by Caroline Hayes
This year’s Sustainable Fashion Week ran from 27 September to 5 October and its aim was to unite the community to take action and change fashion from the ground up. The theme for this year was “Fashion, Reclaimed” with the message that it is time to take back control of our wardrobes, resist the churn of fast fashion, and imagine a more sustainable relationship with clothing. Its goal was to empower people with the knowledge and skills to foster positive changes in how they relate to and care for their clothes.
Did you know that in the UK more than 300,000 tonnes of clothing are discarded annually (Waste Direct) and that 49% of textiles are disposed in general waste (WRAP)? On average 35 items of clothing are discarded per person each year (WRAP, 2024) with each item being worn only 7 to 10 times before disposal (UniformMarket, 2025).
Cranleigh Repair Cafe wanted to get involved in supporting and spreading the word about this important message by having a day of events on Saturday 4th October.
We had our usual monthly Repair Cafe session in the morning and we carried out around 60 repairs and of those 15 were textile repairs. Our brilliant Make Do and Mend volunteers sew on buttons, darn moth holes, stitch hems and patch jeans in the Bandroom on the first Saturday morning of each month (to book an appointment please send an email to ).
After the Repair Cafe we ran a free Mend, Make and Master workshop which was for anyone over the age of 10 to learn hand sewing. The aim was to teach practical skills so that the attendees can repair, alter and upcycle their clothes and textiles. We had 13 attendees and our Make Do and Mend volunteers enjoyed sharing their knowledge with the group who learned running stitch, back stitch, blanket stitch, herringbone stitch and how to sew on a button. All the attendees were given their own mini sewing kit to take away so they can continue practicing what they have learned at home.
In the evening we held a Community Fashion Show in the Bandroom. Our four local charity shops, Phyllis Tuckwell, Oxfam, British Red Cross and Barnardo’s all provided us with a selection of clothes which were brilliantly modelled during the evening by volunteers. We were joined by local textile artist Hermione Thomson who gave a very interesting and thought provoking talk about sustainable fashion. At the end of the evening the clothes were available to buy and we were delighted to sell almost £500 of garments for the local charity shops.
It was a fun evening with lots of laughter but with an important underlying message, we cannot keep buying clothes and then discarding them at the rate we are. As designer Orsola de Castro said in Fashion Revolution “the most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe”.
