Sow: Reframing Self-Repair as a Habit

Zai Thakoor is a strategic designer and researcher whose thesis, Rethinking Endings: From Ownership to Stewardship, explores the emotional and systemic gaps in how we part with everyday objects especially garments. Born in Mumbai and based in New York, she draws from cross-cultural repair traditions to design for behavioral change and sustainability.

In the course of a year-long investigation spanning workshops, expert interviews, and participatory research, Zai uncovered key behavioral thresholds that prevent people from repairing—even when they want to. These insights led to the creation of Sow: a hybrid physical-digital toolkit that reframes minor clothing repairs as joyful, visible acts of care.

The real friction behind “I’ll fix this later”- Most product experiences end without support. When something breaks, users are left to figure it out—no prompts, no guidance, just guilt or delay. Brands often disengage post-sale, which contributes to premature waste and a quiet sense of failure.

This thesis explores how design might show up at the end of use, when behavior change and care have the most potential.

What I kept hearing again and again-

1. Across user interviews and testing, three patterns emerged:

2. People want to repair but don’t know where to begin

3. Repair feels invisible and unacknowledged

4. A notification isn’t enough—behavior change needs deeper cues

What I made in response- Sow helps users build the habit of repairing broken items by offering step-by-step guides, simple logging tools, and light progress tracking—reframing repair as something approachable, repeatable, and worth returning to. It lives both on your phone and in your hands. A mobile app that helps log repairs, follow step-by-step guides, and tracks progress

A set of physical tools—mending stencils, fabric clamps, visible prompts—that act as quiet reminders in everyday space

Sow doesn’t try to fix everything—it helps people start small, stay with it, and feel good about the care they give.

Why I want to share this now- This project grew over a year of repairing, facilitating, and asking better questions. It’s not about having all the answers—it’s about designing for that moment when someone thinks, “Maybe I’ll fix it this time.”