Repair on the Road

Aim

Help me buy & build Lived-in Clothes' studio on wheels. A van taking repair skills out to people so more of us can fix our stuff.

Repair isn't a trend, it's a necessity.

It's something I've believed my entire career, and it's pretty much the whole reason this campaign exists.

Hey my name's Gay, you probably know me as Lived-in Clothes, and I've been working on the good side of the fashion industry for over 20 years, as a clothing reseller, repair artist & workshop facilitator. I also mentor other sewists and repair artists who want to build a livelihood of their own too.

In a nutshell, I'm building Repair on the Road, a studio on wheels that takes repair out to where people are, so more of us learn to fix what we already own and I get to do what I love most, which is teaching and connecting with people. I'm doing the build myself with some helping hands, but I need your help to buy the van and get it on the road.

Why repair, and why a van?

Most of us have a pile of clothes we love but don't wear, because a button's gone, a seam's split or a hole's appeared, and we just don't know how to fix it. So they sit at the back of the wardrobe, or worse, they end up in the bin, and something new gets bought to replace them.

The most responsible piece of clothing you'll ever own is the one already hanging in your wardrobe. Research from WRAP, the UK waste charity, found that keeping clothes in use for just nine months longer cuts their carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20 to 30% each, and a simple repair can easily give a piece years, not months. Repair used to be something everyone knew how to do, passed down at kitchen tables, but it's become a bit of a lost skill that only a handful of repair artists and sewists really know how to do well.

The van will change that by taking repair to the places people already are, so someone who'd never book a sewing class can sit down for an hour and walk away knowing how to fix their own clothes. That's a skill they'll use for the rest of their life, on their own clothes, their mates' clothes and maybe one day their kids' clothes too, and every single mend means one more piece kept out of the bin and back in someone's wardrobe.

The vision.

Repair on the Road is Lived-in Clothes' studio on wheels. It will be a fully branded van, built from the inside out, with sewing machines ready to go and seating inside that spills out the side, so wherever I park up, whether that's a festival field, a market, a day event or a uni campus, people can sit in or out, get stuck in and learn to mend or customise something they actually wear. I'll also be running my Drop 'n' Mend service from the van for those more intricate repairs that you really need a pro like me to do.

But it's so much more than a festival or event stall. The part of repair I love most has always been the people, the chats over a half-finished mend, hearing the stories behind someone's favourite jacket, and watching strangers help each other thread a needle. The van will be a place for all of that, a little pop-up community wherever it parks, where people can slow down, swap stories and learn from each other as much as from me.

And the even bigger dream is to bring sewists and repair artists together through regular meet-ups, with the van as the hub. So many of us work on our own, in back bedrooms and at kitchen tables, and I know first-hand how isolating that can be. On top of that, the people who still hold these skills are so often undervalued and underpaid for them, and I truly believe that changes when we're in a room (or a field) together, sharing skills, swapping tips, talking pricing and cheering each other on.

The van will pay its own way too, with workshop tickets, event bookings and brand sponsorships covering my time on the road, so your support gets me started and the work keeps me going.

I already know it works.

I've been running workshops at places like Lost Village, Green Hustle, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, including Meaningful Merch, which flips mass-produced merch on its head by having people make their own. Watching someone go from "I can't sew" to showing off their mend to their mates is the best bit of my job by a mile, and with the van I can make that happen anywhere. I once posted that the coolest people get their clothing repaired, and it went semi-viral, which tells me I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Why this matters to me.

Repair and caring for what I own has always been a huge part of who I am, and I've just always known that looking after your clothes is a dead good thing to do.

For the best chunk of my career I had a bigger studio that people came to, and since scaling down and moving everything home at the start of 2024 I've felt a little isolated, which for an extroverted introvert like me has been super challenging. What I miss most is chatting with people about their clothes and teaching them the life-long skills of stitching, darning and Sashiko. But the next step isn't getting another studio for people to find, it's building one that I can take out to find them.

My mates have heard me go on about wanting a van for years, and I think if I mention it one more time they'll actually disown me, but what they haven't heard about yet is Repair on the Road. This version of the dream suits me so much more, because it isn't just a van, it's a way for me to get out there and do what I love most, which is teaching and connecting with people.

Building it (mostly) myself.

I'm a bootstrapped, DIY kinda babe, so I'll be doing most of the build myself with so much learning along the way. I already have some brilliant people helping out through skill swaps (so if you're reading this and there's a way we could skill swap too, please drop me a message), including the lovely human Jase, who is sorting my graphics and branding in exchange for some content creation mentorship, and Ryan, who is hand-painting some fundraiser banners in exchange for some repairs. And yes, I'll be sharing all the messy bits in between on my insta.

In 10 years of self-employment I've never managed to save for a van, and I've never had investment or a loan. I recently pitched the idea to get some funding but got ghosted, which has kinda given me the oomph to go and get it myself and make this happen, because I truly believe it has legs.

Where your money goes.

My target is £15,000, which will go towards:

buying the van ~ £9,000 -10,000 

kitting it out with electrics, seating that turns into a bed for the events that are too far to drive home from, a lil kitchen so I can make people drinks and loads of savvy storage ~ £5,000 - £6,000

I'll then be putting my own savings into equipping it out, insurance and other setup costs. I'll be doing as much of the build myself as I can and learning along the way so this crowdfunder can go entirely on the van. 

If we fall a bit short, every penny still goes into the van and I'll raise the rest one way or another by pitching to bigger brands that want to be involved, and I'll keep you posted the whole way.

If we smash it, the extra goes towards buying a newer van, and as there are bound to be hidden costs along the way, a bit of a buffer will help too.

Why now?

For the past year I've been part of a group coaching programme called 365 with Calypso Barnum-Bobb, where each quarter comes with its own challenge, and for this final stretch I've combined mine, which are Audacity and Creation. This whole year has been about showing up for myself, and looking back I'm honestly not the same person who started it, I've got so much more clarity about what I want my work to look like and a lot more courage to go after it.

So for me, audacity and creation means I'm done talking about the van and I'm building the thing, asking for help out loud, and bringing everything I've been working on together into something real that gets me back out in the world doing what I love. The brief for this final stretch is basically to take the person you've become and do something bold with it, and it's been super clear to me that this is it.

WELL ALRIGHTY THEN.

Help me shape it.

I've got loads of ideas for where the van will go and what it'll do, but I want this to be built with the community, not just for it, so I'd love to hear from you. Which festivals, markets or events would you love to see the van at? Do you run a venue, a uni society or a community group that would love a visit? And if you're a sewist or repair artist, what would make a meet-up worth leaving the house for? Drop me a message on Instagram or email me at [email protected], because every idea helps me make this something we all get to be part of.

Ways to back Repair on the Road.

There are rewards for every budget, including:

• a £5 virtual high five
• your name on the contributors curtain that hangs out of the van, from £10
• a Sashiko badge kit posted to your door
• a give-it-forward repair voucher to gift to someone whose favourite piece needs some love
• Friends of the Van, with your name or logo on the A-board outside the van at every set-up
• van workshops in Nottingham and the Midlands, within 110 miles, or 2 day workshops for festivals and brand events
• Fund a stranger's mentoring session. If you're a repair artist or sewist yourself, so many of you have told me you want mentoring but can't stretch to it, and I'd love this campaign to open that door for a few of you. Every £120 pledged to the "Fund a stranger's mentoring session" reward funds a 90 minute 1:1 Quick Unpick session with me plus first access to The Mending Sewciety - a new community for repair artists and sewists, and it'll be completely free to apply, wherever you are in the world. I'll be sharing how to apply in an update soon, so keep an eye on this page and my Instagram.

Whether you back it, share it, or pass it on to someone who'd love it, thank you so much for helping me get Repair on the Road out there, and I can't wait to meet as many of you as possible from the back of this van.

Thank you,

Gay xx

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th November 2026 at 9:44am