About Kate:
I was born and raised in London, live in Brooklyn with my husband, daughter, and two cats, and was, for many years, a magazine editor. Then in 2009, when that entire industry entered its death throes, I did a 180 and founded Refashioner, the first of the now-ubiquitous personal closet trading sites.
As I learned more and more about the world of old clothes, and how it connects to today’s fashion industry, I realized the way we consume is completely messed up. I got involved in the ethical fashion movement. And I went all the way into research and turned academic. I am doing a Ph.D. in material culture and design history, specifically: developing a taxonomy of mending. Eventually, I’ll be a Doctor of Mending.
Noting how people glaze over when you say “eco” or “ethical” I always think how great if it was simply more fun to swap and trade and mend and lend and value our own good clothes than to zombie-buy sweatshop fashions. That was the idea behind Refashioner, and the reason Visible Mending is getting all trendy. Let’s have it last longer than a trend. Mending is forever.