It’s great to buy new clothes and shoes, but often the things we throw away haven’t always reached the end of their useful life.

We spend £1,800 on average each year on clothes (recyclenow.com). There are lots of ways we can make the most of this money by checking our wardrobes and making a list before we go shopping, choosing clothing designed to last longer and buying second hand (check out shops like Beyond Retro and Sparks in Broadmead as well as the British Heart Foundation, St Peter’s Hospice, and YMCA charity shops).

Getting more out of our existing clothes

The reason some of our clothes remain unworn is because they no longer fit, need repairing, or they don’t suit our style or taste anymore. And sometimes we wear old favourites until they are literally falling apart, when a simple repair can give them a new lease of life.

To overcome this you can:

• look for shops nearby that offer repair and alteration services (see our list below)
• wear clothes in new combinations and use accessories to give clothing a new lease of life
• use energy efficient laundry methods

Repair and alteration services in Bristol Shopping Quarter

It’s not just clothes and shoes you can repair, we’ve included places to get your computers and phones repaired too.

Clothes

Cotswold Outdoor – Union Street
Needle & Thread – The Arcade
The Bridal Boutique – The Galleries
Urban Tailor – The Galleries

Shoes

Mabz – The Arcade
Timpson – Merchant Street

Computers

Galleries Computing – The Galleries
FixMyTek – Sparks

Phone repairs

Apple (Genius Bar) – Cabot Circus
Coco Mobile – Merchant Street
Fone Choice – The Galleries
Fone Exchange – The Galleries and Merchant Street
Fones Hub – Broadmead
Fone Revive – Union Street
Fone Styles – Broadmead
iSmash – Broadmead
Phone Craft – Union Street
Phone Clinic – The Horsefair
Smart Phones – The Horsefair
Tech Revive – Broadmead

Repair workshops

No Small Things holds repair workshops at Sparks every Sunday. Further information at sparksbristol.co.uk/whatson/services
Every Thursday, Meret from Re_Thrindle is hosting a garment repair and alteration service in the sustainable fashion workshop space at Sparks.

More than 30% of our clothing goes to landfill, with nearly half of us putting some clothing in the bin. All of our clothing can either be re-used or recycled – check out our Where to recycle in Bristol Shopping Quarter blog for some great tips.