Kate Sekules is writing her doctoral dissertation on the history and theory of textile mending, conducting multidisciplinary research at the intersections of repair and conservation, archaeological anthropology, and dress history. She is Assistant Professor of Fashion History at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, teaches the new course “Mending Fashion” at Parsons, and lectures on the methodologies and contexts of textile repair at NYU, FIT, Columbia College, and Tufts, among others. She has presented research at symposia including Textile Society of America, the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, the Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art World Congress, American Studies Association, and Association of Dress Historians, and, as a mending practitioner, teaches workshops, and exhibits her work (RISD Museum, Winterthur, Cornell Biennial, etc). Her book MEND! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto was published by Penguin in 2020, and previous publications include a memoir, The Boxer’s Heart (Random House, 2000, 2012) and over 300 articles in The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Fast Company, Interior Design, Food & Wine, The New Yorker, and the Guardian, among others. She holds an MA in Costume Studies from New York University, and a BA in English and Drama from Manchester and Middlesex Universities, UK.