We’ve all been there.
Your favourite pair of jeans begins to develop crotch rot, or starts falling apart at the seams. It’s time for a replacement, but you just can’t bring yourself to say goodbye, insisting instead that the threadbare look is in style.
Or your parents are about to come over, and you realise your sofa looks like it’s ready for the skip thanks to daily batterings from kids/pets or that last house party you threw.
What to do? Sure you could always get yourself another pair of jeans but emergency sofas are somewhat hard to come by - even if you happen to live next door to DFS.
‘Make do and mend’ may be a phrase born out of WWII, but it’s boomeranged back to us in the 21st Century as costs for just about everything seem to be on a dismal upward trajectory. Besides higher prices, landfill is at breaking point, so it’s prudent to repair things where you can, rather than letting a little tear mean you chuck your precious treasures into the bin. Textile waste is a huge issue in the UK, with some 350,000 tonnes of perfectly wearable clothing binned every year, according to Clothes Aid.
It’s a shocking figure, and one that luxury designer Christopher RÆBURN is pushing back against by offering free lifetime repairs for its garments and accessories. Meanwhile outdoor clothing brand Finisterre sells a Lived & Loved Repair Kit alongside its apparel to encourage customers to mend clothes so that they last a few more seasons.
While small clothing tears can be mended with a simple stitch (easy enough even if it’s been decades since your last home ec class), it’s not always the smooth sailing for other things like shoes and jackets. And if you’re looking to repair upholstery or furniture, that can be tricky to do yourself - unless you’ve got the proper training and tools.
Yet there are a few helpful products that can prolong the lifespan of things and keep them in good nick until the time comes that you absolutely have to purchase a replacement.
Things like fabric tape, patches and glue can help to keep your favourite pieces part of your wardrobe rotation for a little longer. Meanwhile there are ways to mend furniture and upholstery yourself without forking out for a professional. It’s all about making the most of what you have.
Fixing things yourself also equips you with new skills and may even ignite a hobby - like upcycling, sewing, carpentry or upholstery - that you’ve always wanted to learn.
At this juncture, it should be stressed that items of sentimental or high worth, like luxury handbags or the baby gown every member of your family has been christened in, should be handed over to professionals. You don’t want to wind up like that well-meaning Spanish woman who repainted a fresco of Jesus so badly that it became a global laughing stock and now lives in meme infamy.
Sometimes, if a job is worth doing, it isn’t worth doing yourself - and ES Best won’t be held accountable for botched jobs, no matter how diabolical the end result.
For everything else, we’ve put together a diigtal haberdashery of helpful glues, kits and patches to restore clothes and furniture back to working order - at least until it’s irrefutably time to shop for new.
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Kraftex Leather and Vinyl Repair Kit
Whether you’ve got a minor repair on your hands or a much more lengthy task, Kraftex’s repair kit is up to the mission at hand.
Made specifically to renew leather and vinyl - which can cost in the triple figures if left to the professionals - this kit can be used on everything from car interior seats and office chairs to jackets and sofas.
There are five premixed leather dyes to match a myriad of common shades with clear instructions to ensure you get unmatched results. Unless you go to lengths to point them out, no one will ever know they were there.
Buy now £12.99, Amazon
Coconix Brown Leather Repair Kits
No need to despair if you’ve come home from work to find your cat or dog has taken revenge on your sofa, bed frame or other pieces of furniture. Pet gnawing and clawing can be erased with the help of Coconix’s repair kit, made with fast-drying compounds to bring leather designs back up to new.
Promising professional-looking results, using this kit may as well be waving a magic wand over scratches, tears, cracks, burn holes and rips. Restore everything from chairs to sofas with easy-to-follow instructions - and there’s personalised repair advice should you run into trouble.
Buy now £20.00, Amazon
ZEFFFKA Premium Quality Denim Iron-on Jean Patches
It is a truth universally acknowledged that rips and tears occur when you’re in a rush. If you’ve managed to tear your favourite pair or jeans or worn a jacket so much that it’s beginning to develop holes, save your denim with a patch or two. This kit had 10 patches in various common shades of denim from black to light blue, allowing you to keep your precious staples in working order for that bit longer.
To use, simply cut to six and affix using an iron: the hot-melt adhesive will do the rest. Once its on, you can wear your denim as usual, even washing at high temperatures. If you find your handiwork is starting to peel off again, reach for the iron - you can re-stick up to three times, even after a turn in the washing machine.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
Gorilla Contact Adhesive Clear 75g
Say hello to some of the strongest adhesive around.
Gorilla Glue is an ‘everything drawer’ essential, able to bond all sorts of textures and textiles with a 100 per cent waterproof guarantee once it’s dry - which means it will fare well in the washing machine and tumble dryer. It’s also quite good for broken accessories like costume jewellery where the gems have fallen out and repairing sunglasses.
In fact it’s particularly great for repairing plastic and glass as it dries clear, and so becomes invisible once cured.
Buy now £6.50, Amazon
Barbour Wax Thornproof Dressing
If you’ve dropped a small fortune on a Barbour waxed jacket, the very last thing you’ll want to do is throw it away before its time.
Yet with the right care and storage, they can last for generations. One of its biggest benefits is the wax coating, which not only shuts out the wind but means rain water rolls off your back too. If worn too frequently, this coating can become ineffective, in which case it’s time to top up that special finishing.
Barbour’s formula of Wax Thornproof Dressing will keep your treasured jacket looking and performing as new, helping it to last longer. Use it as a first defence on areas that get a lot of wear, like the elbows, or use it to re-dress an entire jacket that needs restoring. Apply with a light touch using a sponge with a hairdryer close to hand - all instructions included.
Buy now £10.95, John Lewis
Prym Travel Sewing Box, Medium
For fallen buttons and wonky hook-and-eye fastenings, only a good old fashioned stitch will do. In times of trouble, keep this tiny sewing box in your drawer. It contains everything you need for a good-quality fix, from an unpicker, to a pair of sewing scissors, safety pins, needles and even a thimble.
Buy now £8.50, John Lewis
Hemline H782 Double-Sided Insta-Bond Tape
This is no ordinary double-sided sticky tape. The high-quality glue used on each side creates a semi-permanent bond that’s just what the sartorial doctor ordered for unravelling hems as well as small adjustments and emergency cuff and sleeve repair. Simply cut to size and apply - there’s no need to stitch, iron or pin to keep it in place.
Buy now £3.05, Amazon
Bostik 806702 Sew Simple Fabric Adhesive 20ml
This natural latex glue is your saviour for fabric rips of all types, from seam splits to tears on soft furnishings. The glue is super strong yet flexible, making it ideal for clothing in particular, and dries in minutes so you won’t have to wait for long if you’re mending as you’re halfway out of the door.
Washing and drying is no issue; once you’ve fixed something in place with Bostik it won’t budge. Use it to fix, alter or add patches to clothing, bed covers, curtains and more.
Buy now £5.29, Amazon
Coco Loco Wetsuit Repair Kit
Wetsuits are fairly expensive things, so when a hole develops in them, it’s frustrating to think about how much it could cost to replace. Luckily fixing it is much kinder on the wallet, and not nearly as hard as you might imagine either.
Coco Loco has made mending wetsuits, swimming costumes, rash vests, scuba gear, gloves and neoprene kit a doddle with this kit which has enough patches to see to rips large and small.
There’s no glue required; gentle heat from a household iron will do the trick for permanent repair in mere seconds.
Buy now £12.95, Amazon
Boot-Fix Shoe Glue: Instant Professional Grade Shoe Repair Glue
Whether you’ve spent years wearing in your favourite pair of Docs or you’re unwilling to bid farewell to the All Stars you’ve had since teenhood, this little tube of glue is your hack to keeping them in your shoe rack for a little longer.
The fixer offers minor miracles by bonding almost instantly with no need to clamp pieces together. Use it to fix soles and the sides of shoes, safe in the knowledge that when it dries clear, it will not only be invisible but it will be heat, cold and moisture-resistant too. You can even use it on vinyl and rubber shoes like Wellington boots.
One to help you save a small fortune.
Buy now £17.95, Amazon
