Introducing: Lizzie, our clothing repair mastermind

Can you share a little about your journey into becoming a clothing repair specialist?

I wouldn’t consider myself a specialist in repair, rather that I’m still on a journey. Though the process of getting to this point in my knowledge has taken many years, with a lot of mistakes along the way!

Let me share some of my experiences leading up to becoming a repairs specialist’ for Reskinned:

Since teenhood, I’ve always had a really big interest in recycling and making art from landfill (or stuff that was definitely bound for landfill).

For a really long time I’ve had an interest in reusing, and repurposing what has previously been discarded, I’ve always worn and used secondhand clothes.

Back in 2018, (after completing a bunch of City & Guilds Pattern Cutting and Design Certificates) I was living in Brighton, my home town. I started doing some work for a very small local vintage clothes shop, called Jackalope.

They specialise in ‘hardware clothing and streetwear.’ The owners would give me a sack every month of random repairs and alterations to do. All their stuff was second hand and unusual sizes, so I would rework them to fit their average customer.

Most of the time it was jeans and sweaters (produced in the 80’s/90’s/00’s) that they would want me to crop and upcycle.

During this time, I was also practising pattern cutting and making things at home, copying my best clothes so I could learn more about how things are put together.

I made lots of mistakes along the way, and have little to show from my early days of learning to sew.

After that, I spent a year working for a local ethical tailor, Couchman Bespoke, who taught me so many different facets of altering and mending, which I’ll always be grateful for.

What do you find most rewarding about your role in repairing garments?

I love the thought that the things I repair will go on to live another life with a new owner, to be cherished and used again.

The thing I find most rewarding is the process of organising all the problem solving that I have to do.

Repairs and alterations need a lot of tools and equipment and lots of different methods. I’m really interested in using the things that are destined for recycling (the clothes that are otherwise too damaged to use) as part of the material to fix the garments I am presented with, which requires a whole extra level of organisation, but the challenge is very rewarding.

Is there a particular clothing repair project that stands out as especially meaningful to you?

In this job, I’m constantly learning, so while there isn’t any particular repair project that stands out, it’s always exciting to make breakthroughs in the way I’m organising things, or getting to grips with a new technique.

Right now we’ve been working on using unsellable jumpers from Finisterre (that unfortunately have defects that make them unsuitable for sale) to repair other jumpers and keep them in circulation.

I’m really excited about this project. Right now I’m planning to make a store of all the wool colours we need to be able to mend other jumpers, which should allow us to never have to buy any new wool for mending again, and use completely recycled materials.

Can you walk us through the typical process of repairing and restoring a piece of clothing?

I always try to approach every problem the quickest and most cost effective way, while maintaining the best quality repair.

When I get given a piece of clothing that’s been designated for repair, I’ll look at the garment and try to work out the simplest, and most cost effective way of fixing it.

If there are problems with the zip, I’ll start by checking the teeth. If there’s something wrong with them, then I’ll remove part or all of the zip to replace it. I’ve recently figured out that on Finisterre jackets, as long as you have the right size and colour, you can just change half of a zip instead of the full thing, saving resources and time.

Often there will be a squashed or broken zip puller, which stops the zip from working, and if this is the case, I’ll undo the top of the zip and replace it.

Because zip issues are a fairly common repair, I’ve started saving zips from our recycling piles, so that they can be reused rather than new ones being needed. Right now I’m working on creating a zip database of all the recycled zips, so I can quickly find the right one for any garment, saving money and energy of manufacturing and buying new zips to fix garments.

Are there any specific techniques or materials you often use to breathe new life into old garments?

I am most interested in trying to use all recycled material we have in our warehouse, and recycling that to repair the things we get sent via our takeback schemes, rather than buying anything brand new.

What do you enjoy most about working at Reskinned?

Reskinned is a very exciting company. I love that I am given so much creative freedom to develop and innovate new ideas.

It’s wonderful to give my energy to a clothing company that works for the environment rather than against it.

We love having Lizzie and her unique set of skills on board here at Reskinned, and we honestly couldn’t do the repairs we do without someone who has such a wide range of expertise. Yay for Lizzie!

Repairs come in a lot of shapes and sizes, and you have to be prepared for new challenges, and know how to tackle them, and Lizzie is the perfect person for that job.

We’re grateful for how she’s always finding new ways to make our repair station even more circular and sustainable too, which is something we are always striving to do over here at Reskinned HQ.

You can find our repaired menswear here and our repaired womenswear here if you fancy adding an extra level to your pre-loved wardrobe. You’ll get bragging rights for life, and what’s even better - we bet you won’t even be able to tell it’s been repaired!

Do you want to start repairing your own clothes? We’ve got a whole host of repair content dropping this month on our instagram, where you can learn all about how to fix all those pesky repairs. We promise, it can be easy when you know how.