What's old is new again. Find out how to repair and repurpose

What’s old is new again and many of us are ditching fast fashion for making or fixing our threads, repairing broken electronic items and upcycling old furniture.

Shane from The Bower Reuse and Repair Centre says "people often get nervous about fixing broken items but once they fix one item, they have a new hobby."

Shane says: “Once you know a couple of the basics, you get addicted”.

“You start looking at how you can fix any item before throwing it away. You also realise that most things can be easily fixed - it can just take a little bit of time and patience.”

If you feel motivated to repair or repurpose your items but not sure of the basics, join one of our repair cafe webinars. 

First cab off the rank is our Clothing Repair Cafe on 15 March. The Bower’s accessible and friendly needle folk will give you the confidence to perform your own simple fixes including how to change an elastic, hem trousers, fix a dodgy zip, heal a tear and re-button a shirt.

At our Small Electrical Repair Cafe experts will talk you through basic electrical theory and show you simple repair techniques to help keep your devices working better for longer.

Additionally our popular Wooden Furniture Repair and Restoration Repair Cafe and Bikes Repair Cafe are still both on offer. 

Each webinar will include plenty of time for Q&A, so bring along your specific questions.

View our waste reduction events page for more opportunities to help you reduce your waste and check out some of our locals below that have successfully repaired and repurposed clothes and household items.