Fixit Clinic Network Tops 2,000 Events as Right-to-Repair Bills Surge

By Olivia Hart

A volunteer-run Fixit Clinic in Brooklyn has patched sewing machines and circuit boards on Monday nights since launch, part of a grassroots network that says it has hosted at least 2,000 community repair events across the United States. The figure is self-reported and counts one-off pop-ups, not permanent sites — a caveat worth holding as 57 right-to-repair bills sit in 22 state legislatures this year.

Brooklyn Spark, a co-working space, hosts the weekly drop-in clinic. Co-founder Caleb Young attaches a DIY suction device to a Dyson vacuum handle while neighbors tinker nearby. "It's in our culture to throw things away, but sometimes the fix is easier than you'd think," Young said.

The network traces its roots to Berkeley, California, where Peter Mui opened the first Fixit Clinic in 2009. Mui says participation has surged. "We're offering these workshops in libraries, at colleges and in public spaces where fixers and community members can come together," Mui said.

He credits the rise to growing public skepticism about e-waste and the closed design of modern devices. The claim is plausible; Mui did not share per-event attendance or household savings.

What does the law actually require?

The grassroots activity runs alongside a slow but expanding legislative record. Since 2012, 24 states have passed some form of right-to-repair law, mostly forcing manufacturers to supply parts, tools and manuals.

Massachusetts led with a 2012 automotive repair statute. Congress followed in 2014 by legalizing cell-phone unlocking, which let consumers switch carriers without buying a new handset. This year 57 bills are pending in 22 states, covering products from phones to wheelchairs to heavy construction equipment.

A bipartisan federal bill, the Repair Act, would extend similar rights to car owners nationwide. It has cleared committee work but has not reached a full House vote, leaving a nationwide repair right for drivers years away.

Corporate response has split. Nathan Proctor, senior director of the right-to-repair campaign at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said manufacturers have ranged from cooperative to obstructionist. "Some companies are hostile and refuse to provide repair materials, while others have made national policies to sell spare parts," Proctor said.

Apple has gradually released parts and manuals; automakers, he said, have generally fought the laws. A 2024 fight over broken McFlurry machines shows the legal ambiguity. The machines' software was shielded by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, leaving only manufacturer Taylor authorized to repair them. After consumer petitions, the U.S. Copyright Office granted an exemption allowing third-party fixes — narrow, not a general right.

Takeaway: 24 states now have a repair law on the books, but federal codification is still pending and the most-cited corporate concession, the McFlurry exemption, is a narrow copyright carve-out.

Is the next generation buying in?

Student chapters now carry the movement. At San Jose State University, the Fixit Clinic student organization was voted the most influential club on campus in its first year. Founded in 2024, the group runs monthly clinics and off-campus workshops for middle schoolers, college students and neighbors, teaching sewing, soldering and basic disassembly.

Club president Lily Andrews, a junior studying mechanical engineering, said hands-on work fills gaps her coursework leaves open. "When I open things up, I get to really see how they're made, and see how the machinery components interact," Andrews said. She also absorbed the design critique: "All these nuts, bolts and screws make it intimidating to take things apart," she said.

Mui calls campus expansion the next phase: "I'm focused on asking, 'How do we train students to rethink the whole system?'" he said. Proctor sees the student clubs as cultural proof points rather than policy wins, adding: "To see these community events start up with no institutional backing — that's a signal that something about repair is clicking with people."

Andrews frames the lesson in plain terms. "Fixing and repairing isn't just an engineering skill; it's a skill that everyone should have," she said. "I want to keep applying what I've learned in my work so that we can keep items from landing in the landfill, help the environment and reduce waste."

Takeaway: Campus chapters turn repair from a household chore into a recruiting pipeline for engineers who may design more fixable products.

What's still missing

The numbers look healthy on paper. The separate Repair Cafe network, founded in Amsterdam, claims roughly 250 U.S. locations, on top of the 2,000 Fixit events. Yet participation rates, demographic reach and dollar savings per household remain untracked in any public data set.

Proctor's campaign tracks bills, not repair outcomes, which is the gap activists still need to close. The 2,000-clinic figure comes from the network's own count and includes one-off events, not necessarily permanent sites.

State-by-state legislation looks comprehensive, but enforcement budgets and consumer awareness vary widely. Apple's gradual opening has not been matched across consumer electronics. The McFlurry-style exemptions remain narrow copyright carve-outs, not general repair rights.

The next test is whether the trend outlasts a downturn. Community repair has grown fastest in periods of high inflation and visible supply-chain stress — exactly the moments when consumers most need to extend the life of existing goods. Whether the habit persists when retail credit opens up again is the question neither Mui nor the campus chapters can answer yet.

Takeaway: Real proof of the movement's durability will come when the economic pressure to repair fades, not when it peaks.