'Visible Mending' is the stylish and sustainable way to fix your favourite clothes

One of the greatest banes of a vintage clothes sellers life is the common household moth. Capable of destroying thousands of pounds worth of stock in a few weeks, and nigh on impossible to get rid of, moths are the one living thing I take some joy in destroying.

Just last week I found my beautiful new cashmere scarf - only purchased this winter, had been munched on by the silvery backed pests. I did what I usually do - went on a spraying spree across the house, hoovering, dusting and packed my scarf into the freezer to murder any little eggs that might be alive in my now holy neck piece. 

Valentina Karellas design

Up until now, I have been trying to fix any salvageable items by invisibly mending them - that is, trying to disguise the damage done by the moths. Depending on the extent of the damage and the material affected, this can work out fine if the item belongs to me, but if it's stock that I'm selling it's not so ok - moth eaten stock is essentially destroyed. Who wants to buy moth eaten clothes - even if they've been mended?

That is, until I came across visible mending. Visible mending isn't just for moth eaten cashmere - it can work for worn out jeans, threadbare jumpers and holy socks.

We’re all buying secondhand and upcycled clothes now, from charity shops, ebay, and Vinted or Depop. Visible mending feels like the natural extension of this. It not only makes clothes last longer, but also gives them a whole new lease of life.

The concept is simple. It’s essentially fixing up all those unforgiving stains or wear-and-tear wounds with a visible stitch here or a fabric patch there. Visible mending is a way to celebrate the life of the garment. 

Visible mending is said to have is roots in the Japanese art of sashiko. What sets it apart from typical clothing repairs is that – as the term suggests – the mends are intentionally visible. People are encouraged to salvage their clothes in creative ways by using contrasting coloured stitches, embroidered motifs, and patchwork patterned fabrics.

Darning tools courtesy of Repair Shop

So, instead of trying to subtly conceal damages with colour-matched thread, the purpose of visible mending is to embrace the scars of your garments by turning them into something colourful, eye-catching and beautiful.

It’s a way of treasuring a piece of clothing, by inscribing your movements and memories through creative mends. 

Visible mending is making traction beyond the sustainable fashion movement and has even found itself on the (for now, digital) pages of Vogue.

Yes, it’s a way to counteract fast fashion. “The most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe,” as Fashion Revolution’s co-founder, Orsola De Castro, always says.

Valentina Karellas design

And it’s definitely a motivation for knitwear and visible mending specialist Valentina Karellas.

Karellas explains: “With tonnes of garments being dumped into landfill due to multiple reasons, we all need to do our part in saving our garments. So many garments can be saved by simple solutions.”

But, she insists it’s also a way to express creativity and can be incredibly therapeutic:

"Visible mending is essentially highlighting the damaged area that needs repair, whether it is with a contrast colour, using a variety of sewing techniques. By repairing your clothes, it is a great past time, you learn a soothing technique which is calming and is proven to make you feel good on the inside. Mending is also a great way to salvage and upgrade your clothes, saving tonnes going to landfill. Reuse, recycle and repair."

An example of Jessica Marquez mending on denim

Since the world was plunged into lockdown two years ago, the rise in a return to more natural, economical and more sustainable practices has increased massively. Think of the return to baking - bread-making went through the roof at the beginning of the first lockdown, to the extent that the country out of flour. In the same vane, with the closing of tailors and bricks and mortar stores, the door for mending and up-cycling your clothing swung open. And just like baking, mending can be seen as a nurturing art. Hand skills are incredibly powerful and the meditative nature of baking or sewing - essentially creating - adds an element of being psychologically uplifting.

London based textile artist, Celia Pym, says of the art of visible mending, “hand skills are an incredibly powerful thing to be able to do because it is something that you can share with others, and also you don’t need a lot. The power rests with you and your fingers.”

Equally important is the sustainability factor. According to Jessica Marquez, a visible mending teacher, maker and author, the act of mending “becomes a means of self-expression.” In mending an item of clothing in a highly visible style, she can fashion a rip into a personal piece of art. Rather than trying to hide a garment’s flaws, she says, “it’s just something that becomes uniquely mine.”

In this way, visible mending is the antidote to fast fashion. Instead of seeing clothes as disposable, visible mending values sustainability and suggests a different way of relating to our clothes.