Right to Repair

Save the Date: International Repair Day is October 20

Attention, all you fearsome fixers out there—from the brave beginners and the electronics experts, to the tinkerers in between. Saturday, October 20, 2018 is the Second Annual International Repair Day, which means there’s going to be a whole day of events and activities happening worldwide to celebrate that little thing we call repair.

International Repair Day was started last year by the London-based Restart Project, in conjunction with the launch of the Open Repair Alliance. The Restart Project has been collaborating with schools and other organizations to teach people how to fix their own stuff since 2013, most notably in the form of their community repair events called Restart Parties.

International repair day iconRepair Day is an entire day in and of itself to celebrate the things that make repair so important: It’s about making repair visible and recognizing the value in fixing our stuff. It’s about fixing our devices, or getting them fixed, instead of tossing them in the trash and buying new ones. And it’s about being inspired and inspiring others to learn and share repair skills.

And this year, Repair Day is paying particular attention to something especially near and dear to our heart: the Right to Repair our stuff. As fair repair legislation heats up in both the US and Europe, empowering people to demand the right to access the information and parts that make repair possible is more important than ever.

So let’s get together and celebrate repair! Here are six things you can do on the big day to spread the af-fix-ion:

Repair something

Take the name of the occasion literally and repair that device you’ve been meaning to fix for a while. Or find a community repair group in your area to help you fix it and learn a new skill. Or, if you’re the one with skills to lend, join a repair event as a volunteer and help others gain more confidence!

phone repair at repair association booth

Organize a repair event

If you’re a part of a group that already runs repair activities, take the opportunity to organize a repair event in honor of Repair Day. Or consider starting a repair group, if there isn’t a repair community active in your area. For more information on how to organize a repair event or start a repair group, go to our Community Repair Wiki here.

Visit an independent repair shop

Repair doesn’t only happen at home or at community events. Much of it happens at your local independent repair shops—so let’s celebrate everything that they do! We encourage you to visit a repair shop on Repair Day, and we invite community repair groups to get in touch with their local repair businesses and invite them to join their Repair Day activities.

Endorse Repair Day

This day can also be a chance for companies who provide repair information, spare parts and tools to raise awareness about their work. If you’re one of these companies, endorse International Repair Day and our Right to Repair, and perhaps even run a special event or promotion!

Jessa Jones fights for her right to repair her iPad
Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab

Support the Right to Repair

There is a growing movement demanding the Right to Repair the stuff we own. If you’re in the US, visit Repair.org to see how you can help secure fair access to service information and affordable replacement parts in your state. And in Europe, member states will vote later this year on product-specific design regulations, so that devices last longer and are easier to repair. Stay tuned for those concrete actions in Europe, but in the meantime, spread the word about our right to ownership!

And lastly, speak up!                               

How will you celebrate Repair Day? Let the Open Repair Alliance know what activities you’re planning, so they can compile a map of all Repair Day events leading up to the big day. And let the world know what your plans are by sharing them on social media with the hashtag #RepairDay, so that even more people can learn about the importance of fixing our stuff!

You can learn more about October 20’s event and the Open Repair Alliance here.