Developing a Mending Mindset for Clothing: stitching together the threads from citizens, organisations and policy

Many garments are currently discarded prematurely ending up in vast waste mountains or incineration. Repair of garments can keep them in active use, yet many people don’t use this option. So, how can garment mending practices be increased? How could a mending mindset be developed to change our relationship with clothing and it’s consumption? The research draws on walking tour and mapping methods, investigating local areas to uncover mending actors, activities and resources. Action research involved volunteering at repair cafes, attending mending groups, and running darning workshops. 36 stakeholders in the garment mending system were interviewed. The walking method showed that mending professionals and groups are largely hidden, not well known or overlooked echoing the practice itself. Thematic coding and mind mapping of the data revealed key themes of personal values, skills and role models. Cultural attitudes within places were found to influence mending behaviour. However, neither sustainability nor economic precarity were found to be key drivers for mending. Different categories of people with differing motivators at various mending activities could be identified. Findings were used to develop a range of six mending personas to further understand these groups. Personas are fictional characters often used in marketing to describe a group of people. Targeted interventions with messaging designed to appeal to these specific personas could then be more effective than existing activities. Weaving together different solutions such as these could engage citizens at different life-stages and in different areas of society: • reintroducing sewing lessons in schools • targeted mending activities • adapting repair cafés for clothing • developing a Mending Alliance, involving religious bodies • creating policy to drive funding This study contributes to the wider discussion on durability and repairability in other products as well as clothing. It challenges the current thinking on sustainability rhetoric by taking a people-based approach.