THERE will be a Repair Café and Flea Market in Tralee’s Maddens Café on Milk Market Lane this Sunday.

Tralee Tidy Towns are hosting the Repair Café upstairs in Maddens following on from the success of the repair café they hosted last year.

This year the repair café will run from 11am to 3pm and will focus on repair and upcycling of clothing. Rebekah Wall and local seamstress Pat Turner will be on hand to help people who have brought their own clothes.

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And as part of the repair café Rebekah Wall of Maddens will also be delivering two free basic sewing skills demonstrations at 11.30am and 2pm.

“We’re absolutely delighted to be hosting a repair café again this year. In this era of fast fashion, where clothing isn’t made to last long, every little bit we can do to extend the lifetime of our clothes, from repairing little holes in the seams to sewing buttons back on, makes a difference by saving money and helping the planet,” said Anne-Marie Fuller of Tralee Tidy Towns.

Martha Farrell of Tralee Tidy Towns said; “Sometimes clothes cost so little to buy it doesn’t seem worth spending the money to get them professionally repaired which is why we’re hosting this repair café to help build people’s skills and confidence to make those little repairs themselves.”

Maddens Rebekah Wall said; “After the success of the last repair workshop series in Maddens we are looking forward to having the Tidy Towns crew back again for a fashion focused series this Sunday. I will be leading two workshops, one on mending garments and the other on button stitching – two valuable skills for anyone of any age to have!”

Anne-Marie also said “Sometimes because life is busy or people aren’t sure how to repair something, pieces of clothing sit in the drawer or hang in the wardrobe waiting for a little TLC to bring them back into use. We hope that by having this repair café, it will help people put a date in the diary for those fixes. As well as providing sewing support the repair café is a social occasion where people can chat and get to know others so we really hope people will join us as there are multiple benefits to coming along!”

Meanwhile, downstairs in Maddens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. a group of young Ukrainians, will also be hosting a Charity Flea Market aimed at reducing consumption, bringing new life to clothing and encouraging people to think creatively and recycle their used things.

“We came to Ireland with a single suitcase but because of the Fast Fashion culture we now have so many clothes. We want to show that it doesn’t have to be this way. To be fashionable, it is not necessary to buy new things. If you add a little imagination, you can update or rework your wardrobe, give it a new life, and yourself – individuality,” say the Ukrainian organizers Mariia Khoroshunta and Mariia Slutiak.

“All items for the flea market were donated by people and money raised will be used to support homeless pets who were left without owners due to the war in Ukraine.” Said the young designer Maria Khoroshun who reworked some of the pieces, rejuvenating them and returning them to the fashion rails to become the basis of the Flea Market.

The creative budding entrepreneurs are supported via the SICAP programme and Natalya Krasnenkova, NEWKD community worker said “ “We are very grateful to all partners and Madden’s Cafe and Tidy Town Tralee, and most importantly, to the active representatives of the Ukrainian community for such a wonderful synergy. We invite everyone to join the charity flea market and review their views on fast fashion,”

Vintage Clothing retailers goose of Tralee and Truth be Told VINTAGE of Listowel will also be in Maddens on the day. If you have any questions or require more information please e-mail Tidytownstralee@gmail.com