Holes and tears
Also: rips · punctures · splits
Holes and tears are breaks in the fabric where fibers have been severed or ripped apart, from a small puncture to a long split along a seam or panel. Unlike thinning, the material is already open, so they are structural damage that caps the grade well below the Excellent tiers.
How to mend a hole or a tear
Short answer: sometimes. It depends on what exactly you have and how long it has been there. The steps below say where it stops working rather than pretending it always does.
- 1Stabilise the edges before anything else. A few drops of fray stopper or a running stitch around the opening stops it growing while you work.
- 2For a clean tear along the grain, close it with a ladder stitch from the right side; it disappears into the weave.
- 3For a hole with missing fabric, back it with a patch cut 25mm larger than the hole on every side and secure from the inside.
- 4On denim, darn across the hole with a machine in matching thread over a backing patch. That is what every commercial repair does.
- 5Accept that a mend shows. The goal is a repair that reads as deliberate, not one that reads as hidden.
Stopping it happening again
Most holes on used clothing start as thinning or a snag, both of which are visible months earlier. Catching them at that stage is the whole game.
Mend a hole in jeans
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
- Time:
- About 30 minutes
- Cost:
- Under $10
Tools
- Sewing machine, or a needle for hand darning
- Scissors
- Pins
Materials
- Backing patch in matching denim
- Thread matching the fabric
1.Stabilise the edges
A running stitch or a few drops of fray stopper around the opening stops it growing while you work. Skip this and the hole is bigger by the time you finish.
2.Wash and dry the garment first
Denim shrinks. Patching before the first wash means the patch puckers afterwards.
3.Cut the backing patch oversized
At least 25mm larger than the hole on every side, so the stitching lands on sound fabric rather than on the weakened edge.
4.Pin the patch inside, aligned with the grain
Match the direction of the weave. A patch set across the grain reads as a repair from across a room.
5.Darn across the opening
Straight rows of machine stitching across the hole, then a second set at right angles. This is what a commercial repair does, and the density of the rows is what decides whether it holds.
6.Press and check from the right side
A mend shows. The goal is a repair that reads as deliberate rather than as concealment.
How to spot it
- Hold the garment up to a light and scan for pinholes glowing through
- Check pocket corners, hems, and belt lines where tears start
- Stretch suspect areas gently to reveal a small hole hiding in the weave
Grade impact
Holes and tears are Structural Integrity (25%) damage. A single tiny pinhole caps an item below Excellent, landing near Good (6); an obvious hole or a long tear drops it to Fair (5) or Poor (3–4) as a repair or reclaim piece.
Fixability
Repairable but rarely invisible. Darning, patching, or reweaving closes a hole and can lift a Poor piece to a sellable repaired grade; the mend itself must then be disclosed as a repair.
How to disclose it
Measure and locate each one ('1 cm hole near left pocket') and photograph with a scale. A hole is the flaw buyers least tolerate as a surprise, so precise disclosure is essential.
Holes and tears — frequently asked
- Can a hole be repaired well enough to raise the grade?
- Yes. Professional reweaving or careful darning can close a hole and lift a Poor piece into a sellable repaired grade. The repair is rarely fully invisible, though, so disclose that the area was mended rather than presenting it as undamaged.
What if it does not all come out?
Most of the time some of it stays, and the leftover is what a buyer sees. A garment is worth what its condition says it is worth, so the sensible next question is how much this particular flaw moves the number.
Ready to Grade Smarter?
Join resellers who trust GradeThread to standardize condition grading, build buyer confidence, and sell faster.