We’re living through an unprecedented environmental crisis—and the fashion and textile industry is one of its quietest yet most significant contributors. Every year, the world generates around 92 million tonnes of textile waste—equivalent to a truckload of clothing discarded every second. Without a change, this figure is expected to reach 134 million tonnes by 2030.
This year, with more attention than ever being placed on reducing textile waste and curbing overconsumption, I want to share my journey as a textile upcycling professional. Throughout the years, I’ve found that even small daily actions—especially those involving needle and thread—can lead to meaningful environmental change.
My relationship with textiles began during childhood. My grandmother repaired clothes for our nine-member family, often with nothing more than small fabric patches—she didn’t even own a sewing machine. But it wasn’t born out of necessity. It was reverence for materials. Each piece of fabric, every cut and buttonhole, came from her carefully collected stash. They had stories, value, and were treasured with respect. My grandmother was one of 14 children herself, and repairs had always been simply part of daily life.
That principle has guided me into adulthood. Today, I carry it into my work as a textile upcycling and repair practitioner, believing deeply that every piece of needlework has the power to make the world a better place.
I still remember my first creation: my beloved sweater from high school, with black lace sleeves that had worn through. Instead of tossing it, I sewed on new lace—and just like that, it was wearable again. I still have it today.
Fast fashion has trained us to see clothes as cheap, disposable, replaceable. But to me, every repaired pocket, every patched hole, every reconstructed seam is an act of silent protest against excessive consumerism.
I find it painful to watch clothes with so much life left in them get discarded—especially over something as minor as a missing button. Here in Estonia, we lack the infrastructure to recycle textiles at scale. Many items dropped off in recycling stores are classified as waste, incinerated at the Iru Power Plant, or landfilled with mixed municipal garbage. It’s a system that breaks my heart.
But each time I sit down to repair a garment, I restore not only its function—but its value and uniqueness. Every successful repair conserves resources and offers a creative, sustainable alternative to throwing things away.
The data supports what I’ve learned through experience: if everyone wore their clothes just twice as long, the fashion industry’s CO₂ emissions could drop by almost 44%. Considering this industry generates 10% of all global greenhouse gases—more than international flights and shipping combined. Each repaired garment represents a significant step toward a cleaner planet.
The water footprint is equally concerning. A single cotton T-shirt uses up to 2,700 liters of water to make—the amount one person drinks over more than two years. Every T-shirt we repair instead of replacing conserves water and energy that our planet can’t afford to waste.
My path into professional upcycling started after I had children. I needed a way to make their outgrown clothing last, and no alteration services were available. So I experimented—patching knees, extending sleeves, reworking garments to fit their growing bodies. One of my daughter’s dresses has been adapted three times, extending its lifespan by six years.
All in all, I’ve repaired nearly 700 garments for my family and clients. Most often, I work on second-hand trousers and sweatshirts—customising them to suit my clients' needs, often shortening or patching them.
One project I’ll never forget was reconstructing a bridesmaid’s dress that was two sizes too small. The wedding was just 1.5 weeks away, and other seamstresses had turned down the challenge. I spent nearly 20 hours dismantling and re-patterning it from scratch. The result? A perfect fit—and a happy client who still wears the dress to this day.
While raising my four children, I’ve immersed myself in the world of textiles—from training programmes to behind-the-scenes documentaries, from late-night reading to internships with a designer from Baltika, once Estonia’s largest fashion house. That journey has fuelled my drive to share what I know.
Now, I teach others how to extend the life of their textiles—even without a sewing machine. I run workshops, creative camps, interest groups, and online mentoring sessions in both Estonian and English. It’s not about perfection—it’s about care, creativity, and making a start.
I truly believe that a single thread pulled through a needle's eye may seem insignificant, but when a thousand of us act together, we can shift market demand and push the industry toward sustainability.
When you repair a garment, you don’t just fix a hole. You make a statement. That piece of clothing now carries the memory of your fingers, the care of your eyes, and the patience of your hands. It’s a tangible response to disposability, triviality, and excessive consumption. It’s your way of saying, I care.
This World Cleanup Day, while you're picking up litter or sorting waste, I invite you to go a step further to rethink, repurpose and redesign. Find something torn or worn out—a shirt, a pair of jeans, a bag—and breathe new life into it. Then share your repair with the world using hashtags like #wastelessforthedress, #RepairTheWorld, #WorldCleanupDay2025, and #inspirationKristel. Inspire others to breathe new life into tired garments.
Because ultimately, our planet is an unmended fabric that belongs to all of us. And the repair begins with a single stitch. By repairing our clothes, we repair a little bit of the planet—the power is in our hands.
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Kristel Pachel is an Estonian textile upcycling expert and sustainability advocate, known for her hands-on work in reducing textile waste through creative repair. As the founder of Disainihoov, she leads workshops, mentoring programmes, and community initiatives that teach people how to extend the life of garments using simple techniques.
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