Meet Rosanna and the team at Snowdonia Gear Repair: The Outdoor Gear Repair Specialists Keeping Adventure Alive

And nobody understands that better than Rosanna and her team, Ceri and Sadie, at Snowdonia Gear Repair.

Based in the heart of North Wales, surrounded by mountains, rain, mud and the realities of life outdoors, Rosanna and her team have built a reputation for repairing the kinds of technical outdoor clothing and equipment many people assume are too hard to fix. From ripped down jackets and damaged waterproofs to torn tents and broken zips, Snowdonia Gear Repair is helping people extend the life of the gear they love instead of replacing it.

In a world increasingly dominated by fast consumerism and disposable products, their work reminds us how important it is to fix what we already have (and carry on creating more memories in them!).

Q & A with Rosanna at Snowdonia Gear Repair

Q: What kind of work do you do at Snowdonia Gear Repair?

We specialise in repairing outdoor clothing and equipment, including insulated jackets, waterproofs, trousers, backpacks, tents, sleeping bags and more. A huge amount of our work involves down jackets and waterproof jackets, especially repairs like zip slider replacements, patching tears in down-filled garments and resealing seams to maintain waterproofing.

That seam sealing side is really important because technical outdoor clothing needs specialist knowledge and machinery. A normal seamstress often won’t work on these kinds of garments because they require completely different repair methods.

Tents are another big area for us too. Smaller one or two-person tents can usually be posted to us and we repair everything from rips and tears to broken zips and detached guideline points. Larger family tents tend to be delivered directly because of their size.

We also really encourage people to have a go at repairing things themselves where possible. If it’s a smaller or straightforward repair, we’re always happy to offer DIY guidance and advice so customers can build confidence and learn new skills too.

Q: What makes working with Snowdonia Gear Repair so special?

One thing customers really value is our fast turnaround time. Most repairs are completed within one to two weeks, and we also offer a fast-track four-day turnaround for people needing gear repaired urgently before a trip or expedition.

But I think what really makes us different is the level of expertise within the team. We genuinely understand the technical side of outdoor gear repairs and we’re not afraid of niche or complex jobs. We actually have other repair businesses coming to us for advice on specialist repairs because this kind of work is still quite unusual.

Every repair we do is completely bespoke too. When customers contact us, they’re speaking directly to the person sewing and repairing their item. That relationship matters because we want people to feel involved in the process and trust us with their gear.

When customers book in a project, we give them different repair style options depending on what matters most to them. Some people want something “cheap and cheerful,” others want the repair to be almost invisible, and some people love a more colourful or visible repair approach which gives the item a whole new personality.

That conversation is such an important part of what we do and makes the repair way more exciting for our customers. It’s far less daunting than people think.

Q: What’s your favourite thing about your work?

I just love sewing. I love textiles. And honestly, I think we’ve lost some of our connection to what sewing and textile repair used to mean culturally and emotionally.

Textiles used to carry so much meaning. Sewing was part of family life, heritage, identity and community. Repairing clothing was normal. Embroidery techniques and mending traditions were often deeply connected to culture and home life.

Now, so much of that connection has disappeared because clothing has become so disposable.

What we’re really doing here is helping people rebuild that relationship with the things they own. When someone repairs a jacket they’ve worn for years instead of throwing it away, there’s something really meaningful in that. You reconnect with the item again.

Q: With festival season almost upon us, we’ve been seeing some shocking statistics around festival waste. Around 250,000 tents are abandoned at UK festivals every year, with most ending up in landfill. From your perspective as someone who repairs tents, what’s really going wrong and how could repair change that story?

Sadly, a lot of festival tents are badly made in the first place. Many are essentially designed as single-use products because people want something cheap for one weekend, so manufacturers make them as cheaply as possible.

It’s become a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem.

When it comes to festivals, you all too often find people don’t want to spend much on a tent they only plan to use once. Of course, that means they don’t last or people don’t feel they are worth keeping so they get abandoned.

I do think festival organisers themselves could help change things too. Personally, I’d love to see more accountability around abandoned camping equipment. If you can carry a tent into a festival, you should be expected to carry it out again.

Even something like a tagging system where people are fined for leaving their gear behind could make a huge difference.

Tent rental schemes are another brilliant solution because there are plenty of genuinely well-made tents out there that are built to last for years.

And my biggest piece of advice short-term? Buy something lightweight and easy to carry, but avoid pop-up tents. They might be quick to put up, but they’re notoriously difficult to pack away properly and that’s one of the reasons so many end up left behind.

Q: And finally, have you got a favourite project that’s really stuck with you?

I really love the sentimental jobs, especially when it’s an item which has been used for years. A job which really stuck with me was a chalk bag which needed repairing. It had belonged to to our customer’s Grandad originally and they wanted to carry on using it. That was a special job to work on. 

At an outdoor event we were we recently working at, we met traveller Dave who had worn his favourite jacket all over the world. But the slider on his inner had gone and he didn’t think it was fixable. When he found us at the event and got talking with us, he was so thrilled to realise we could fix it for him. It’s amazing knowing we sent him off on his way, knowing he would have so many more adventures in his jacket. 

There’s a couple of funny fixing stories which have stuck with us too, including a green lined Rab jacket which came to us in pieces after someone’s Beagle went to town on it. Ceri in our team completely rebuilt the lower section of the sleeve. Similarly, we had a hamster who chowed down on our customer’s favourite gilet. They opted for a funky colour to remember the story by. 

Keeping adventure alive, one repair at a time

From waterproof jackets, well-travelled backpacks to beloved tents and heirloom climbing gear, Snowdonia Gear Repair is proving that outdoor equipment deserves a second chance, not a one-way trip to landfill.

Rosanna and her team are helping people reconnect with the gear they already own, extending its life through skilled repair, honest advice and a genuine love for textiles and craftsmanship. In doing so, they’re also helping to protect the wild places these items were made to explore in the first place.

And with the launch of our brand new Outdoor Gear category on We Are Repairs, it’s now even easier to connect with skilled specialists like Snowdonia Gear Repair who can restore, repair and revitalise the items which carry your adventures and memories.

Visit Snowdonia Gear Repair’s profile to find out more about their services.