From Prototype to Practice: Testing the Zipper Repair Station in Real-Life Conditions
Zippers might be small, but they’re a big reason garments get discarded. Jackets, bags, and trousers: all of them rely on these small but complex fasteners. The problem isn’t that zippers can’t be fixed: it’s that doing so is often too technical, too time-consuming, or too expensive to be viable in most reuse or retail environments.
In a collaboration between CISUTAC partners Gentle Systems (previously named PCH Innovations), STAM, De Kringwinkel, and Decathlon, a new zipper repair station was developed to tackle this exact challenge. While the technology behind the machine is impressive (and can be explored in depth in our previous article), what’s equally important is how that technology is being tested and refined on the ground. And that ground is De Kringwinkel.
Repairing zipper: circularity, speed and inclusion
De Kringwinkel has long been a pioneer in reuse and circularity with its 130 second-hand shops in the Flanders region, Belgium. But as they process thousands of donated garments every week, a frustrating and surprisingly consistent problem kept cropping up: broken zippers. These were condemning otherwise high-quality garments to textile recycling or exportation, simply because their zippers were broken. Traditional repair options were not only inefficient but also difficult to scale across the volume De Kringwinkel handles. It became clear that to make a meaningful impact on garment reuse, zipper repair had to become faster, easier, and more accessible, both for internal reuse purposes and for customer-facing services.
The CISUTAC repair station was developed to address this need, with De Kringwinkel becoming its first real-world test site, allowing the innovation to be embedded directly into reuse operations. Starting with jackets, particularly those with open-end zippers that are easier to access and replace, the team began testing the station using De Kringwinkel’s own unsellable stock.
Initial results were promising. The station allows for three levels of repair:
Minor repairs, such as realigning a slider,
Medium repairs, like replacing broken components,
Full zipper replacements, with the help of an ultrasonic cutter for clean removal.
The focus on jackets was deliberate: their flat surfaces and accessible zipper seams made them ideal for early-stage testing. Over time, the station’s use expanded. Since December 2024, it has handled more than 120 customer repairs in addition to internal reuse cases, averaging around 10 garment repairs per week from De Kringwinkel’s incoming flow. Many of these jackets have since been resold under the “CISUTAC x Kringwinkel” label, a new line celebrating both reuse and repair.
Before the station was introduced, a full zipper replacement could take up to 45 minutes. Now, the average repair takes just 25 minutes, with thinner jackets often requiring only 20. Beyond speed, the station is designed to be ergonomic and semi-automated, reducing manual strain for workers and allowing staff without professional sewing backgrounds to execute high-quality repairs. This accessibility is key for De Kringwinkel. As a social enterprise, they are deeply committed to creating inclusive employment opportunities. The repair station’s design aligns beautifully with that mission, empowering more people to participate in the repair economy, opening doors for training and new job profiles.
With its system combining focus and flexibility, the station can be easily introduced in new environments, such as reuse centers, retail chains, or even tailor shops. With Antwerp being such a fashion city, De Kringwinkel has worked with Samira Lafkioui, known for her work with designers like Raf Simons and A.F. Vandevorst and as co-founder of the digital pattern platform Polygonal. Samira’s involvement with De Kringwinkel has helped bridge the gap between high-end garment construction and real-world reuse workflows. Thanks to her knowledge of construction logic, material handling, and how future fashion systems could integrate repairability from the start, De Kringwinkel has not only been solving a technical problem been, but rethinking how garments are made, used, and valued.
What’s next?
While the current station is optimised for open-end zippers, its use cases are already expanding: some bags with exposed zippers are now being successfully repaired, demonstrating the system’s versatility. However, closed-end zippers, such as those in trousers or structured backpacks, still present a challenge due to the limitations of the current cutter.
Rather than seeing this as a barrier, the team at De Kringwinkel sees it as the next challenge. By identifying exactly where the system still needs improvement, they are feeding back invaluable insights to the development team at PCH Innovations and STAM, ensuring that future iterations of the repair station are even more flexible and capable.
The CISUTAC zipper pilot is already sparking wider interest. Recently, CISUTAC partner Texaid, a major textile sorting and reuse player, recently visited the station at De Kringwinkel to assess how it might be integrated into their operational environment. Belgian outdoor retailer AS Adventure is also looking into piloting the repair service for customers’ backpacks.
CISUTAC also looks to deepen collaboration with both digital design platforms and industry-leading manufacturers to embed repairability into the DNA of future garments:
On one side, this involves working closely with fashion experts, like the work that was done with Samira Lafkioui.
On the manufacturing side, CISUTAC would like to also engage with YKK, the world’s largest zipper producer, to co-develop more repairable zipper systems. This includes experimenting with slider types, fasteners, and attachment methods to support circularity by design.
Finally, as planned within the CISUTAC project, RREUSE and other partners will work together to develop training packages and easy-to-replicate workflows, so the station can be used across different repair or retail sites, with should be expected by the end of 2025.
Thanks to De Kringwinkel’s role as a testing ground, CISUTAC zipper repair innovation is already proving its potential. It shows how targeted interventions, developed in close partnership with those working on the ground, can unlock real impact, not just in technology labs, but in sorting centers, resale shops, and eventually, in every high street store that wants to be part of the circular future.
