Open Repair release separates logged attempts from repair outcomes

In its October 16, 2026 announcement, updated October 17, the Open Repair Alliance reported 619,873 repair attempts logged across 41,110 community events in 34 countries. It also warned that many groups were not represented. The cumulative release describes recorded activity, rather than a census of broken household products or every repair undertaken worldwide. ^[1]

The Restart Project’s October 20 account traces the infrastructure to its co-founding of the alliance in 2017. A shared recording standard and logging tools let community groups contribute information that partners combine, clean and publish. The common record is the mechanism connecting otherwise separate Repair Cafes, Fixit Clinics and Restart Parties. ^[2]

The Open Repair Data Standard explains what comparability requires. It groups fields around products, repairs and sessions, including category, brand, manufacture year, problem, repair status and event date. Its version history says the model field was removed because of collection and quality problems. More records do not eliminate limitations in the fields collected. ^[3]

The download reference labels the release October 2026 but includes records only through the end of July. It offers row-level files under CC BY-SA 4.0. That cutoff separates the publication date from the activities described; the licence permits reuse under its terms. This report has not independently recounted the files or tested repair results. ^[4]

About this item: Retrospective report. No first-hand reporting or independent testing is claimed. Corrections policy.