Opening up the city's great outdoors

How a 'make do and mend' approach is helping make the Capital's hills more accessible

Distinctive as it is, Megs Williams wants to assure me that the 1949 Singer sewing machine which sits behind her in her Hillside flat as we talk isn’t there for purely aesthetic purposes.

Rather, the machine encapsulates the ethos to repair the 27-year-old is trying to promote through Leylines, the community interest company she founded in December 2023.

She explains that each individual component of the Singer is stamped with an identifying number, so if something breaks then one small part can be removed and repaired, instead of having to repair or replace the whole thing.

Not only is the Singer designed in a way that enables it to be easily repaired so its lifespan can stretch beyond 76 years, its functionality means Williams can use it as part of Leylines’ mission to extend the life of outdoor sports kit.

She says: “A lot of the fabrics that I'm working with are super thick and really hard to get through. So if I wanted to be doing it on a modern machine, I would have to be working on an industrial sewing machine, which obviously is super expensive, whereas these are just super strong and very easy to use.”

Through Leylines, Williams wants to make outdoor sports more accessible and inclusive for the people of Edinburgh. To do this, the company offers outdoors sports kit repair, repairs and sells donated second hand outdoors sports kit at a significantly discounted price, and organises trail running taster sessions.

Passing the adventure on

Outdoor sports kit is often very expensive, prohibitively so if you’re someone who just wants to try something out to see if you want to commit to it. A recent Guardian article on getting into running suggested spending £100 - £130 just on the shoes.

At the same time, the outdoor clothing brands are increasingly fashionable - you’re as likely to see Patagonia jackets in Stockbridge as you are in the Pentlands - and the clothing industry is having a hugely harmful impact on the environment.

The British Fashion Council says the world already has enough clothes to dress the next six generations of humanity. The Stop Waste Colonialism campaign says clothing production across the world doubled from 2000 to 2014, surpassing 100 billion garments for the first time in 2014. The fashion industry is projected to account for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Williams believes Leylines can contribute to tackling both the cost barrier to accessing outdoor sports and the industry’s negative environmental impact. Repairs can be arranged directly through the company’s website and Williams is in the process of having donation boxes placed in outdoor sports shops around Edinburgh, so second hand kit can be collected, repaired and sold on at a price more suitable to someone wanting to give a sport a go.