22 October 2024
Black Friday: Mindful shopping with a digital wardrobe app
- Lifestyle
- Reduce
Ever considered giving your cherished belongings – be it clothes, shoes, or accessories – a rejuvenating touch rather than discarding them? Discover the growing landscape of repair shops: a circular movement of contemporary tailors helping European cities transform into sustainable havens by repairing clothing in a professional and modern way. They open up in different cities in the Netherlands and Flanders. Who wants to hop on this trend and/or give clothing a longer lifespan, you’ve come to the right place.
Dive into our curated guide, illuminating some of the finest repair shops in the Netherlands and Flanders that breathe new life into your treasures, ensuring they remain with you for many more memories. Good for your wallet ánd the environment! Or would you rather learn how to repair clothes yourself? Discover the best places to (learn to) repair clothes in Amsterdam.
De Steek
Located in the heart of Amsterdam-West, De Steek offers an extraordinary sewing café and boutique experience. You can learn to sew yourself or you can attend workshops to learn how to repair clothes. Dive into a visible mending workshop or learn how to repair by using the darning technique. The essence of eco-consciousness is woven into every facet: from high-quality, plastic-free haberdashery to elastics born from natural rubber and threads spun from organic cotton and recycled polyester. The sewing café has a cosy and creative atmosphere where you learn to deal with clothing in a fun, more conscious and educational way!
Studio Koekoek
Attention to all modern DIYers! Studio Koekoek in Amsterdam is the place where you can find modern and more conscious craft materials to repair clothes yourself. From iron-on repair patches, wooden speed weaves and more ecological sewing threads to vintage sewing and embroidery tins, you will find it in the store or webshop of Studio Koekoek. Do you want to gain more skills, so you can repair clothes yourself in a better and more professional way? Follow a workshop or read the blogs about how to repair clothing and the use of, for example, a darning mushroom.
At Studio Koekoek you will also find many more craft materials, such as modern embroidery kits, weaving materials, punch needle starter kits and yarns made from ecological wool, recycled denim or recycled linen.
Discover the workshops and blogs for clothing repair at Studio Koekoek.
Modestraat
Creative people can indulge themselves at the Modestraat in Amsterdam-Noord. The Modestraat is a creative breeding ground with a repair café where you can repair clothes, but you can also follow sewing lessons, rent sewing machines, attend workshops, rent an atelier, swap second-hand clothes in the swapping boutique or drink a cup of coffee and eat a sandwich. The Modestraat is a unique social gathering place in the neighbourhood where you will find many residents from Amsterdam North, but of course everyone is welcome here!
Wondering when you can visit the repair café for a (DIY) clothing repair? Check out the website of the Modestraat for their updated agenda!
Tailors of Amsterdam
For a professional, artisanal and experienced tailor, you should go to Tailors of Amsterdam on the Elandsgracht in Amsterdam. The owner Atilla has years of experience in the clothing industry. He travelled as a highly skilled tailor in countries such as Turkey, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain and Austria to make and repair clothes. A world of experience! From repairing a broken zipper, (press) buttons, holes or repairing clothing, Atilla and the team at Tailors of Amsterdam are happy to help you. This way you can enjoy your clothes even longer!
Discover all the repair services that are offered by Tailors of Amsterdam.
ReShare Stores
Next to selling second-hand clothing, ReShare Store is also focussing on more sustainable and conscious ways to deal with clothing. To encourage you not to throw away damaged clothing but to repair it, they offer a repair service in various stores throughout the Netherlands. In the ReShare Store in The Hague, Deventer, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Amsterdam and Eindhoven you can have your clothing repaired for a small contribution. The repairs are done by volunteers and when the right person is present, it is possible that your garment will be repaired within 20 minutes!
Do you have a piece of clothing from the clothing brand Josh V? Because of their partnership with ReShare Store, you can even have your clothes by Josh V repaired here for free. Read more about this repair service here.
Denim City
Do you have a jeans that are ripped or damaged? Then repair them! At Denim City in de Hallen Amsterdam they have a repair service where your jeans are repaired professionally. This way you can enjoy your favourite pants longer and you contribute to a more sustainable future! Cool fact: Denim City is both a store and an innovation campus dedicated to transforming the denim industry‘to a Brighter Blue’. At the front of the store you’ll find various sustainable jeans brands such as Kings of Indigo and Mud Jeans and at the back of the store there are sewing machines for students and to carry out repairs.
Online repair services
At online repair platform Mended, you can easily ‘sign up’ your item for repair. Mended provides the shipping label, you post your item and 10 days later you receive your repaired garment back!
Moreover, Mended not only provides repairs, you can also have a garment adjusted to your measurements!
The online collection service Byewaste recently teamed up with United Repair Centre to also offer a repair service in Amsterdam. Submit a repair request on the Byewaste app and set a pick-up time. United Repair Centre will repair your items and ship them back to you.
Tailors
Beside all these cool repair and restoration initiatives in Amsterdam, you can of course also go to a local tailor! In Amsterdam, you’ll find a professional tailor in every neighbourhood who is happy to repair or alter your clothing. This way, you give your clothing a longer lifespan and support a local entrepreneur from your neighbourhood! Curious about which tailors there are? Here you can find an overview of the best tailors in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam stadspas
Do you have an Amsterdam Stadspas? Thanks to this city pass you can have clothes repaired with a 40% discount at more than 38 different tailors and shoe repair shops throughout Amsterdam.
Please note: the Stadspas is for people with a lower income or little wealth who live in Amsterdam. Read about the terms and conditions of the Amsterdam City Pass here.
