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Alice Brown, a 27-year-old forest ranger from Lincolnshire, embraces the challenge of buying second-hand clothing with imperfections, such as holes. Rather than seeing these flaws as drawbacks, she treats them as opportunities for creativity. Over the past year, Alice has cultivated a distinctive style by needle-felting small animals and insects onto her garments to conceal moth holes and stains, which has earned her a large online following. “The natural place for decoration is in the centre at the front. If the hole is under the arm or on the shoulder, it forces you to think about the design,” she explains. This approach, often referred to as “visible mending,” is gaining traction beyond hobbyists and community workshops, attracting attention from fast-fashion brands and appearing on designer runways.
In Brighton, Jayne Eagle conducts workshops to teach the art of decorative mending. Her students learn to apply fabric patches behind rips and paint with stitching inspired by traditional Japanese Boro and Sashiko techniques. Instead of camouflaging repairs by matching thread colors, they use bold, geometric white stitches to create eye-catching designs. Jayne also offers lessons in colorful darning, encouraging mends that celebrate instead of hide damage. She considers this approach to repair “an act of rebellion” against the wastefulness of fast fashion. Her students, such as Nicola, have put their skills to use by transforming sunscreen stains into attractive decorations, while Lisa appreciates how mending has become a source of pride rather than embarrassment. Lisa even made a deliberate patch on a second-hand jacket’s damaged fabric, turning the repair into a statement piece she enjoys showing off.
Historically, mending clothes was about extending their lifespan to save money. However, visible mending represents a shift towards celebrating sustainable fashion choices. According to Jayne Eagle, the trend gained momentum about six years ago, rising as a counter-movement against the “throwaway” culture spawned by fast fashion since the 1980s. The new focus rejects the negative environmental and ethical impacts of mass production, including pollution, carbon emissions, water consumption, and poor labor standards. This shift has led to surprising uptake by retailers: established brands like Ralph Lauren and fast-fashion giant Shein now offer clothes featuring stitched or patched elements, although these are new garments rather than repaired items. Meanwhile, some high street stores have started to provide repair services and host workshops to encourage customers to extend the life of their wardrobes. Maria Ledous, Uniqlo’s head of sustainability, emphasizes the company’s aim “to give customers practical ways to extend the life of the clothes they already love, rather than simply replacing them.”
Primark also supports the trend despite its reputation for affordability, with longevity lead Vicki Swain affirming, “We don’t think that affordability and durability should be opposites.” Outdoor brand Finisterre reports that about 20% of its customer repairs are deliberately made to be visually distinctive, and at artisan retailer Toast, roughly a third of customers opt for striking mends. Toast’s CEO Suzie de Rohan Willner describes the repair experience as a collaborative process where customers decide “what they’d like [their garment] to become next.” Toast employs a team of 14 in-house “repair artists” who creatively enhance clothing, offering repairs free of charge, while “renewed” items with distinctive patches command higher prices due to their unique character. Levi’s, long associated with fan-driven personalization of repairs, is launching workshops focused on basic sewing skills such as button replacement and hemming. These sessions have attracted mainly younger participants who currently prefer discreet mending. For example, 16-year-old Bianca from East London notes that visible holes can still carry a stigma, while Theo and his friend Nicholas, both 19, express a preference for repairs that preserve the garment’s original appearance. Levi’s design innovation head Paul Dillinger envisions this changing over time, believing creative mending will gain popularity as people develop new skills, stating, “No-one has time for that perfect ‘straight from the shop’ thing. That’s not cool. People crave agency. Mending is a demonstration of humanity: it’s not a mustard stain, it’s a memory of a great day in the ballpark.
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