Fix a Zipper and Save the Planet at San Francisco’s Free Clothing Repair Clinics

On a Wednesday night in July, the normally quiet Glen Park branch of the San Francisco Public Library hummed with the sounds of clacking sewing machines, upbeat music and people chatting. But no librarians were shushing, because for a few hours, the library had been officially transformed into a clothing repair clinic.

Mollie Agahi stood at the front of the line of people waiting to be matched with an expert clothing mender. She brought with her a half-completed yellow dress she hoped to turn into a nightgown, but the process was slow-going without a sewing machine at home.

Luckily, that wasn’t a problem for Christine Haynes, who greeted Agahi cheerfully and got to work with her tools.

“We’re just going to secure it with the machine,” Haynes said. “It’s going to be lovely.”

Haynes is one of the five sewing experts paid to work at these Fix-It Clinics, which happen once a month at library branches around San Francisco. The clinics are run by a partnership between SF Environment, the San Francisco Public Library and SCRAP, an SF-based nonprofit that promotes creative reuse. Since the clinics launched in 2023, 235 articles of clothing have been repaired.

Danielle Grant, SCRAP’s Program Director, said the purpose of the clinics is to “inspire people to keep their clothes in their closets longer, to get the most wear out of their clothes that they can and to rethink their relationship to buying things.”

The clinics are first-come, first-served and free to attend. Participants also don’t need to know anything about sewing — a fact that Grant said makes the workshops extra accessible.

“We definitely have fans,” Grant said. “There are people who show up every month.”

Some of the items repaired in July included a cozy pajama shirt with a hole in it, a multicolored tutu dress with a broken zipper and a sentimental seat cushion.

Mei Zhang brought a pair of her favorite jeans that were starting to wear out in the seat.

“I’ve tried repairing them myself by sewing over the edges, but they’re still starting to wear,” she said.

If it weren’t for the Fix-It Clinic, Zhang said she probably would have “cried a little bit, held on to them for years and then thrown them out.”

Those jeans would have been part of the 11 thousand tons of textiles that wind up in SF’s landfill every year, according to a spokesperson for SF Environment. While this is only 4% of the total landfill waste, even this small amount of textile waste can be dangerous. State and global studies show that synthetic fibers from clothing dumped in landfills leak microplastics into soil and water systems, and release harmful greenhouse gases.

That’s why removing and reducing textiles from the landfill is the city’s “top priority,” according to Freddy Coronado, who helps run the Fix-It Clinics as SF Environment’s Residential Zero Waste Assistant Coordinator.

“We do have really environmentally conscious people, but we consume a lot,” he said. “We launched the repair clinics to get people comfortable with the idea of extending the lifespan of clothing by repairing it.”

The state of California is also trying to tackle the problem of textile waste. In 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Responsible Textile Recovery Act, requiring apparel and textile producers to have a plan for collecting, repairing and recycling their products. It’s the first program of its kind in the nation.

After two hours, the library returned to its quiet lull. Twenty-five people left with a beloved piece of clothing ready for another wear, which is 25 fewer things in the city’s landfill.

And anyone who didn’t make it that night could always come back next month.