Outdoor gear doesn’t have to be exempt from this mantra. Zippers, buckles and toggles are all bits of the outdoorsman’s material world that doesn’t last forever. And it seems, at least at our house, that it all decides to break at the same time.
Back in college I worked at an outdoor retail and rental shop and one day I dusted off this old dinosaur upholstery sewing machine they had in the back. It was a bit different from my moms machine I used back in my 4-H days (member of the Bakers and Buttons Club thank you very much) but it was easy enough to figure out. I went to work on old tent zippers, webbing straps and other broken items to get them back into working order.
So when our 5-year-old’s life jacket got shut in the car door and two of the buckles got smashed I wasn’t afraid to jump in and try my hand at fixing it, especially after I checked the prices of new jackets. ($40) Oh Glory!
I first headed to the sewing section. I picked up a spool of black 100% polyester thread (don’t get cotton, it will wear out quickly)
Then I picked up a replacement buckle. You can get generic ones at hardware stores or more customized ones online here…
The webbing on the lifejacket was still good so all I had to do was cut off the broken buckles and sew on the new ones. I used my machine on one of the straps but had to hand sew another because it was an awkward fit with my machine. (Don’t be put off by not having a machine, with a little muscle, needle and thimble you can get it done just as well.) Once they were sown on I melted the webbing at the seams to make sure it wasn’t going to go anywhere. 
This was a 15 minute project and the satisfaction that came from being thrifty was great. I’m also glad our kids got to see us “making do” rather than spending frivolously.
Here’s Axel enjoying his newly refurbished lifejacket.
And for info on fixing zippers of any kind of outdoor gear I found this video to be helpful.
And you can find FixnZip items on Amazon