As a repair community as well as a tool vendor, iFixit took notice of the Repair Café initiative almost immediately: "we were delighted to hear about local groups who were able to share expertise with their neighbors and fix more stuff. And more than that, we were convinced that visitors create a better connection to their things and to each other by tackling the repair together with more experienced repairers. Initiatives like Repair Café make repair more accessible and tangible. The closer the connection people have to their stuff, the more thought they will put into repairing and discarding those things. Repair keeps things out of landfills, and Repair Cafés keep things repaired", said Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit.
The first Repair Café was initiated by former journalist and activist Martine Postma in Amsterdam in 2009. Following its runaway success, she established the Repair Café Foundation to support local groups in hosting their own Repair Café. Since then, the number of local repair communities and Repair Cafés across the world has exploded.
A decade later, there are more than 2,200 of them around the world: in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, and tech hubs like India and Japan. What unites the global movement is the shared idea of a less-wasteful use of resources.
iFixit partnered with the Repair Café Foundation way back in 2015: "we offer Repair Cafés discounts on both tools and replacement parts ordered from our iFixit Europe location. We also support new Repair Cafés with tools and in-person events. In 2019, we supplied 100 Repair Cafés and related repair communities around the globe with repair tool grants", said Kyle Wiens. "But tools are only one part of the puzzle. Thanks to our latest collaboration, step-by-step guides created by the iFixit community are now available through the Repair Café website. Knowledge is power, and iFixit guides can bring the wisdom and experience of the global repair community to your local repair experts. These guides are a great way to preview repair procedures before heading to your local Repair Café—and to ensure you’ve got everything you need."
"iFixit is happy to invest in the global repair community. Together, we can repair anything! We look forward to many more years together, and many more improvements to the repair experience", he concludes.