In Loved Clothes Last, Orsola de Castro crafts a world where repairing our clothes is a practical, creative, badass, revolutionary way to say ‘my clothes are me, my chosen skin, my principles, my story’
Pics/Suresh Karkera
There is a chapter on mending techniques of darning, patching and embellishing in the recently published book, Loved Clothes Last: How the Joy of Rewearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act, where author Orsola de Castro talks about her favourite jumper of all time. She inherited it from her maternal grandmother back from the 1940s. The messy rips on the black cashmere cardigan have been repaired lovingly with jersey elbow-patches; embellished with tiny black beads; crocheting around moth holes; little embroidery motifs to complement some older darning, and a lace trim along the front to reinforce the hold of the buttons. It’s almost quixotic.
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Similar moments occur across the 10 chapters of the book with a title so plain, that you must read it with care to understand its significance.
De Castro is an activist, former designer, and co-founder of Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit movement that advocates industry reform. What elevates her narratives is the solemnity of their staging. She explores the fractured lines not just in worn garments, but between fashion production and the environment too. The reader is greeted with “almost grotesque” statistics cited in the Introduction, of the supposed 53 million tonnes of textiles produced globally every year, over 75 per cent are discarded, both in production phase and at post-consumer level.
Indeed there are high stakes involved in timely and honest statistics, except here, they are not trapped in theory but in the intimacy of a wardrobe. Much of this ultra-comprehensive book of love for clothes is built on partnership between text and images that inspire responsible consumer behaviour. “Our ready-to-wear has turned into ready-to-waste. Karl Marx once said that religion is the opiate of the masses—to upgrade this concept, today’s consumerism is our crack cocaine,” she writes.
It’s fashionable to put the ethical onus on manufacturers, but we are letting ourselves, the consumer, off too easily if we expect producers to shoulder full responsibility of the environmental consequences of our consumption. To be truly sustainable you have to adopt De Castro’s “buy better, and buy less” mantra, and then extend it as far as we can bear to.
And mindfulness really starts at home. Understanding + Learning to Read Care Symbols while buying clothes, for instance, is the key to unlocking how we care for them and make them last, as is knowing how to turn your old jeans into a skirt or understanding roughly how long do clothes take to biodegrade in a landfill. To wit: Lycra activewear takes 20-200 years while a polyester dress: 200 years, minimum.
De Castro gathers the perspectives of designers, activists and artists, covering topics from Case for Upcycling, Recyling, Craftivism and #WhatsinMyClothes to the rights of garment workers, moral rewards of switching to organic cotton and impact of washing machines. To those who are invested in sustainable fashion, new to the scene or just a little curious, the author writes: “This is not a ‘how to’ book, it’s more of a ‘why to’—a book for making things and for making changes”.
Badges of honour
Pic/Tamzin Haughton
De Castro writes, “I collect vintage brooches, badges and pins, which I use to cover moth holes. It all started when one of my favourite jacket’s lapels got attacked, and I covered the holes with every pin I had at my disposal. The final look was totally punk, and the jacket is one of my most admired pieces (in pic); I have been photographed wearing it several times. Everybody comments on the pins and brooches, unaware of the secret they are there to hide. Over the years I have extended this practice to knitwear and trousers too, and I never leave home without a few badges or pins in my bag, in case I spot a stain I can’t get rid of with a quick on-the-spot spongeing, or an unruly hole appears, which I don’t like the look of.”
‘Main kapde durust karta hoon’
Mohammed Adil Khan, 38, might not be fully conversant with the global reduce-reuse storyline, but he is the best candidate to talk about repairing clothes. “Main kapde durust karta hoon [I repair clothes],” he says nonchalantly.
As a 12-year-old, Khan migrated to Mumbai from Bareilly in UP. His elder brother worked as a darner, and the plan was to learn the skill and start on his own. Khan says it took him two years to learn his way around the sewing machine. Repairing clothes has been a 9 am to 7 pm job for the last 25 years for Khan, the in-house darner at Garment Cleaners laundry at Love Lane, Mazagaon. He earns R50 for smaller repairs while more intensive work pays him R150. His monthly salary is R700, with which he supports his wife and three children. “Hamare mamu bhi yahin kaam karte hain. Samajh lo [darning] family business hai [My uncle is also a darner, so it’s like a family business],” Khan says, adding he had hoped to start his own tailoring business but didn’t have the funds.
De Castro’s repair and relove guide
. A pair of trousers that are fraying at the hems, and one leg is split almost to the knee: to it I will add sheer black or patterned tights and killer shoes.
. A jumper that is covered in holes and so broken up at the elbows that one arm is almost hanging by a thread. I will work on what’s underneath it.
. A dress that is so faded, it’s gone from black to dark grey and is totally torn. I wear it with a string of pearls and red nail varnish.
. I will never understand people who buy denim shorts (and that includes my daughters). Why? Why can’t you just cut down the ones you already own?
. I have seen denim pockets become almost anything, from the cutest phone pouches (join two pockets together and add a long strap—this could be beaded, sequinnned, crocheted, woven, knitted or customised) to advent calendars!
. Keep your old jeans to patch your new ones.
. The robust material also lends itself to household duties: I use my kids’ old jeans to polish silver and brass, and someone I know has made the best-ever pot holders, simply by layering two squares and binding them together with crochet.
How to start being sustainable: Ask yourself some simple questions at the point of purchase
. What materials is this piece made from? (Check the label before buying.)
. What are the cleaning recommendations? And do you really need another dry-clean-only sequinned number to wear at the office Christmas party? Does it have further use later on? If not, might you consider renting a glamorous outfit instead?
. Is it made of polyester? If so, is the poly used efficiently? Is it a piece that will require less care (because by now you know that polyester is a material that can be washed infrequently) or is it a T-shirt that will react badly to your natural body odour and therefore need frequent washing?
. Can you creatively imagine another use for the item you are about to buy? Like: Ooooh, nice trousers! I can’t wait to use them for a long time and then turn them into shorts! Or: Love this: but it might not be right for me if I gain/lose a few kilos, so who else in my life (mother/daughter/bff) might adopt it after me?
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