5th International Repair Café Conference

25^th April 2025
16.00 – 18.00 CET (15.00 – 17.00 BST)
Via TEAMS

Background

Repair Cafes are bringing together repair enthusiasts worldwide. The international network of Repair Cafes is becoming larger and larger, with almost 3,500 locations in 50+ countries, with new locations opening their doors every week.

The webinar will provide an update related to Repair Cafes and clothing activities and provide a showcase for researchers exploring issues related to Repair Café.

This webinar will be the 5th in a series of international Repair Cafe conferences organised jointly by The Centre for Sustainable Design ® in UCA and Repair Cafe International Foundation in Amsterdam.

Target audience
The webinars are focused on practical issues being faced by Repair Cafes and is targeted at trustees, managers, repairers and other volunteers; and will be suitable for those that are in start-up or more experienced Repair Cafes.

Event objectives
To highlight and discuss issues related to clothing repair and Repair Café related research including lessons learnt and best practice examples.

Agenda
The conference is co-chaired by:
Professor Martin Charter, Director and Chair, Board of Trustees, Farnham Repair Café, The Centre for Sustainable Design (®), Business School for the Creative Industries, University for the Creative Arts (UCA)

Martine Postma, Founder and Director, Repair Café International Foundation (RCIF)

Introduction
16.00 Professor Martin Charter, Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design ®, UCA and Chair, Board of Trustees, Farnham Repair Café

16.05 Martine Postma, Founder and Director, RCIF

Clothing

16.15 Overview
Professor Sandy Black, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, UAL

16.30 Case study: textile mending in Hudson Valley Repair Cafe
Suzie Fromer, Hudson Valley Repair Cafe

16.40 Repair Cafes, clothing, young people and education
Beth Quinton, PhD researcher, UCA

16.50 Q&A 

Engagement with Researchers

17.00 Importance of Research
Martine Postma, Founder, RCIF

17.05 Repair Cafes, governance and data
Peter Counter, PhD researcher, UCA

17.20 Engaging expats in Repair Cafés
Theocharis Tzimas, Leiden University

17.30 Repair Café Game
Lea Molema, University of Applied Sciences Groningen

17.40 Discussion

18:00 Close

Registration
The event is free of charge, but you need to register via rcarruthers@uca.ac.uk by sending your name, position and Repair Cafe. On receipt, you will be sent instructions to join the webinar.

Further information
For more information contact:
Ros Carruthers
The Centre for Sustainable Design ®
Business School for the Creative Industries
UCA
+44 (0) 1252 892772

Funding
Funding received from Research England Strategic Priorities Fund. Research England is part of UK Research and Innovation, a public body funded by the UK government. For more information visit www.ukri.org or re.ukri.org