Five sewing machines and a serger stand at the ready. Racks of jackets wait their turn, and sacks of bags fill two corners of the small workspace. One hundred zippers hang from one board and on another, different widths of webbing. There are snips of thread on the floor.  

Marijke Stob, owner of Super Bloom Gear Repair, upgraded to this bigger studio next door to her former room in the Riverside Plaza Building at 102 E. Second St., three years ago. She repairs all items of clothing, including knitwear, as well as technical bags and other items. 

“Don't throw your shirt away when you have a broken button or zipper,” Stob said. “Zippers are my thing.” 

Stob is a zipper virtuoso. She can replace them on any item. Evidence of this claim leans near the door – a heavy awning from a trailer. After removing the heavy vinyl tarp from the spline, she maneuvered the unwieldy material through her heavy-duty sewing machine to replace the zipper before joining the awning back to its metal strip. 

“I come from a family where we fix things. We don't get new stuff,” Stob said. “I've put over 10 years into this, and now I can confidently say that I'm good at it.  

“I've done 10,000 hours of zippers. It used to take me so long to replace them, and now I can do it without even thinking,” she said. “I want people to understand that this is a highly skilled job. You hone the skills. It becomes easier. It's not just a hobby for me.”  

By opting to repair rather than discard, people can extend the life of all their favorite outdoor gear: jackets, pants, all the clothes, and bags. 

Stob studied environmental science at North Park University in Chicago, so the effect a throw-away mentality has on the earth is one of her considerations. 

"We need to be protecting our natural resources around us and any little part I can play, ... keeping things from the landfill and reusing as much material as I can,” she said. “If I hem something, [that material] is going to go on something else.  

“Let's not throw this stuff away,” she added. “Clothing stays in the landfill for a long time.” 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that in 2018 almost 6% of all municipal solid waste was from textiles, more specifically, discarded clothing. In the U.S. alone, 17 million tons of textile waste was generated. Fifty years ago, that number was 2 million. 

The concept of fast fashion, or buying low quality, cheap clothing, exacerbates the problem. 

"Fast fashion these days is killing the earth, like buying stuff off Amazon that's not really well made, but that's coming from a point of privilege,” Stob said. “A lot of people need to buy cheaper clothes, but from that standpoint, we can also buy second-hand. That's a really good way to help the earth.  

“It's all about circularity to the business and making sure that this service is offered to as many people as possible,” she added. “I mean, I'm not doing it for the paycheck, that's for sure.” 

AFTER SHE MOVED to Montana 14 years ago and before she started Super Bloom, Michigan-born Stob worked in restaurants, ski school, a raft company and in warehouses. She also bartended and cleaned houses. 

“When I was working in ski school, I started noticing that people's stuff was breaking,” Stob said. “I started doing research, and I found other companies around the United States that have been repairing [gear] for over 20 years. So, I started just figuring it out.” 

Stob’s skills are wide ranging. Replacing zippers is one of her specialties, but each item in her shop requires customized care. 

“This one has a dinky, size 3 zipper on it, which is the bane of my existence,” Stob said, holding up an ultra-light down jacket. "That pin on the bottom broke off, so you have to replace the whole zipper. I usually put in a size bigger ...  more reliable.” 

Stob can also patch tents, hem pants and reverse the damage caused by a beloved canine companion. 

“Let's see dogs, dogs, dog damage,” she muttered while sifting through a pile of apparel. “I do that a lot, patching dog damage. They're going to keep me in business." 

When a tree limb snags snow pants, she can fix them. If critters gnaw on a backpack, she can repair it. She can also mend knitwear by Swiss darning, so that favorite sweater with the hole in the sleeve can be repaired. 

While many items can be repaired, others are better off being transitioned into something else. 

Hopeless raveling tatters become a revived bag in her hands. She showed a fanny pack in the process of being re-imagined. Three triangular-ish pieces of black nylon with fuzzy edges will be given a new life. 

“I'm starting to rework people's favorite [things]. This guy's favorite fanny pack is really damaged, and all the zippers need to be replaced,” she said, adding that it will be reworked into a different kind of bag. 

“I made mittens with a grandma's wool coats. That was a really special project,” she said. “The nieces and the moms all got mittens.” 

Contact Stob at (406) 662-8399 for more information. 

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.

    Zipper replacement is one of Stob's speciaties at Super Bloom Gear Repair in Whitefish. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Jackets await careful repairs at Super Bloom Gear Repair. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)