This program focuses on teaching students about mending clothing and understanding its environmental impact. It provides lesson plans and resources to develop practical sewing skills and encourage critical discussions about consumer behavior and sustainability.
This program offers lesson plans, learning intentions, materials required, research questions, ideas for further learning; extensive links to reference and supplementary materials. Developed to integrate into UK curricula but immediately relevant and adaptable to any school context.
Access — Fashion and the Environment
Age — Ages 6 - 18
Cost — Free
Source — Repair What You Wear, UK
Repair What You Wear
Fashion generates 10% of global carbon emissions.
Mending is an eco action.
Mending saves you money.
“The aim of RepairWhatYouWear is to encourage mending skills so that clothes are kept for longer and therefore waste is reduced. It also aims to provide an understanding of the fibres and fabrics from which clothing is made, so that individuals become informed consumers. This project develops practical hand-sewing skills together with research on the impact that clothes have on the environment. It gives pupils the ability to make more informed choices about what they wear and the basic skills and incentive to mend.”
“The project is based on repurposing an existing garment, learning more about fashion and the environment, more about the major fibres used in clothing (Cotton and Synthetics) and core hand skills that can also be used for mending.”
Comprehensive, engaging, and high quality educational materials to take learning about textiles, clothing and their larger context into the classroom. Technical skills and information about mending, fibers, and dyes are complemented by resource-rich discussions of the environment, human rights, the circular economy and related. PDFs and video.
Your Input Is Really Valuable!
The objective guiding the development of this catalog is to offer you what you need to do what you want to do.
Is this resource helpful? How did you use it? What suggestions do you have for improving this particular resource and/or the overall catalog? What do you need that’s not here? Please leave a comment below.
Thank you for taking a few moments to contribute to creating a valuable resource!