The tailoring workforce in the US has been shrinking for decades. And the ones that remain aren't easy to find or get an appointment with.

In this episode of HappyPorch Radio, Barry O'Kane speaks with Robin Atkinson and Cash Acrey, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Upkept, an online clothing repair platform based in Northwest Arkansas. You mail in clothes you want fixed, they repair them in a centralised facility, and they send them back. Robin says this should be as easy as ordering delivery.

Robin's journey began with a different question: how do you create meaningful sewing jobs in America? Along the way she discovered something unexpected. The people learning these skills weren't excited by repetitive manufacturing. They loved repair, where every garment is different and every project demands creativity and problem-solving.

That insight sits at the heart of Upkept: the technology isn't the product. Repair is the product, and the software exists to reduce friction so the human craft can scale.

✨ In this episode:

• Robin explains why repair creates more fulfilling work than garment manufacturing, and why the workforce she trained took to it more quickly
• Cash shares how AI coding tools helped build Upkept's platform from scratch on a shoestring budget, and why no off-the-shelf solution fit
• Robin and Cash discuss balancing one-of-a-kind craftsmanship with operational scale
• Why Upkept's technology works as a mediation layer between a customer who needs simplicity and a production team that needs detail
• Robin's honest take on turning down the wrong investment to protect the mission, the workforce, and the size of the opportunity
• The vision for brand partnerships and a future where it's embarrassing for a company not to offer a link to repair

👤 About our guests:

Robin Atkinson is the founder and CEO of Upkept, an online apparel repair and alterations platform serving customers across 26 US states from a centralised facility in Northwest Arkansas. After nine years building workforce development programmes in sewn trades, she founded Upkept to create meaningful skilled jobs while making clothing repair affordable and accessible. She describes her mission as getting the unit economics of repair to work in America.

Cash Acrey is the CFO and CTO of Upkept and a finance professor at the University of Arkansas. He leads the company's technology strategy, building custom software from scratch using AI coding tools that simplifies the repair experience for customers while supporting the skilled people carrying out the work.

Find Upkept at upkept.io, or connect with Robin and Cash on LinkedIn.

🌍 About HappyPorch

HappyPorch is a purpose-driven software engineering consultancy focused on the circular economy.

Learn more: https://www.happyporch.com

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Season 10 Celebration

 HappyPorch Radio is 10 seasons old and we're celebrating in person with People, Planet, Pint!

Season 10 Celebration

 HappyPorch Radio is 10 seasons old and we're celebrating in person with People, Planet, Pint!

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