THE MENDING Lab
SEP.29.19
A free one day community event held on September 29th, 2019 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to teach mending skills.
PRETTY/UGLY was gifted an available retail space for one week and quickly organized what became THE MENDING Lab. The learning objective was simply to see how people would embrace or engage in the idea of clothing repair. The event was announced on Instagram and with signage at street level not more than five days before the event. The space was divided into 3 areas: a hand mending area at front of store and visible at street level, a machine mending area, and a center display for media and gallery walls.
People had lined up for THE MENDING Lab before the doors opened, and as the event unfolded the hand mending area at front of store became a stage for repair and conversation that drew people in. Passerby’s would stop and look inside the windows, then run home to grab something to repair and return. The machine mending area had an air of professional repair that enabled people to mend while having deeper conversations with Tara about the Global Fashion System.
THE MENDING Lab delivered on the invitation to teach repair skills, but was also able through conversation to deliver deeper and impromptu education on the impacts of fashion system. Those organic conversations about the material impacts of fashion on the environment was shocking for average people, even those who identify as being “sustainable” consumers. In the end, what was planned as a pop-up event to mend clothes, turned into an example of the desire to mend community as well.
More than 35 attendees showed up and the 3 hours event was extended to 5 hours as guests continued to arrive.
SEP.29.19
A free one day community event held on September 29th, 2019 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to teach mending skills.
PRETTY/UGLY was gifted an available retail space for one week and quickly organized what became THE MENDING Lab. The learning objective was simply to see how people would embrace or engage in the idea of clothing repair. The event was announced on Instagram and with signage at street level not more than five days before the event. The space was divided into 3 areas: a hand mending area at front of store and visible at street level, a machine mending area, and a center display for media and gallery walls.
People had lined up for THE MENDING Lab before the doors opened, and as the event unfolded the hand mending area at front of store became a stage for repair and conversation that drew people in. Passerby’s would stop and look inside the windows, then run home to grab something to repair and return. The machine mending area had an air of professional repair that enabled people to mend while having deeper conversations with Tara about the Global Fashion System.
THE MENDING Lab delivered on the invitation to teach repair skills, but was also able through conversation to deliver deeper and impromptu education on the impacts of fashion system. Those organic conversations about the material impacts of fashion on the environment was shocking for average people, even those who identify as being “sustainable” consumers. In the end, what was planned as a pop-up event to mend clothes, turned into an example of the desire to mend community as well.
More than 35 attendees showed up and the 3 hours event was extended to 5 hours as guests continued to arrive.
PRETTY/UGLY WORK
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