From the Pluriverse
Fixing Fashion: Making Repair, Care and Upgrade the New Fashion
An Q&A with Fixing Fashion, an online community providing tutorials on how to repair and upgrade clothes
By Zoe Gilbertson
Photos Courtesy of Fixing Fashion
OC.M: Hi Fixing Fashion. Firstly, we'd love to talk about community. How are you a community? How do you serve your community's needs?
Fixing Fashion: One of the main goals of the project is to get people are excited about fixing and repairing so we show examples and styles that people are into. On the other hand, we are about building a Fixing Fashion community. Many people already do this around the world, but it's very hard to find them and connect them together. If you want to have something fixed, where do you find these people? So we really tried to bring people together so that it becomes more normal.
OC.M: How do you nurture creativity and clothing culture?
Fixing Fashion: Our first collection which is pretty practical. It's really about fixing and repairing and upgrading clothes, but in a very visible style, so people see and you're proud that it's fixed. But I can imagine this is not for everyone. I think especially in other cultures around the world, other areas, people would have different expressions and creativity towards it. So I think that's why we also see this project as a community project community driven. We don't have enough creativity to figure out all the styles and wishes for people around the world. So we're really hoping for people to share back what they made. And from there, there's a much more diverse creative range of things you can also replicate. In that sense, there's way more to be figured out and way more creativity still needed. We are trying to provide the space that is open to it. As long as it reduces the amount of clothes being thrown away and more fixed, we are up for it.
OC.M: In what ways do you share your knowledge, skills, creativity and/or resources with others?
Fixing Fashion: This is the main role in this project - that everything we do, we share open source, so we believe whatever we figure out, whatever techniques we have, they should be for everyone. And we hope people do the same back. So if they make something cool, they share how to do it, because in the end, that's how you can learn from each other. But not only to get inspired, but also, to really have the knowledge to do it yourself. Our goal is to create this collective wealth.
OC.M: How do you respect different types of expression?
Fixing Fashion: We look at this in more practical terms: as long as it reduces the amount of clothes being thrown away, and have more people fixing and repairing their clothes, it's cool for us. In that sense, up to any expression or creative way to do that, we respect. We need more examples and more fun creative ways to fix.
OC.M: What does Fixing Fashion do for nature?
Fixing Fashion: Well, so I think Fixing Fashion is really focused on reducing the amount of textile waste but it's part of a bigger organisation, One Army, where we also work on other projects like plastic recycling, or considering how we live our lives, like with our Project Kamp. In the end, every little action you do is part of a bigger plan. In the case of fixing fashion, it's about trying to work actively on the textile waste.
Website:Â fixing.fashionÂ
How to participate:
Join the Fixing Fashion Academy online to learn more about how to care for, upgrade or fix your clothes
Join and support One Army, the community behind Fixing Fashion. Find them on Patreon
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