Why we need a global Mend in Public Day

Walking down the streets while distributing pamphlets or holding protest signs in the air: those are just a few examples of what fashion activism can look like. On 20^th April Fashion Revolution gives you a change of perspective on this topic by celebrating the first ever global Mend in Public Day! It is a day of protest against disposable fashion and aims to spread the idea that loved clothes last. Curious to learn how you can put Mend in Public Day into practice? Down below we will give you some practical repair tips from the COSH! Network.

Celebrating 10 years of Fashion Revolution

2024 marks ten years of Fashion Revolution, a fashion activism movement that brings together people from all over the world. Fashion Revolution’s mission is to fight for a more transparent fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit. It saw the light of day in 2014, a year after the Rana Plaza building collapse of 24^th April 2013. Ever since, the organisation has expanded worldwide and is now active in more than 70 countries.

Mending matters

Did you know that the textile waste mountain in the Atacama Desert is now so high that it is visible from space? Last year, SkyFi, a company specialised in earth observation data, published a satellite image showing an enormous pile of clothing left behind in Chile’s desert. That should come as no surprise when you look at McKinsey’s numbers: in 2014, for the first time in history, the fashion industry produced more than 100 billion clothes in a single year. Apart from creating a huge mountain of waste in countries like Chile and Kenya, this has other disastrous consequences for nature. Indeed, clothing is responsible for as much as 20% of global water pollution and 10% of global CO2 emissions, according to European Parliament figures.

In addition, Circle Economy’s Circularity Gap Report of 2024 showed that in the last five years we have used the same amount of materials as we did in the entire 20^th century. At the same time, the global circularity rate has declined by almost 2% since 2018, which means that we’re all consuming more virgin materials than ever, at the expense of the share of secondary materials. In other words: reuse is in decline, which is obviously bad news for the planet.

This is where you come in. During this year’s Mend in Public Day, you can show some love to the fashion items you already have as a way of resisting the (over)consumption mindset of today’s society. By taking the time to really examine the clothes in your closet and figuring out how to treat them better, you already send out a strong message to the world simply by slowing down. It’s a form of protest against fast fashion and for an industry that values reuse and a more circular instead of linear economy. Need some help to get started? Check out our tips below.

Stitching tips from the COSH! network 

1. Find a repair café near you. Some of them offer clothing repair workshops. For The Netherlands, De Steek Amsterdam, Modestraat, and Studio KOEKOEK are great options. In Belgium you can count on Naaipunt in Antwerp and more than 30 repair shops in and around the city of Hasselt. Those include the Repair Cafés in the centre of Hasselt, Kuringen, Kermt, and at Corda Campus.

2. Book a repair service for clothing repairs that need a bit more expertise. Tailors of Amsterdam, the ReShare Stores and SneakerCleaners can help those of you who live in the Netherlands. Belgian repair services you can book include HOIHOI from Oosterzele, Shoerecrafting and Mien Kaba from Bruges, as well as these repair points from Hasselt: De Gouden Draad, Shoe Express, ​‘t Gouden Naaldje, Mister Minit Demerstraat or Carrefour, Naaiatelier AMPHA, Silver Stitch, or the Limburgse Retouche & Kleermaker.