Mending Night
Community
Mending Night is a template for community building. A solution for social alienation and an integral step to reducing 10% of global pollution. Community is understood to be developed and maintained through reliance, accountability and shared values.
All of our clothes break down and all of us need to contribute to and be supported by a reliable group of people.
Menders are those who believe things can be fixed, maintained and improved through actions both individual and cooperative. Mending Night creates social context for a system of clothing repair and fashion culture which is maintained by regular mending and education in a shared physical space.
This relationship involves a donated system of time, reparation, maintenance, social interaction, cooperative education, resource sharing and design.
As long as there is time and Menders available, free mending services and education are provided to anyone in attendance. This allows engagement with the community to be defined by what a person feels comfortable with, while making clear paths to deeper levels of interaction.
All of our clothes break down and all of us need to contribute to and be supported by a reliable group of people.
Menders are those who believe things can be fixed, maintained and improved through actions both individual and cooperative. Mending Night creates social context for a system of clothing repair and fashion culture which is maintained by regular mending and education in a shared physical space.
This relationship involves a donated system of time, reparation, maintenance, social interaction, cooperative education, resource sharing and design.
As long as there is time and Menders available, free mending services and education are provided to anyone in attendance. This allows engagement with the community to be defined by what a person feels comfortable with, while making clear paths to deeper levels of interaction.
Chapters
How To
1. Start saying you want to start a Mending Night to people around you.
2. Ask people who can sew if they want to donate time as Menders. Look for hand menders and people with machine experience. Ask around the upcycle clothing community in your town. Older generation’s interest might surprise you here.
3. Find a location that inspires an evening people in your neighbourhood would enjoy. Ask local cafe and wine bar owners; tell them you're bringing consistent business and goodwill (show them press we have received - see below). Or do it for free in a park :)
4. Invite people. “Bring your clothes that need mending, or learn to hand mend clothes with us. No charge.” Ask friends to bring friends. Expect to start small.
5. Throw the event, introduce everyone you can. Seat people together at one big table. Often people who are not volunteers will help each other impromptu.
6. Do this at least once a month.
2. Ask people who can sew if they want to donate time as Menders. Look for hand menders and people with machine experience. Ask around the upcycle clothing community in your town. Older generation’s interest might surprise you here.
3. Find a location that inspires an evening people in your neighbourhood would enjoy. Ask local cafe and wine bar owners; tell them you're bringing consistent business and goodwill (show them press we have received - see below). Or do it for free in a park :)
4. Invite people. “Bring your clothes that need mending, or learn to hand mend clothes with us. No charge.” Ask friends to bring friends. Expect to start small.
5. Throw the event, introduce everyone you can. Seat people together at one big table. Often people who are not volunteers will help each other impromptu.
6. Do this at least once a month.
Start a Mending Night
Proem
“Our organizing must aim for a balance between two strategic goals. First, we need initiatives to radically transform the social structures of the world to eliminate the systems of oppression like capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, patriarchy and heterosexism that confine us to states of oppression and exploitation. Second, we need initiatives to transform ourselves and our communities through autonomous, self-reliant institution building, resource maximization, resource development, and community care.” - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
“We must shift America from a needs, to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old had been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.” - Paul Mazur, a leading Wall Street banker in 1927
“We must shift America from a needs, to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old had been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man’s desires must overshadow his needs.” - Paul Mazur, a leading Wall Street banker in 1927
I believe it can be made unacceptable to produce “new” textile by changing how and why we dress, drastically reducing global pollution. In the process we can create communities of shared values in a practical attempt to combat alienation in the modern world.