To wring the most wear out of what cash-strapped consumers own, people are visiting auto mechanics, cobblers, tailors and computer-repair experts as they haven't in years.
When autumn arrived, Anita Fagnilli, a tailor at Master Tailors in Upper St. Clair, Pa., for the past 16 years, noticed that regular customers came in with clothes they already owned.
"Usually in the fall, it's all brand-new clothes. People are out shopping and bringing in brand-new stuff," she said.
Instead, customers asked her to put new linings in old winter coats. One woman who lost weight had Fagnilli take in three pairs of lined wool slacks that are part of her suit wardrobe.
Farther south, Donna Uhrig and Amy Fornear are seamstresses who run Stitchers in Peters, Pa. Fornear can turn wedding gowns into baptismal dresses, hem jeans and even sew flags for Confederate re-enactor units.
"We've been extremely busy," Uhrig said, adding that one customer insists on having his favorite shirt repaired repeatedly, regardless of how it's going to look.
Repairs also are up on cars. Keeping your car on the road can cost the equivalent of several car payments, but it's usually cheaper than buying a new car.
At Chuck's Complete Auto in Upper St. Clair, Chuck Belliotti's goal is to keep his customers' cars running for 200,000 miles. He's proud of having kept a tow truck running for 300,000 miles, then selling it to someone else, who's still driving it.
"We have noticed that we're doing a lot more repairing that people would not have done in the past," he said.
"If they needed a lot of little things that added up to $1,000, they would trade it in. If their car was getting older and it needed a lot of repairs, they would just trade it in, but not anymore. People are keeping their cars longer."
If you're not driving, you may be wearing out your shoe leather. Bill Wells, who runs Charles the Cobbler in Peters, Pa., is being bombarded with repairs of ladies' fashion boots, as many as 50 to 70 pairs daily.
"A lot of the younger girls don't know they can be repaired," he said. "They can't even believe that it can be done. I don't know what we teach these people on the way up."
(E-mail Marylynne Pitz at mpitz(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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