Gear/clothing repair??

[Becky]

Anyone know of a good place to get technical apparel repaired? I managed to bash the zipper of my favorite Beyond custom jacket and break the bottom stop off :( I love this jacket and want to get it fixed, but I'm not sure that the local tailors here are familar with outdoor gear....

As an aside, does anyone know how to get pet hair off of windbloc fleece? I've washed it over and over, tried the sticky roller, and still can't get it all. I don't want to send a "furry" jacket for repair.

[pardes]

Spray it with static guard to get it a little damp and then put it in the dryer on very low setting and let it bounce around quite a while. This rescued a fleece robe that one of my dogs "adopted."

[Cataboo]

You can sometimes send things back to the manufacturer to be repaired. Call beyond custom.

[Becky]

Pardes: great idea about the static guard. Will try that tonight!

Catriona: There's nothing on their webpage about repairs, but I may shoot them an email anyway.

[malkin]

For the zipper repair wouldn't they need more familiarity with zippers than with outdoor wear?

[SouthernBelle]

Unless it's some special zipper, any seamstress could replace it. Do you still have the stop? Put it back in place with a pair of pliers.

[VeloVT]

I bought a pretty sleeveless Castelli jersey from Colorado Cyclist last winter (it was on clearance). When I pulled it out in the spring, I noticed there was a small (~1 inch) hole on one of the seams -- a manufacturer's defect. Arrgh. I took it to the seamstress I usually have do alterations and she did a fantastic job on it -- you would never know that there had been a hole, and there's no evidence of the repair (and she said the new seam is much stronger than the old one). On the other hand, I was a bit chagrined to pay $18 to fix a 1 inch hole on the seam...

[spokewench]

My regular seamstress works on my technical fabric garments. If you have someone, a tailor or seamstress, just ask them if they can work on that type of material. I'm sure fleece should not be a big problem for either a tailor or seamstress

[Cataboo]

The only time I'd worry about repairs to technical garments is if I needed it to be waterproof. I have replaced the zippers on goretex jackets myself - but this was in the days when they had waterproof flaps that went over zippers, so I wasn't worried about how waterproof my stitching would end up being. And given there was a flap, I sewed & reinforced the hell out of things to make sure it would be reinforced enough for what I needed because it's not like people were going to see it.

I wouldn't do that with the new waterproof zippers that don't need flaps.

[sundial]

If your seamstress can't repair it, consider an upholstery shop.

[Irulan]

This is what I do professionally, repair technical clothing. I work with many of the major manufacturers on a referrral basis, been in the biz for 10+ years, I work nationally and internationally.

I would NOT take it to an upholstery shop, and I would be sketchy about a regular tailor or alterationist unless you know they are comfortable with the type of fabric and construction. Unfortunately I have seen some real whack job repairs from folks that should not have touched certain garments.

OTOH, it's not rocket science unless you are dealing with taped seams or ultrasonic bonding. It's more of a which hammer/which nail scenario.

If the bottom stop broke off, there's no replacing the part, requires a whole new zipper.

In case you are curious, this is me,
www.specialtyoutdoors.com/about/whatis.asp

[Irulan]

I bought a pretty sleeveless Castelli jersey from Colorado Cyclist last winter (it was on clearance). When I pulled it out in the spring, I noticed there was a small (~1 inch) hole on one of the seams -- a manufacturer's defect. Arrgh. I took it to the seamstress I usually have do alterations and she did a fantastic job on it -- you would never know that there had been a hole, and there's no evidence of the repair (and she said the new seam is much stronger than the old one). On the other hand, I was a bit chagrined to pay $18 to fix a 1 inch hole on the seam...

Yes, but you couldn't do it, could you?

[malkin]

Irulan, thanks for the link. I had fun looking around your shop!