Free mending and bike clinics at public libraries this weekend are part of San Francisco’s growing repair cafe movement, which is helping residents save money, reduce waste, and learn to fix their own belongings.
San Francisco’s repair cafes are giving residents an opportunity to bring broken household items, damaged clothing, and other belongings to volunteer repairers who can help fix them, often while teaching people how to do the work themselves. The events are free, and the goal is to keep usable items out of landfills while making repair skills and resources more accessible.
Since 2023, the SF Environment Department has partnered with the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) to host free clothing and bicycle repair clinics at library branches throughout the city. The program works with SCRAP, whose tailors and seamstresses help residents mend clothing, including jackets, gloves, and socks, as well as Bay Area BikeMobile, whose mechanics offer bicycle tune-ups, flat-tire repairs, brake and gear adjustments, and basic maintenance.
Repair cafes have been popular across Europe for years, and the Bay Area has its own longstanding fix-it tradition, as Peter Mui reportedly founded Fixit Clinics in Berkeley in 2009. As KQED reported in 2024, California’s Right to Repair Act, which took effect that year, also gives consumers and independent repair shops access to parts, tools, and repair documentation for certain electronic devices and appliances. Under the law, manufacturers must provide those resources for at least three years for products with a wholesale price of $50 to $99.99, and seven years for products priced at $100 or more.
SF Environment wrote on social media that the library clinics are continuing this Saturday, November 7, with clothing repairs at Park Branch Library (1833 Page Street) and bicycle repairs at North Beach Branch (850 Columbus Avenue), both from 3 to 5 p.m.
The clothing clinics can help with sewing and mending but don't offer alterations, while the bike clinics don't currently replace wheels. SF Environment also supports the local repair economy by paying the repair coaches for their time and expertise.
Beyond the library program, two independent neighborhood repair cafes have opened, beginning with the Haight-Nopa Repair Café, which has been meeting at Park Branch Library every other month since October 2025.
KQED visited its October event in which 17 volunteer repairers staffed stations for electronics, appliances, jewelry, sewing, and miscellaneous items. People reportedly arrived with everything from kitchen mixers and answering machines to jewelry, clothing, and a broken 3D printer. Of 84 items brought in, 66 were successfully repaired, a 79% success rate.
The cafe, which received a Zero Waste Grant from the San Francisco Environment Department in March, has reportedly attracted enough interest that organizers have struggled to accommodate everyone bringing in broken belongings.
Per KQED, co-founder Claire Bonham Carter will be hosting a workshop at the Park Branch Library on November 17 for people interested in starting their own neighborhood repair cafes.
One of those spin-offs is the Mission Repair Cafe, started by Allie McAndrews, who volunteered with the Haight-Nopa group for six months before organizing a workshop in her own neighborhood. McAndrews also works as a recycling educator for a Bay Area waste company.
Mission Local attended the cafe’s September event, which drew more than 100 volunteers and participants to a housing co-op. Residents reportedly brought in broken appliances, ripped clothing, and other household items. Volunteers included electricians, woodworkers, sewists, and jewelry repairers, with participants sitting alongside them throughout the process rather than simply dropping off their belongings.
The event was also free, although repairs weren't guaranteed. At the inaugural gathering, volunteers successfully repaired 59 items, diverting 212 pounds of material from the landfill.
“We felt like recycling gets a lot of hype, but it’s really the last line of defense,” McAndrews told Mission Local. “I think things like repair and re-use events need to be more accessible.”
The Mission group recruited volunteers through Instagram, receiving more than 150 applications but accepting only 35. McAndrews said the goal is to make repair more accessible while giving people the opportunity to learn from others with specialized skills.
At both cafes, successful repairs are celebrated, with the Mission group using a cowbell to mark each fix, per Mission Local. Participants also get to see how much material has been kept out of the trash by weighing repaired items.
The next Haight-Nopa Repair Café is scheduled for December 13, from 1:30 to 4 pm, at Park Branch Library, and the next Mission Repair Cafe is scheduled for January 31, from 2 to 4:30 pm, at a location that has not yet been announced.
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