Doesn't Anyone Mend Clothing Anymore?

I pretty much do the same. I have discovered many nice items, name brand and well made, by thrifting. When things get too ratty, they get turned into rags for a friend's auto shop.

@MarieCoyle My wife takes ratty clothing and uses them as strips to make braided rugs. She has made rugs for the kids with their own clothing. The kids like it because they recognize their old clothes. The rug in front of my kitchen sink contains pieces of the shirt I was wearing when we met 36 years ago :)

@Vikingswest1 I've done this before, too. As well as saved some of the fabrics by turning them into quilt fabric pieces.

I mend socks until they are too threadbare to fix anymore!

@MarieCoyle

@MarieCoyle It's a generational thing. The silent generation lived through the realities of war. They endured. The baby boomers who still comprise a good percentage of the world's population learned to do things for themselves. Gen X was spoon fed but also received the 'do-it-yourself' kind of education. The millennials were cared for absolutely. Probably the Gen X fault because they wanted to free their children of the menial tasks and excel in the booming technology the world was offering. The Gen Zee are deemed 'spoiled' because they know not house chores but look, everywhere, they are rising to the occasion. The old generations are leaving quite a mess of this world to the young generations. I pity the young because they have so much cleaning up to do. I wish the old also considered teaching the young to care for the environment and not just the household.

I think some people may be lazy, but I also think there are an incredible amount of people out there that can't or do not know how to do some basic things--cook a meal. Shop with prices in mind, mend clothing, change a tire, put oil in their car, and on and on the list goes. My Dad wouldn't even let me get a car until I proved to him I could care for one and check the fluids and change a tire. When I was a child, everyone learned to cook. Now, there are many people who can't cook at all, or if they do, they buy boxes and add water, etc. or they slap a pizza in the oven Somehow, we have failed to teach the basics to many. No, I don't know how to fix this.

It truly bothers me that we are such a throwaway society. I shop online for some items, but not clothing. I have purchased socks and a pair of shoes online, but not clothing. Lots of household items I need come from online shopping.

I was taught when something with buttons is no longer wearable, cut the buttons off and save them (thus, the button box ) and then the item is demoted to a rag or whatever. But I was taught to use the buttons if they could be used.

I taught all of my kids to sew on a button, at least. My sons can manage that much, although they still tend to save the mending for me, LOL. The girls were better students, they can mend tears and such.