Repair textiles or apparel.

Repair textiles or apparel. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 5 occupations and seen in 11 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Sew garments or materials. in Handling and Moving Objects .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 11 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 0 (0%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

The Anthropic Economic Index observes real AI use on 1 of these tasks, with a mean mapped-usage share of 0.002% per task.

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Prepare pointe shoes, by sewing or other means, for use in rehearsals and performance. · Dancers · importance 4.7 · no direct exposure
• Repair or replace soles, heels, and other parts of footwear, using sewing, buffing and other shoe repair machines, materials, and equipment. · Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers · importance 4.4 · no direct exposure
• Remove stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades. · Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Repair and recondition leather products such as trunks, luggage, shoes, saddles, belts, purses, and baseball gloves. · Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Re-sew seams, and replace handles and linings of suitcases or handbags. · Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Repair or replace defective garment parts, such as pockets, zippers, snaps, buttons, and linings. · Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread. · Upholsterers · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Stretch shoes, dampening parts and inserting and twisting parts, using an adjustable stretcher. · Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Fit, alter, repair, and make made-to-measure clothing, according to customers' and clothing manufacturers' specifications and fit, and applying principles of garment design, construction, and styling. · Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Repair or alter items by adding replacement parts or missing stitches. · Sewing Machine Operators · importance 4.0 · no direct exposure
• Tape or twist together thread or cord to repair breaks. · Sewing Machine Operators · importance 3.8 · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Dancers
• Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers
• Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
• Upholsterers
• Sewing Machine Operators

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-repair-textiles-or-apparel,
  title  = {Repair textiles or apparel.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/repair-textiles-or-apparel}
}