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Repair is a Radical Act

patagonia.com

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Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#31

Post by kijin »

mattnewport wrote: post #24

I appreciate companies making repairable products, providing repair manuals and avoiding proprietary screws etc. but I think it's overly simplistic to say repair is the default right choice. It makes sense to strive for efficiency. In some cases repair is the most efficient choice but in others it is not. There are always tradeoffs and sometimes durability and repairability are over-engineering for a particular use c…

The problem is that current market prices do not accurately reflect negative externalities such as pollution, exploitation of cheap labor, depletion of natural resources, and exacerbation of socioeconomic inequalities. We just dump our trash somewhere and hope that someone else will deal with it someday.

If there's a reliable mechanism to make market prices better reflect such externalities, I'm all for it. But until we've found and implemented such a mechanism on a large scale, a bit of moralizing wouldn't hurt.

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#32

Post by raverbashing »

chrissnell wrote: post #14

It's an interesting idea but as someone who owns dozens of their products, I'd love to see them take this a step further: I want to be able to order (for only the cost of shipping) repair parts and fabric for my repairs. For example, my Patagonia roll-aboard luggage is a decade old now and the veteran of hundreds of flights and trips around the world. The burly ripstop nylon is wearing through in spots and you can re…

There's a 99% chance you'll need to settle for a similar (or different) color

Sew it on the inside and it becomes less noticeable

But then again it's very old and probably reaching beyond the point of reparability

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#33

Post by mattnewport »

kijin wrote: post #31
mattnewport wrote: post #24

I appreciate companies making repairable products, providing repair manuals and avoiding proprietary screws etc. but I think it's overly simplistic to say repair is the default right choice. It makes sense to strive for efficiency. In some cases repair is the most efficient choice but in others it is not. There are always tradeoffs and sometimes durability and repairability are over-engineering for a particular use c…

The problem is that current market prices do not accurately reflect negative externalities such as pollution, exploitation of cheap labor, depletion of natural resources, and exacerbation of socioeconomic inequalities. We just dump our trash somewhere and hope that someone else will deal with it someday. If there's a reliable mechanism to make market prices better reflect such externalities, I'm all for it. But until…

Even to the extent that may be true, it does not follow that "As individual consumers, the single best thing we can do for the planet is to keep our stuff in use longer." as the article claims. There are almost certainly better things most individuals could do.

I think moralizing is actually pretty harmful in the context of environmental issues. It leads to things like wasted resources on inefficient recycling programs, ill advised programs like ethanol subsidies, biased evaluation of the merits of the best options for power generation and other examples of schemes that prioritize moralizing and making people feel that they're doing something over actual positive results.

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#34

Post by pascalmahe »

fernly wrote: post #11

Repair Cafe is a volunteer organization that applies exactly this insight by holding free "repair cafe" events in which volunteer fixers fix anything for free. There are many local branches, if you are a fixer, volunteer for the next one near you. Bikes, electronics, toys. At the Palo Alto one several women bring sewing machines and fix garments. Original organization is Dutch: http://repaircafe.org/ Original in Engl…

List of Repair Cafes: http://repaircafe.org/en/visit/

I was pleasantly surprised to find one in my current city of residence: http://repaircafe-lemans.org/

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#35

Post by gherkin0 »

studentrob wrote: post #30

I live in Asia and can always find a shoe guy or garment lady to fix my stuff for $1-$5. They are found in market stalls or the side of the road somewhere. You can't find as many of these "tiny businesses" in developed countries, perhaps because licensing costs too much to make it profitable, licensing isn't permitted for street vendors, varying climate doesn't make it as easy year-round, or ... Anyway, I really like…

> perhaps because licensing costs too much to make it profitable, licensing isn't permitted for street vendors, varying climate doesn't make it as easy year-round, or ...

I'm not sure that someone would be able to make a living in the US repairing everyday imported clothing items. The few times I tried to get something repaired by a tailor stop in the US, the cost at US wages was a significant fraction of what it would cost to buy a brand new replacement (made overseas at much lower wages). Admittedly, those were complicated repairs, but everyday clothing is just so cheap (in price and quality) that repairing it doesn't make sense.

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#36

Post by cstuder »

fernly wrote: post #11

Repair Cafe is a volunteer organization that applies exactly this insight by holding free "repair cafe" events in which volunteer fixers fix anything for free. There are many local branches, if you are a fixer, volunteer for the next one near you. Bikes, electronics, toys. At the Palo Alto one several women bring sewing machines and fix garments. Original organization is Dutch: http://repaircafe.org/ Original in Engl…

Switzerland: https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/repaircafe/schweizer-repair...

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#38

Post by ak217 »

Mentioned briefly in the article, but worth repeating here: iFixit (who Patagonia used to publish the repair guides) is a remarkable company. Their ethos matches the article exactly, and aside from the (economical and awesomely useful) electronics repair kits they sell, they are also dedicated to building an open access wiki platform with rich support for repair guide resources.

Re: Repair is a Radical Act

#40

Post by annnnd »

mattnewport wrote: post #33
kijin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that current market prices do not accurately reflect negative externalities such as pollution, exploitation of cheap labor, depletion of natural resources, and exacerbation of socioeconomic inequalities. We just dump our trash somewhere and hope that someone else will deal with it someday. If there's a reliable mechanism to make market prices better reflect such externalities, I'm all for it. But until…

Even to the extent that may be true, it does not follow that "As individual consumers, the single best thing we can do for the planet is to keep our stuff in use longer." as the article claims. There are almost certainly better things most individuals could do. I think moralizing is actually pretty harmful in the context of environmental issues. It leads to things like wasted resources on inefficient recycling progra…

I agree with you about moralizing - it can be (and often is) harmful. But in this case the advice is sound. Taking care of your stuff, not discarding it just because it is a bit worn around the edges, and trying to repair it instead of just discarding + buying new; is there something wrong with this approach? not sure it is a "single best thing", but it would make a difference. A large one imho.
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