This March at the Robinson Theater in Richmond’s East End, I walked in holding my recorder, my camera and my favorite pair of pants.
The pants were torn. It was a small tear — I caught them on the gears while biking — but enough that I knew if I didn’t catch it soon, it would grow.
So I brought them to Kyle Taylor, who was volunteering hand-stitch repairs at Repair Cafe RVA.
“What I wanna do is kinda just … almost like whipstitch, it’s called, pull the sides back together,” Taylor explained.
Repair cafes are a global phenomenon, and the format varies from place to place.
But according to Repair Cafe RVA organizer Jenny Kobayashi Malone, the general idea is simple: “Bring your favorite broken thing to get it fixed.”.
Kobayashi Malone is also the founder of Repair Cafe RVA, which offers help with appliances, electronics, textiles, furniture, jewelry, toys and bikes. She suggested bringing any instruction manuals and spare parts, if available.
“We specialize in smaller repairs that can be completed in 20 to 30 minutes. Or if it's a bigger repair, we'd love to give you a diagnostic,” she said.
That means you get advice on what parts you need to fix the item and bring it back to the next repair cafe — or you can get a recommendation for a local repair shop.
Kobayashi Malone said the seed for Repair Cafe RVA was planted over a decade ago, when a friend from France introduced her to the idea.
“When I moved to Richmond five, almost six years ago, I was surprised that there wasn't one here yet,” she said. “I could tell that people were interested in sustainability, and the community is so strong here.”
The event at Robinson Theater was Kobayashi Malone’s third monthly pop-up in Richmond, with more to come. She’s sticking with the pop-up model for now around the city, so people don’t have to rely on cars or the bus system to participate.
‘Oh, do I donate it? Do I throw it away?’ We want to add a third option: Let's repair it and keep it...
And she’s getting the word out on social media and posting flyers.
“We already have requests to have one in The Fan, in Fulton and at a different location in Northside,” Kobayashi Malone said.
Repair cafes are often considered to be an important part of a circular economy, an approach that emphasizes reusing and recycling materials for as long as possible, reducing the amount of waste we produce and slowing the use of finite resources.
The International Resource Panel calls it the “adoption of practices that seek to decouple the rate of economic growth from the rate of growth of environmental impact.”
“When something breaks, instead of thinking of the options, ‘Oh, do I donate it? Do I throw it away?’” Kobayashi Malone said, “we want to add a third option: Let's repair it and keep it instead of needing to buy something new.”
Back at the event in March, Kendra Henderson brought her bike to get fixed. She'd heard about the repair cafe earlier in the week through a flyer at the library and decided to take the opportunity.
Henderson likes to ride her bike to unwind after work and on her days off, but hasn’t been able to since her brakes stopped working last year.
“We tried to fix it back in October, but [it] wasn’t successful,” Henderson said.
Sera Erickson, who works at Rag and Bones Bicycle Cooperative, was one of the volunteers fixing bikes. Erickson said they were interested in participating as soon as Kobayashi Malone reached out; Rag and Bones also hosted a previous installment of the pop-up.
“Yes, there’s an industry around fixing bikes. Shops make money or small businesses make money.” Erickson said. “There’s space for both of those things to exist — [and] for people to do free repairs for each other, to encourage each other to use things like bikes.”
Erickson said they’re concerned that actions by the federal government will hit small businesses hard — they recalled that during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, bike parts became harder to come by and more expensive.
But events like Repair Cafe RVA make Erickson feel confident that Richmonders will be there for each other, regardless of the economic fallout from tariffs and other changes in federal policy.
Back to my favorite pants. Volunteer Kyle Taylor walked me through the repair — and taught me how to do it myself if I get a similar tear in the future.
“You could do this if it ever happened again,” she said, weaving a chunky thread back and forth to reinforce the seam.
It was Taylor’s second time volunteering at a repair cafe. She said she was drawn back by the community: like-minded people offering and receiving help to reduce waste.
“If the skills that I learned are able to do that, then that’s what I have to share with the world right now,” she said.
With my pants fixed and the know-how acquired, I fill out a form with some information on the repair.
Kobayashi Malone’s keeping track of how many repairs have been successfully completed and how much waste has been diverted from landfills.
Only three of 76 items were rejected at the Robinson Theater event — not everything can be repaired these days.
“There are a lot of devices that we can't get into, or we can't get parts for, that really ties our hands in terms of doing repairs,” Kobayashi Malone said.
Del. Jackie Hope Glass (D–Norfolk) carried a piece of legislation earlier this year that would create a “right to repair” in Virginia — which would require certain manufacturers to provide tools, materials and documentation to third parties to fix their products.
Glass pulled the legislation before it could be heard during the short 2025 legislative session, citing opposition from manufacturers who wanted to protect their intellectual property — but told the House she’ll plan to bring it back next year.
Kobayashi Malone said she understands that manufacturers want to protect their businesses, but hopes to see more products treated like cars.
“I can take my Honda to any local repair shop,” she said. “I don't have to take it to the dealership, and that competition is really helpful.”
In all, the Robinson Theater repair cafe saved 259 lbs. of favorite things from the landfill — and the pop-up has saved 475 lbs. across all of its events so far.
Repair Cafe RVA’s next event is Sunday, April 27 from 1–4 p.m. at Studio Two Three, 109 W 15th St., in Manchester. Last call to get in line is 3:30 p.m.
