We’ve done it! And we are so proud. Discover the story behind our Patch4Holes and what it took to make our latest innovation!

The story behind our Patch4Holes

It all started around a cup of tea (actually more likely coffee to keep us going through our busy day of mums). Not a relaxing cuppa and a chitchat, no, no — one for mums (Delphine and Emma) both in a bit of a pickle, wondering what to do to prevent one-use trousers and an overflowing pile of trousers with holes and clothes to mend!

We knew what to do to stop clothes disappearing. But when it came to trousers with holes, we really needed to come up with something. With 7 kids between the 2 of them, a new pair of trousers that lasted exactly as long as it took for their adorable (but active) kiddos to fall over wasn’t an option. One fall, one knee on the ground, and there it was: a hole. As predictable it was inevitable.

The ‘to be mended’ basket was overflowing. And it wasn’t an isolated thing! The basket was overflowing at our house, at all our colleagues’ houses, at our neighbours, friends, families! Pretty much everyone we came across had this issue. Clearly, this problem was universal.

First attempts — or the art of textile failure

We tried the “iron on” oval patches you buy in shops. You know the ones with the little holes to ‘guide the needle’ as they were iron on but better stitched to stay put.
Problem: we had to sew. And sewing takes time… something in short supply between work, dinner, homework and baths.

We fell back on iron-on patches. Result: they peeled off. Quickly. Sometimes after the very first wash. Sometimes even before.

Industrial solutions, on the other hand, required a press worthy of a textile factory. As for the look… the children refused to put their trousers back on. That left them with the ultimate solution, one out of total desperation and cunning thinking: cutting the trousers into shorts and pretending it was the plan all along.

March 2015 — A new chapter in the story of our Patch4Holes

The story behind our Patch4Holes enters a new chapter.
That’s when the real research began. Ten years. Ten years of tests, samples, “oh, that’s it!” followed by “oh no, it’s coming off again”. The pitfalls were numerous, varied, and at times frankly discouraging: repeat abismal adhesion, materials that cracked, excessive thickness, impractical shapes, dull colours, fading in the wash…

But we persevered.

And after ten years…

We found it. The right product. The ONE!:
That’s neither too thin nor too thick.
Which can be applied with a simple hot iron — no industrial press, no sewing qualifications needed.
That stands up to washing, that really strengthens the fabric, that comes in cheerful colours, fun shapes, and a fabric that actually looks like something.

Better still: the one that transforms an embarrassing hole into a confident detail. That turns damaged trousers into personalised trousers. That finally empties that pesky ‘to be mended’ basket. And THE one kids are happy and proud to have on their trousers!

Our Patch4Holes was born!
Ten years of trying, testing, trying again, lots of trousers with holes, washes and professional perseverance. The proof that a mundane problem, when it annoys enough people, can become a truly brilliant solution.