Sustainable Fashion: Visible mending artfully prolongs life of clothes

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ancient craft of mending is making a comeback but forget being discreet.

"Visible mending is a style of clothing repair and it is bringing attention to rips and tears in your clothing, usually by using colorful threads or patches or embroidery," said Nandi Duzynzki, the CEO of Bliss Joy Bull.

Duzynski holds visible mending pop-up classes all across the city.

Traditionally, people used mending to extend the life of a garment but this type of mending is meant to be seen.

"I tend to express myself through what I'm wearing and if you have a patch on your clothing, someone might be like oh what's that, that's really interesting - like a conversation starter," said Duszynski

Whether your darning a sock, patching a hole or creating a decorative stitch, visible mending involves picking up a needle and thread and learning to sew.

"It's not that complicated and i think it can be pretty easy to learn how to sew just like very simple things," said Duszynski. "I kind of base everything on the simplest stich which is the running stitch and we can kind of build on that with more decorative stitches."

Extending the life of a garment is an example of sustainable fashion and a great example of showing the earth some love.

"It's very easy to want to get rid of something if it has a hole," said Duszynski. "The kind of benefit of repairing your clothing is that it brings more value to what you're wearing and it helps you make a stronger connection to the clothes."