02 La Trame Repair Club Textile, free textile repair workshops

Number of votes: 9,423

1. The Project in a Nutshell

Offer a regular, free textile repair workshop to Lausanne residents to teach them how to extend the life of their clothes while fostering social connections.

2. The Project’s Objective

With this regular textile repair workshop, we aim to empower Lausanne residents to reclaim textile repair skills and extend the life of their clothing. Knowing how to repair items yourself raises awareness of the work involved in textile manufacturing and helps shift perspectives on textile consumption. Having the opportunity to meet regularly—free of charge—to carry out these repairs will foster numerous exchanges among participants and help build a community around this topic. The idea is not to offer a service but rather to provide a gathering where participants can learn tips, reclaim knowledge, and share their textile experiences while contributing to a local solution for reducing the negative impact of textile production. This regular gathering is envisioned as an intergenerational and intercultural event fostering exchanges among retirees, young parents, the unemployed, migrants, young people concerned about the planet’s future, and others. It’s an opportunity not only to care for what already exists and contribute to the ecological transition toward a system that is more respectful of the environment and living beings, but also to nurture social connections by spending time together in a friendly atmosphere centered on textile repair.

3. The Project in Detail

While there are many one-off repair cafés in Lausanne, there is no regular offering for textile repair. We would like to offer a free, regular event totaling ten hours per month (spread over one morning per week and one weekend session on a Saturday each month). Each workshop will be prepared and led by volunteer professionals in sewing and textiles to encourage participants to repair and/or alter their clothes with the goal of extending their lifespan. Whether it’s sewing on a patch, embroidering over a hole, or any other textile repair, these actions will allow everyone, in their own way, to help combat the ecological disaster caused by today’s overproduction and overconsumption of textiles—all while fostering social connections!

The Trame Repair Club Textile will also serve as a gathering place for the exchange of knowledge and may feature conferences and special presentations on the topic of textile repair. As a gathering place for the Lausanne textile community, we have already hosted various repair workshops at our location (courses on repairing knitted projects, courses on mending clothing), which have been met with great enthusiasm. However, having to pay for a class prevents some people from accessing these techniques and the materials needed to carry them out. By offering Lausanne residents a regular, free textile repair drop-in session, we can give everyone the same opportunity to participate in a form of degrowth by valuing and caring for existing textiles, thereby combating overconsumption and fast fashion. We regularly have customers looking for ways to make their clothes last as long as possible through various repairs. Being able to offer them the chance to learn how to do this themselves during these regular sessions will meet their needs.

The Trame Repair Club Textile will help gradually build a community around this topic so that, together, we can find solutions to the problem of textile waste that affects us all.

4. The amount requested to carry out the project

CHF 20,000

• Communication expenses (e.g., flyers, posters, etc.): CHF 1,600.00

• Operating expenses (e.g., room rental, equipment, administrative costs, etc.): CHF 16,650

• Volunteer expenses (e.g., meals, transportation, etc.): CHF 1,500

• Third-party services (e.g., external personnel, specialists, security, etc.): CHF 250.

5. Neighborhood(s)

City Center / Vinet-Pontaise

6. The Association

La Trame