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Comment by shijie | Hacker News Reader

I’m not aware how prevalent this technique is in Japan, but here in the US it is totally unheard of. I watched the whole video. What an exquisite result. So impressive. It makes me realize the level to which some people dedicate toward their craft. I am not at the Katetsugi level of craftsmanship in my own profession, but this documentary inspires me to get there!

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It's called "invisible reweaving" in the US. It used to be a routine service offered by dry cleaners, and a few places still offer it. Clothing is so cheap today it's rarely worth the trouble.

In 90s India, dry cleaners did dyeing and darning too. And puncture shops offered vulanisation and retreading bald tires. Now they are all but gone.

To digress, Now I'm looking at https://www.reddit.com/r/Visiblemending/ with interest. Seems Reddit environmentalism is endorsing long lasting clothing and keeping them alive longer.

>vulanisation and retreading bald tires

There's a reason those are largely gone - retreaded tires have been the cause of many accidents and blowouts over the years...

it's gone for regular pedestrian vehicles mostly, but it's still fairly common in the U.S. to see retread shops near any semi-truck hub areas.

lots of retreads on tractors and trailers and buses. the only tires that are required to be virgin/non retread are the steerers on buses

Yes, "reweavers" are extremely rare.

Master tailors who create bespoke clothing and work with very expensive wool fabrics may still have a reweaver that they use. It's only economically sane if one is dealing with suits, for instance, that start beyond $2000.

The tailor who made my last two suits from will do it. I have not had reason to ask about pricing (yet).

They aren't cheap and I really like their work, but I don't think they're the sort of place that people travel to buy from. So I imagine other tailors offer it.

I've had this done to a pair of suit pants by a not particularly notable dry cleaner and they did a great job. It was expensive though. I think it's not so much that it's unheard of here as it is that very few people in the US have clothes they care about preserving enough to justify the cost. I think it cost me about $60 to have my pants rewoven and I could have gone to Macy's and gotten a new pair for that money. I could probably have gotten 2 or more at H&M or Uniqlo. Unless the pieces have sentimental value or you have a really elevated fashion sense it won't be worth it.

It’s not unheard of - in the US this type of repair is called “reweaving”

https://mensfashion.thefuntimesguide.com/mens-suit-repair-re...

It's not unheard of but I had a really hard time finding anyone capable of doing that kind of work in the Bay Area. Even when I did find someone the work was not great. Maybe I would have better luck in a bigger city like NYC? I think perhaps people being unaware of this technique has lead to a drop in demand over time and thus a diminishing supply of practitioners.

I remember my dad telling me about being in the Marine Corps stationed in Norfolk, VA back in the early '60s. He mentioned that there was an Asian lady who ran a shop in town that could do this - apparently she made good money repairing damage to military dress uniforms.

I loved the Art and Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance and this here is pure quality. Creating quality makes me happy but it's a shame that I don't get to always create quality at my current job.

Persig’s wife just released a book of unpublished writings of his

On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063084643/

https://scienceandkindness.net/ is out of St. Paul, MN. I believe you can send them your clothing. I follow them on instagram because I think they do some really cool repairs.

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