about sewing as a great creative outlet for mental health and want to share that with the wider community.

Finally, as our size or style changes it is natural that clothes will get worn less and I definitely think there are ways to encourage people to refashion them instead of discarding them. As part of this project I want to overhaul the Sewstainability blog and give it a stronger focus on sustainability/environmental impact and move the focus away from new makes. As part of this I definitely want to improve my refashioning skills!

I have big plans for Sewstainability in the future, I also want to expand into sharing more tutorials for sustainable crafting and run in-person workshops for plastic-free homewares such as beeswax wraps, fabric napkins, cutlery wraps, reusable make up wipes, kitchen roll etc. My ultimate goal is to write the Sewstainability book so every penny raised as part of this crowdfunder will help my dream come true. This project is an all-or-nothing campaign, which means if I do not reach my target then your card will not be charged at the end of the four weeks.

Thank you all for your help!

This project successfully funded on 18th December 2019