“Can you fix these slippers?” I hold up my pair of clearly worn loved slippers. The soles hanging on for dear life.
He puts his glasses on his nose and takes them from my hands. The silence while he inspects is awkward, so I rush to fill it. ”I tried to glue them myself once, but it wasn’t good enough”.
“What glue you use?” Prying the soles even farther off.
“Eh, fabric glue”
“When did you wear them last?”
“Last winter, so at least half a year ago” I lie. It was way longer. They kept breaking on me and my weak glue couldn’t hold them together.
He put’s them down on the counter. “I can fix, but you have to decide if it’s worth it for you.”
“It is” I say before hearing his price. It can’t be more than what a new pair would cost.
“It will be €35” He looks at me trying to figure out my response.
Too be fair, €35 was more than I expected. And yes, I could discard these and get a cheaper pair somewhere. But that is not the point. The point is: I like these slippers. Apart from the soles, they’re still in good shape. And that I don’t want to throw away something when it can be repaired.
It’s something I’m becoming more and more mindfull of. Going for quality and fixability from the start. In a society that’s thriving on disposabilty these days, is becoming increasingly hard. And you might even get judged for it by your cobbler, who’s actual job it is to fix things… As if only expensive items are worth being fixed. Fixing my seemingly unimportant slippers felt like a rebellion against consumer culture. Not replacing an item when it first breaks makes you a weirdo.
Ofcourse it would’ve been easier to trash my slippers and buy a new pair online. Get them deliverd to my doorstep and be done with it. But again, buying something new isn’t the point here.
Repairing is.
Supporting a local business is.
Caring for what you own is.
I’m not saying that you should never trash anything ever again and only fixing what you have. But if and when you have the mental space, time, energy and money for it, you should absolutely go for it.
“I’m here for pick up” I hand him my receipt.
“Ah, the lady with the favorite slippers!” The biggest grin appears on his face as he reaches in the cupboard where he stores the fixed items.
He hands them back while explaining some special care instructions, so I can keep them for even longer.
I walk out into the winter air with my favorite slippers in hand.
Be the lady with the favorite slippers. It feels great.
SuusVooijs 