As I was wrapping up my college career, I encountered my usual existential fear that I was interested in too many conflicting things and would never find work that would satisfy them. However, while working at the outdoor gear warehouse at my school, I learned that outdoor gear repair melds many of my primary interests:

• I am very passionate about sustainability — repair allows us to create loops within capitalism’s linear and harmful economy (see my paper on the Right to Repair Movement!)

• Feeling connected to the physical and natural world around me has always been important to me, but lack of access to gear excludes would-be nature-enjoyers — gear repair allows us to distribute used high quality gear at more accessible prices.

• Working creatively with my hands to create work has always been incredibly grounding and joyous to me. From duct-tape dresses in elementary school to sewing classes in middle school, elaborate halloween costumes in high school, and everyday alterations and repairs since, I have always loved working with textile and fabric. Outdoor gear repair has allowed me to learn about a wide variety of materials, how to care for them, the different ways they age, and how to repair damage to them.

Outdoor gear repair melds my interests in the outdoors, sustainability, and working by hand through creative problem solving.

I find great joy in restoring pieces important to family members, repairing gear for outdoors programs to keep costs down, and aiding friends when their precious items break.