Zipper fix or replacement advice?

[PATRICK MOORE]

The lady at the nearby sewing place just quoted me $75 ($3/inch X 15")
to replace the front zipper on my Cannondale vest/jacket. She can't
just replace the puller part because the little metal thingy that
clamps onto the bottom of one side of the zip, to keep the puller from
falling off, is gone.

Is replacing a zipper something even a novice and idiot wrt sewing can
do, or should I just admit defeat?

Where does one find good quality replacement zippers in a 15" length?

Any advice welcome.

Thanks.

--
Patrick Moore
Albuquerque, NM
For professional resumes, contact
Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html

[William]

Comment 1:  $3 per inch x 15 inches is $45 not $75.

Comment 2:  Zippers are found at the fabric store

Comment 3:  For most garments like that, a goodly amount of the time to fix it is carefully removing the old one.  As you take out the old one you get a pretty good idea of how the garment is constructed, and probably will have a pretty good feeling on whether or not you want to give it a go with your sewing machine

Comment 4:  There are hundreds of online sewing tutorials on youtube and elsewhere

All that said, I always have my mom fix my jerseys.  

[Eric Norris]

I married a seamstress. She has done a number of repair jobs on various pieces of cycling clothing, and her general comment is that the fabrics and construction are harder to work with than, say, a standard shirt.

Like anything else, zippers can be purchased online: http://tinyurl.com/78jltt3

--Eric N

Sent from my iPad2 

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[Kelly]

Be sure to check with Cannondale. I had a jacket that had a seam pull on a Pearl Izumi Jacket and found out it was life time warranty for those types of things. They just exchanged it for a new one of similar value.

Never know, might get lucky.

Kelly

[Leslie]

I had a TNF jacket that had a seam come lose; I contacted them about it, the repaired it and shipped it back to me w/ no charge. (Moss did that w/ a repair on a tent for me, too.) A lot of bigger companies will do that to help build/keep up a reputation. If something was my fault, I'd not expect it free, just a reasonable charge; but if something came apart that's not expected to, then maybe they'll help...

A local seamstress has to make a living, and have a bit of 'liabilty insurance' if something went wrong; a big manufacturer might be able to have a repair shop onhand, at better rates... No guarantees, but maybe... Wouldn't hurt to call 'em...

-L

[reynoldslugs]

I have three nice Peal Izumi vests. Unfortunately, the zippers quit
working. I emailed Pearl Izumi customer service, they said to send
them in for warranty, which I promptly did.

Just today I got a box in the mail, Pearl repaired all three vests
perfectly.

Plus one for Pearl's customer service and warranty work. They took
less than two weeks to handle this for me.

Max B

[PATRICK MOORE]

I would have tried that tactic with the Cannondale jacket/vest but,
alas, I traded for it rather than bought it. But the new LG vest at
$50 (local Performance) is decent (with the advantage that a M is long
enough for my long torso) and P has a "lifetime warranty" for which I
am carefully preserving my receipt. The LG zipper does look cheap, but
no worse than that on the PI vest I had years ago.

Save those receipts!

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[Anne Paulson]

On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 3:17 PM, PATRICK MOORE <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The lady at the nearby sewing place just quoted me $75 ($3/inch X 15")
> to replace the front zipper on my Cannondale vest/jacket. She can't
> just replace the puller part because the little metal thingy that
> clamps onto the bottom of one side of the zip, to keep the puller from
> falling off, is gone.
>
> Is replacing a zipper something even a novice and idiot wrt sewing can
> do, or should I just admit defeat?
>
> Where does one find good quality replacement zippers in a 15" length?

This is a separating zipper, right? That is, the two sides come
completely apart, unlike a zipper in a zip-neck jersey. If you replace
it, make sure you buy the right kind. You can buy high-quality
outerwear zippers from http://www.therainshed.com/

Replacing zippers is a pain in the neck. Trouble is, putting in the
zipper often isn't the last step of the sewing process, so you might
have to take out and redo stuff. Then also, for separating zippers it
can be hard to get the two sides to align correctly, and if they
don't, the garment looks awful and sloppy. Not only do you need to
make sure they align, but you also have to make sure the zipper is
sewn in evenly and straight; again, if it isn't, it shows glaringly.
And if you use a sewing machine, you have to be careful not to break
the needle-- you won't break it if you do everything right, but there
are several easy mistakes you can make that result in broken needles.

You could do it, but it's certainly not the first thing a novice
learns when she learns to sew. Unless you want to learn to become an
expert garment/outdoor equipment repaired, I'd suggest paying someone
else to do it.

--
-- Anne Paulson

My hovercraft is full of eels

[PATRICK MOORE]

Thanks. Yes, it was a separating zipper, tho' I'd have been happy with
a single-action one.

After some thought, I abandoned an plan to do it myself -- indeed,
abandoned the thought of paying someone else to do it, too, after
talking to two professionals who emphasized the difficulty and cost.
This particular zipper is attached to the garment with a hidden seam,
so that just getting access to the zipper seam would mean undoing
other seams to reveal it -- I can see why the first seamstress wanted
$75 ($3X25", not 15".)

In the event, I found an acceptably decent Performance (not Louis
Garneau as I had at first posted) vest at the local Performance -- and
carefully confirmed that Performance has a lifetime guarantee on their
products.

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[eflayer]

Pearl Izumi zipper repair. Were these workmanship or manufacturing issues or simply worn out? Will they repair for free worn out zippers after years of use?

[Bertin753]

Thanks. Those kits contain pulls but afaik not the all important keepers that hold the zipper together at the bottom.

Patrick Moore

iPhone

On Jan 30, 2012, at 8:52 PM, LF <fie...@gmail.com> wrote:

Zipper repair kit to the rescue <http://tinyurl.com/87tnr77>.  These kits commonly live  wilderness hikers' back packs, and for good reason.

Best Larry

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