Who knew there was so much power in a single cotton bud? In repairing videos online, the little sticks do all the heavy lifting. They tease grime from the corners of expensive leather pouches. They apply just the right shade of red to the scuffed sole of a designer shoe. They deposit the glue that reunites buttons. They turn ASMR content into a rallying call for fixing, reusing and making a pricey product last a little longer.

Cotton buds have been doing careful, precise work in India’s growing, thriving repair industry. Services that started out primarily for the super-rich are now extending to salaried urban folks who want to give their precious purchases a little TLC. Of course, the work calls for more than Q-tips. See how three companies are making repairing glam, one tweak at a time.

Sole purposes: The Shoe Laundry

Mumbai entrepreneur Sandeep Gajakas says he was keen on cleanliness even as a child. His friends at boarding school in Panchgani would marvel at how meticulously he’d clean his shoes. He was in college when he realised that there was money in cleaning and repairing other people’s footwear and established The Shoe Laundry in 2003.

The business gets clients from as far away as Dehradun, West Bengal and Karnataka. Gym-weary Nikes and Reeboks come in for a spruce-up. Designer pairs from Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton are sent in after a heavy night of partying. On a good day, Gajakas and his eight-member team handle 15 pairs of shoes. “Many people attempt to clean their shoes themselves, often with disastrous results,” Gajakas says. “Some apply cream to new leather or wash their shoes in hot water, which damages the glue.” Others have simply spent too much on a purchase to risk cleaning it themselves.

Restoration is slow and complicated, taking as many as 120 steps to treat insoles, laces and fine stitching. Gajakas’s team has specialised tools such as a sole press and glue activator. “It is less about the machinery used and more about the timing and process,” he says. Simply glueing a shoe isn’t enough. It needs to rest under proper pressure for the surfaces to set and hold up against continued walking. Glue stains are unacceptable. “It must look like it never fell apart in the first place.”

Gajakas says the idea of shoe repairing has itself had a makeover in the two decades he’s been in business. His work is viewed with less stigma, especially after the pandemic, when clients sent in flimsy, but ultra expensive designer heels that had been sitting in the cupboard for years. But, promisingly, more young people are looking to repair the items as they consider the environmental impact of throwaway culture. Seems like a step in the right direction.

From ₹450 for a single pair, including pickup and delivery. @shoelaundryofficial

Skin conditions: The Leather Laundry

“A client came to us in the month of May with an old leather bag that held a lot of sentimental value. It was her late mother’s favourite and she wanted to use it for a special occasion,” recalls Mallika Sharma, founder of Delhi’s The Leather Laundry. The bag was stiff, cracked, and faded from years of use, storage and improper care. Sharma loved the challenge.

She and her team approached the bag like it was a spa client. It got a deep clean, a moisturising treatment, and a massage with specialised conditioners to bring back its supple feel. Every crack and scratch was individually buffed away or colour-matched and filled in. Finally, the bag was polished and given a nano-coating to protect against future moisture and strain. It looked just like new. The client was overjoyed. So was Sharma.

Sharma’s is one of very few services catering specifically to leather care in India. Most people who own high end leather bags, shoes and jackets tend to send them abroad for cleaning, parts replacement and repairs. The process takes months and can often cost as much as the item. Sharma trained at a leather-care company in the UK and set up shop in Delhi in 2015 to make things easier for customers.

The team repairs anywhere from 50 to 100 leather items every day, replacing heel tips and bag buckles, buffing up jackets and removing fire-damage from sofas. There’s needlework too. “With fabric-lining replacement, it’s important to have precise stitching that seamlessly blends with the original design,” Sharma says.

Clients send leather goods for a variety of reasons – to make expensive purchases last longer, to preserve heirlooms, to reverse accidental damage. But Sharma is seeing more and more young people wanting to repair an item simply because it’s the sustainable choice. They now seek not only repairs or cleaning but also customisation – adding pockets, zippers, or custom artwork.

“Historically, India lacked widespread education on leather care, often using home remedies or replacing worn-out items,” she says. The growing appreciation for professional maintenance is good for the product, the planet, and for business, of course.

From ₹2,500 for handbags; from ₹4,500 for jackets. @theleatherlaundry

Extended play: Shree Mahaveer Toys

India has few home-grown toymakers. Toy repairers are even fewer. Mukesh Kumar in Bengaluru has been at it since 2020, making sure playthings have rich lives just like Woody, Buzz and the gang from the Toy Story movies.

“Toys hold a special place in the lives of children and their loved ones,” he says. “When I was working at the babycare brand Me N Moms, I realised that when a toy broke, there was no system to fix it. It would be tossed into a landfill.”

His repair service fixes baby cars, bikes and hoverboards. “We recently got a BMW ride-on toy car with a non-functioning motherboard,” Kumar says. “Sourcing a spare was difficult, but we found one from another family who no longer wanted their BMW toy car.” It’s a swap that was not possible before, and Kumar wasn’t the only one who was delighted. “The family thanked me, as the car was a special gift for their child.”

The team of four makes house calls for repairs and he has observed that consumers, not just toy owners, are now more conscious of how much of their trash is salvageable. Many customers send in toys they once played with and loved but have been wanting to repair for years. “It’s something that has never been done before, so we are taking it one step at a time.”

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