The Melbourne designers offering alterations, repairs and upcycling services to breathe new life into your wardrobe
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CREATIVE VICTORIA
IMAGE VIA @post_sole_studio/INSTAGRAM
WORDS BY MAEVE KERR-CROWLEY
“I want everyone who purchases one of my pieces to have a long-term love affair with their clothes.”
Fashion and style can’t exist without a healthy dose of creativity – it’s the ability to turn a piece of fabric or a garment into something more. Creative Victoria’s number one mission is to foster that creativity at the government level.
The team behind the state government body invests in people with big ideas and extraordinary talent, helping Victoria’s creative sector thrive. That includes the fashion industry and all the talented designers, brands and stylists who work their magic across Melbourne.
For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.
There’s so much local fashion in the city to buy and call your own. But in this more sustainable age, creativity often takes on a new meaning. Style can be an act of sustainability in itself when we treat our clothes as investments and find ways to wear them for years.
Reinventing your style or shaking up your wardrobe doesn’t have to mean buying something new. It can also mean getting creative with your styling or just bringing an older garment back to life with tweaks and repairs. With the help of Creative Victoria, we’ve gathered a few of the Melbourne brands making this easy through built-in services like repairs, alterations or upcycling.
Post Sole Studio
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When you find your perfect pair of shoes, you’re likely to wear them at any opportunity. But even the most well-made shoes will start showing their age with heavy wear through damage or tiredness.
Post Sole Studio takes full responsibility for its shoes even after they go home with you. The Abbotsford-based label offers in-house repairs and refurbishments to bring your worn-in kicks back to life. A much-needed repair can get shoes looking shiny and new again, transforming them so drastically it’s almost like buying a whole new pair.
“Because we make all our shoes in-house, we can offer a premium service that utilises all the original materials and components. It means the end result is as close to your original purchase as possible – something that can be difficult to achieve via a third party,” founders Myra and Breeze explain.
Denimsmith
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Denim is one of the most versatile and easily styled fabrics out there, which is why we all tend to wear our favourite denim staples to death. From the dreaded crotch tear to ripped and fraying hems, jeans go through the wars when you’re wearing them every day.
Denimsmith’s Repair and Re-Wear service is designed to deal with these mishaps swiftly so you can get your clothes back on your body pronto. The first repair is free, followed by a flat $40 fee if you run into more trouble down the line.
The label also offers alterations to ensure your denim fits you perfectly through style and body changes. Switch out button flies for zips, cinch in the waistline or alter the hem, all without having to find a tailor yourself.
Kuwaii
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Kuwaii runs multiple nifty programs that keep your clothes working hard long after you buy them. Every Kuwaii garment is made from materials that are hard-wearing and easy to fix. They even come with a lifetime repair guarantee.
Over the years, the label has repaired over 400 garments and over 170 pairs of shoes – replacing buttons, mending rips and getting beloved, revamped clothes back into their owners’ wardrobes. If you’re well and truly done with your garment, you can also take it back in-store and trade it for a $20 Kuwaii voucher. Your clothes will either be resold, repurposed or recycled, so not a scrap of fabric goes to waste.
Kuwaii’s director, Kristy Barber, says of the brand’s services, “We love to repair and give new life to Kuwaii clothing. Whether it’s through our lifetime repairs program or our Re-Worn garment recycling program, we want to ensure that we’re responsible for every stage of a garment’s lifespan – including conception, production, wear and end of life. We believe that clothing should last and be treasured, and we stand by this with our products.”
Kalaurie
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Fit can make or break a garment, changing how you feel when you wear and style it. This is why Kalaurie offers in-house alterations as well as ongoing repairs. The Fitzroy North label’s designer, Kalaurie Karl-Crooks, strongly believes clothes should last a lifetime and see you through years of wear. She also knows you’re more likely to do that if your garment fits perfectly and looks its best.
Kalaurie explains, “I want everyone who purchases one of my pieces to have a long-term love affair with their clothes and part of loving your clothing is looking after it. It’s always made perfect sense to me to offer services that could extend a garment’s life.”
All customers can get their garments repaired or their hems tweaked to perfection, but any further alterations are limited to Melbourne shoppers. This ensures you can head into the studio to have the fit assessed in person.
A.BCH
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Circular design is the name of the game at A.BCH, a label that takes product care and reduced waste very seriously. The brand takes the entire lifecycle of a garment into account, including birth, life and afterlife. The ‘life’ stage is a collaboration with the consumer. It’s all about caring for your clothes, finding new ways to keep them in your wardrobe and forming an emotional connection with them.
This ensures each garment can live multiple lives before it’s no longer wearable and has to be disposed of (responsibly, of course). A.BCH offers free repairs for life on all its designs but also encourages consumers to learn their own repair skills. You can build your own custom repair kit online, and the perfect buttons, thread or fabric patches will be sent to your door. The idea is that by repairing your clothes yourself, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and a deeper connection with your garment.
To find out more creative Victorian fashion labels, head here.
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