Seven To Try: Melbourne’s Best Alteration and Upcycling Services

With mountains of textiles ending up in landfill, more people are looking to upcycle their clothes. Clothing restoration and repurposing services are becoming popular options, but it can be hard to know who to trust with our beloved garments. Here are seven creative fashion alterations and repurposing services in Melbourne worth putting your trust in.

Chop Shoppe

Chop Shoppe is a Northcote sewing studio that wants to reduce textile waste while making fashion slow, fun and accessible. Specialising in creative alterations and upcycling, Chop Shoppe encourages its customers to fall back in love with their wardrobes. The north-side space, complete with a vintage store out front, offers alterations from minor adjustments to complete custom reconstructions.

“Whether it’s tailoring a blazer with a corset-style lace-up at the back, or adding eyelets to little pulls in a T-shirt, we look for ways to add character to the garment and extend its life,” founder Heather Smith tells Broadsheet. Custom pieces range from $250 to $650, and repairs start from $4 and alterations $25. Chop Shoppe can hem, shorten sleeves, resize waistbands, replace zips, reline, patch crotches and more.

chopshoppeau.com
@chopshoppe.au

The Social Studio

The Social Studio first launched on Smith Street in 2009 and has since flourished into the three-fold (school, shop, studio) social enterprise it is today. The Social Studio is a not-for-profit using upcycled and Melbourne-made fashion to drive social change. It uses its funds to keep building its free work and training programs for refugee and migrant creatives.

“Our mending service provides valuable work for our team and training opportunities for our students, while helping us advocate for a more sustainable fashion system, one where people look after and invest in maintaining their favourite garments,” CEO Dewi Cooke tells Broadsheet. The Social Studio is particularly known for its knitwear mending, which isn’t widely offered. Alteration services include hemming, zipper and button replacement, and strap adjustments. Custom and bespoke alterations are individually quoted, but basic services start from $10.

thesocialstudio.org
@thesocialstudio

Not Sew New

Not Sew New is a Melbourne clothing and accessory label with a zeal for sustainable fashion. The brand focuses on repurposing neglected scrap materials, and making use of pre-existing textiles, vinyl and tyre waste. Working backwards in the design process, Not Sew New uses materials as the guiding light for its creations. The two-year-old label welcomes custom orders. You provide the style, colour, size and desired fit, and Not Sew New’s founder, Ava Lauren, will help you create something new from something old.

notsewnew.com
@not.sew.new

PPHH

Found on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, PPHH provides specialised denim hemming and repairs. Formerly known as Pickings and Parry, the 12-year-old label offers a chain-stitch hemming service using a Union Special 43200G machine, originally used to stitch factory hems on denim and workwear. For denim purchased in-store, customers can expect complimentary alterations, including a chain-stitched hem or a standard straight stitch. Stitched-in cuffs start at $30 for anything bought in-store; $50 for anything purchased elsewhere. PPHH outsources some of its denim alterations, but has a seven-day turnaround for most of its minor services.

pphh.store
@pphhstore

Second Stitch

Second Stitch is a not-for-profit organisation offering alterations, repairs and custom garment production in Coburg. The social enterprise teaches women professional textile-making skills to equip them for employment, while building community through workshops, events and social gatherings. Second Stitch’s alteration offerings are plentiful, from flipping business shirt collars to replacing elastic waistbands. Contact Second Stitch by visiting its studio or by giving the team a call.

secondstitch.org.au
@secondstitchmelbourne

Soof Flash

Melbourne artist Safa El Samad operates flash-embroidery brand Soof to encourage people to upcycle preloved garments. Running out of the community space Dukkana in Coburg, customers are invited to bring any favourite, stained, lightly damaged or unwanted (but clean) clothing, where El Samad will embroider your choice of flash “tattoo” on your garment. The “flash” nature of the brand allows you to pick and personalise your designs, giving life to your not-so-new, but improved garments. Prices range from $30 to $65, and shoppers are welcome to choose between nine different thread colours.

soofflash.com
@safaelsamad

Studio Nana

Studio Nana, named after matriarchal figures and inspired by the craft of bygone days, holds upcycling and beginner sewing classes. “We are a creative hub committed to teaching the skills of our grandmothers, learning not just how to sew but with a specific focus on creative transformation. Think sculptural mending, unexpected silhouettes, and playful detailing,” founder Leah Herszberg tells Broadsheet.

Herszberg offers bespoke alterations and one-on-one consults on top of her hands-on workshops. With a focus on longevity and quality over fast-sailing trends, the Studio Nana community invites Melburnians to get creative and involved in reshaping how fashion serves its wearers.

fingertip.com/studionana
@studionana.au