Shoe repairer Stephen Jones said he has worked through two recessions where business has thrived while others have crumbled.
He is the owner and operator of Treasured Things, an at-home repair business, which specialises in repairing goods.
In his 35 years of working in repair, he said business booms the most when costs of living soar, much like they are now.
"During those recession periods ... and periods like we are in now [where costs for goods increase], some businesses fall, but the exact opposite has happened for me," he said.
"People obviously don't have a lot of spare money, and so they don't have the option to just go and buy a new pair of R.M. Williams boots. But they do have the money to get them repaired.
"During times like that, that's when my business or the businesses that I worked for actually really took off, and we always become busier."
You could say shoes are the sole of his business, but Mr Jones said handbags and watches also take up the biggest portion of the work he does each week.
He started his career as a carpenter, but said there is a certain appeal he found once he began his repair work.
"All of my family have done the same thing, they all have a trade behind them, but they're all doing different things," he said.
"I started repair work because its pretty much the same job, but when you're building a house that can take months, while I could take a job that was broken and wrecked and I could basically make it brand new within a couple of hours.
"Some people can't just go back and buy $600 new proper leather boots once theirs have broken, after they've also been told they will last forever too."
On Friday, August 11, researchers and environment advocates will meet at the 2023 Australian Repair Summit at the National Library of Australia to incentivise and support the repair of products, machines and equipment.
While their goals are largely to address the waste crisis in Australia, they are also calling on better support from governments to draw attention to repairing goods rather than replacing them, and the benefits it can have.
Mr Jones said he and his business would benefit from more multinational brands advertising repair options on a local scale.
"It costs a lot of money to send things back to a store's repair place, and in some cases, it also takes upwards of seven weeks to get things back from them," he said.
"I think these could be situations where certain companies could say, 'hey, we don't actually need to be the ones to repair those. You can get them repaired properly by this person' and promote certain businesses that way.
"I don't know about you, but a lot of people can't afford to be without their best shoes for seven weeks."
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