Quote from Patagonia's Director of Philosophy

“Durability (in the design process) has become more important to us. That’s the value that came out of designing climbing equipment because you don’t want to make equipment that doesn’t last. But it also plays out environmentally because there are very few things that we can make that don’t cost the environment more than what we can pay back. Making something to last for a long time to reduce the need for replacement is an environmental value.”

- Interview with Patagonia's Director of Philosophy: http://mibiz.com/item/22453-q-a-vincent-stanley

Participant Videos: Fixit Clinic CVI (#106): Livermore Public Library

We were fortunate to have Kirk Kunihiro and Roberta Miller from StopWaste.org at our recent Fixit Clinic at the Livermore Public Library. They brought along a video camera and captured some of the day's participants talking about their items: their provenance, how they broke, and what we learned by taking them apart. The eight videos are set up as a Youtube playlist here (click "Play All" and they'll play in sequence):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEwSEUxzcNWIFoV5d3WZri1QQ0wogBD9L

We hope in the future to refine this process and get better at conveying the stories behind the people and the items they bring to Fixit Clinics.

Fixing a Zipper When the Zipper Teeth Separate

Ever have a zipper where the zipper teeth separate behind the zipper slider? Fixit Clinic's Peter Mui shows how to address this issue using a locking pliers:

This video was taken at Yerdle's Repair & Share Earth Party http://repairshareearthparty.splashthat.com/ celebrating Patagonia's Worn Wear Tour http://www.patagonia.com/us/worn-wear/. Fixit Clinic also participated at the Patagonia North Beach Store Worn Wear event a couple of Black Fridays ago: https://plus.google.com/photos/111525193946026734520/albums/5951923350253636353.

The basic trick is to use the locking pliers to clamp down just a smidgen on the top and bottom plates of the zipper slider body. Do both sides, work slowly so you don't make the sides too tight.

Here's the step-by-step instructions we created for iFixit's web site: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repairing+Zipper+Slider/35496

Fabric items are 8% of landfill waste. How many jackets, tents, backpacks, luggage, and other items with zippers have been discarded when they could've been easily repaired with this simple technique?

Fixit Clinic CVI (#106) Livermore Public Library

Another grand day of fixing with a bunch of newly-minted Fixit Coaches, mostly from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.  We saw a higher number of laptops than we normally see and got most of them back into working order. More photos from the Fixit Clinic are on Google+ here: https://plus.google.com/photos/111525193946026734520/albums/6139280702310932225?authkey=CIuji-SP5aL8PQ

It's our sincere hope that this great core of new Fixit Coaches in Livermore start a new and sustainable Fixit Clinic satellite there.

Addendum: One of the new Fixit Coaches wrote in later that day:

"Thanks! I had a blast.

"It didn't stop at the clinic. On the way home Ryan and I stopped and helped two guys whose car was at the side of the road. It had been shuddering and emitting smoke. Eventually we determined the reason for their trouble was they'd been driving with the parking brake on! Wish I'd had a bell to ring....

-Josh"