Every year, Americans throw away upwards of 16 million tons of clothing. In 2018 alone, 17 million tonnes of clothing ended up in landfills across the United States. Thanks to fast fashion this number is increasing every year. This trend is incredibly harmful to the environment as it can take over 200 years for one piece of clothing to decompose in a landfill . We therefore wanted to find a solution that would extend the lifetime of consumers' clothing.
The first sewing machines were invented in the early 19th century. They were able to cut sewing times from 14.5 hours by hand to 1 hour with the machine. Around 60% of people in the United States do not know how to sew, and many issues can arise such as the needle breaking, the bobbin being threaded improperly, and stitches being skipped.
Since the invention of the sewing machine, there have been some technological improvements, but the major design components have not changed, causing a difficult user experience.
Modern handheld sewing machines are technically very well designed, but still require users to have general knowledge of using and setting up a regular sewing machine - skills that take a long time to acquire and hone. Many issues arise with these machines as well, as the needle often breaks, the thread breaks, the bobbin tension isn't consistent, and the machine skips stitches.
Other simple solutions currently exist for pants and clothing alterations, but they are unreliable and uncomfortable. For example, the button pin allows users to place a new button on the front of the jeans to alter the waist. This can make the jeans look bunchy and awkward in the front, and users complain about it falling off. We sought to create a more reliable and comfortable solution.
Taking clothes to the tailor can be expensive, as it can cost $40-80 to alter the waistline of pants and $25-60 to hem pants. Also, it can take a few days or weeks to receive the clothing articles back. This is incredibly expensive and inefficient, and therefore the tailor is inaccessible to many people.
Making sewing more accessible with
KnitFix
The KnitFix allows for a simple and intuitive user experience, requiring little to no prior sewing knowledge. With three button clicks, the user can easily alter their clothing. The KnitFix prevents people from throwing away their clothing, as they can alter their own clothes at home without having to take expensive trips to the tailor.
