On the Mend: Why Using What You Have is the New Luxury!

Wed Apr 22 2026 at 05:00 pm to 07:30 pm UTC-04:00

253 W 35th St | New York

Custom Collaborative
Publisher/HostCustom Collaborative
On the Mend: Why Using What You Have is the New Luxury!
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Celebrate Earth Day with a fireside chat featuring fashion experts Ngozi Okaro and Kate Sekules, followed by a hands-on mending workshop.
About this Event

On the Mend: Why Using What You Have is the New Luxury!

Join us in person for an interactive and eye-opening Earth Day event all about making the most of what you've got.

Hear from two women working to build stronger systems in the sustainable fashion industry, Custom Collaborative CEO Ngozi Okaro and mending pioneer and author Kate Sekules, as they chat about what it means to build a fashion practice around care rather than consumption.
Following the conversation, Kate will host a hands-on workshop to put these principles into practice, guiding you through visible mending basics from her book Mend! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto, which we will raffle off at the end of the night! All materials are included with your ticket!
Don’t miss out on this chance to learn from experts in the field and practice skills you can use to refresh your wardrobe all year round.
Get to know the hosts!
Ngozi Okaro

Ngozi Okaro is the founder and CEO of Custom Collaborative, a New York City-based workforce development and social enterprise that trains, mentors, and advocates for and with no/low-income and immigrant women to build the skills necessary for economic success in the sustainable fashion industry. Under her leadership, Custom Collaborative has trained hundreds of women through its 15-week Training Institute, launched the Fashion That Works worker-owned cooperative, and established the organization as a national model for equitable workforce development at the intersection of fashion and sustainability.

Kate Sekules

Kate Sekules is a writer, clothes historian, mender, and mending educator. She is a PhD candidate in material culture at the Bard Graduate Center and holds a master's degree in Costume Studies from NYU. A leading figure in the visible mending movement, she has taught at Parsons, Pratt, FIT, the Textile Arts Center, RISD Museum, and Columbia University Chicago, and has lectured for the Costume Society of America and the Textile Society of America. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harper's Bazaar. She is the founder of visiblemending.com and the Menders Directory, and the author of MEND! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto (Penguin Random House). She lives in Brooklyn.


Agenda

πŸ•‘: 05:00 PM
Arrive & Mingle
πŸ•‘: 05:45 PM
Fireside Chat Begins
πŸ•‘: 06:15 PM
Q&A with Ngozi Okaro & Kate Sekules
πŸ•‘: 06:30 PM
Mending Workshop Begins

Info: All materials are included in your ticket! Just show up, and we'll handle the rest.


πŸ•‘: 07:15 PM
Mend! Book Giveaway

Info: Enter to win a signed copy of "Mend! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto" by Kate Sekules


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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

253 W 35th St, 253 West 35th Street, New York, United States

Tickets

USD 19.00

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