Repairing and maintaining your hiking gear will extend its lifespan, which is great both for your wallet and the planet. A busted zipper is no reason to trash your favorite jacket (or sleeping bag or ...

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." So next time your zipper acts up, don’t panic, and don’t automatically assume you need to toss your item.

Michelle Elise is known in repair cafe circles as the "Zipper Queen." She finds that most broken zippers just need some TLC, not replacing. DETROW: ...So frustrating. For an item that we do not spend ...