Fix It or Bin It? Why Some Things Are Worth Mending

Most men have one somewhere. A drawer, a dish on the side, an old watch box at the back of the wardrobe, holding a chain with a snapped clasp, a ring that's worn thin and a bracelet that came apart years ago. Nothing in there was ever quite bad enough to throw away, and nothing was ever quite important enough to get fixed. So it all just sits there, waiting for a decision nobody makes.

That drawer says more about how we buy than we'd like to admit. When something breaks, do we mend it or replace it? And if the honest answer is "replace it", what does that say about the things we're choosing in the first place?

Repair is back, and it started with clothes

For a long time, fixing things felt old-fashioned. It was what your grandparents did because they had to, not something you'd choose. That's quietly changed. Tailors are busy again, cobblers are back on the high street, and visible mending has gone from a necessity to something people actually want to be seen doing.

The numbers back it up. According to a recent industry report, seven in ten people repaired at least one item of clothing in the past year. But the same report found that only around one in seven had ever used a brand's own repair service, and a quarter didn't know where to get their clothes repaired at all. The appetite is there. It's knowing where to go that's missing.

Most of that conversation has been about jackets, jeans and trainers. Jewellery has barely come up.

Why jewellery got left out

Part of the reason is that jewellery sits at two extremes in people's heads. Either it's precious and meant to last forever, in which case it goes to a jeweller and costs a fortune, or it's cheap and throwaway, in which case it goes in the bin the moment it breaks. There isn't much room in between for an everyday chain that's simply had a bad day.

The other reason is that a broken piece feels more final than it usually is. A snapped chain looks like the end of it, but most breaks are small: a worn clasp, a stretched jump ring, a single weak link. They're often a quick fix, and sometimes something you can sort yourself. (If that's where you are right now, our guide to what to do when your chain breaks walks you through it.)

And then there's the maths. If a chain cost less than a takeaway, paying to have it repaired feels hard to justify. Which is exactly where the real problem starts.

A mended piece has more story, not less

Here's the case for fixing things, and it's a strong one.

Jewellery isn't like most of what we own. It's worn against the skin every day, it goes everywhere with you, and over time it picks up the marks of where you've been. The chain you wore through a new job, a move or a hard year isn't the same as one fresh out of the box, even if they look identical. Replacing it gets you the metal back. It doesn't get you the history.

A repair keeps that history going. A new clasp on an old chain, a ring that's been reshaped after years on your hand, a pendant that's been re-strung: none of that takes anything away. If anything, it adds to it. It's the same reason so many men end up wearing a parent's or grandparent's piece rather than melting it down, something we've written about before. The wear is part of the point.

Or should we just be buying less?

There's a fair argument on the other side, and it's worth hearing out.

Repair is a lovely idea, but most people won't act on it. They'll mean to, the piece will go in the drawer, and a year later they'll buy a new one anyway. On that view, the real answer isn't fixing more. It's buying fewer, better things in the first place, so there's less to fix and less to throw away.

We'd agree with most of that, and we don't think the two ideas are really in competition. Buying better is how you end up with things worth repairing. A piece that's built properly is one you'll want to keep going, and one that can actually be kept going.

So what does that look like in a piece of jewellery? A clasp that's built to be opened and closed every day. Links that are solid enough to take a knock. Real metal under the finish, whether that's sterling silver that can be cleaned and brought back, or plating that's been done well and looked after properly. And, just as importantly, someone behind it who'll help when something does go wrong.

Buy once, keep it going

That last part matters more than most people think. A piece is only as fixable as the people who made it are willing to make it.

It's why every CRAFTD piece comes with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects, including snapped chains, faulty clasps and stones coming loose. If something fails that shouldn't have, we'll repair it or replace it. We'd much rather you kept wearing the piece you chose than started again with a new one.

Because the pieces worth owning aren't the ones you replace every season. They're the ones you'd rather fix. The chain that's been with you for years, the ring that's moulded to your hand, the pendant that marks something you don't want to forget. Those deserve better than a drawer.

So before the next big round of buying starts, it's worth having a look in yours. Is there anything in there that's still worth wearing?

Chances are, there's at least one.