BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Hello, thanks for downloading this episode of the Bottom Line podcast,

with some great extra content we couldn't squeeze into the radio version.

I hope you enjoy it.

Now, ever since the Industrial Revolution,

and of course later advances in mass production,

Western societies have become very adept at

making things and making them ever more cheaply and not just Western societies either. But

that has potentially made us rather lazy when it comes to repairing things. It's often easier

just to buy a new one, then get the old

one fixed. In fact, there was a point, I'm not sure it's still true now, when new imported,

manufactured goods became so cheap, it was less costly to buy a new duvet than to take an existing

one to the dry cleaners and get it cleaned.

Well, today, we thought we might look at repair,

or this whole idea of giving new life to old items rather than discarding them.

Is it destined to be a niche preoccupation, a hobby for enthusiasts,

or in the push towards greater sustainability, will it take off? And will

manufacturers make it easier for us to mend their products? I have three guests, all in the

repair area in one way or another. And let me introduce first of all, Kyle Weans, who's the chief

executive of I Fix It. He's joining us from the US. And, Carl, many will know I-Fix-it, but I think you should tell us what the business is for those that don't. I-Fix-it is the free online repair guide for everything. Our goal is to make it so easy to fix things. You're more likely to fix it than to toss it and get a new one. And we have step-by-step

instructions on how to fix everything from a skateboard to an iPhone on iFixit.com, and then we sell

parts to support the repairs. Yeah. And so actually that crucial bit, the bit that isn't free is you

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