This isn't a recent change, but it's auxiliary information people may find helpful.
In an article in comp.sys.mac.games.adventure in March 2001, Ann GM wrote:
Clothing is designed to last 10 RL months at high-average hours-per-week of wear. If you want to pay to have every little pulled thread mended, spreading the repair costs out, you can. If you'd rather skip the hassle, you can wait until your clothing is nearly worn out and get it fixed all at once. As long as you don't let it fall completely to tatters, the total cost is the same, apart from rounding errors.The cost to repair a shirt from 99.9% worn out is *at most* slightly higher than the original cost of the shirt, plus the labor cost of the dyes. (The tailor has to get matching thread, which costs more for some colors than others.) The berries come included, which is why it costs slightly more. For a skilled tailor, the mending costs can be... well, considerably less than that, depending on how much profit they want.
Compiled and edited by Pamela Greene <pamg@alumni.rice.edu>. Additions, corrections, and suggestions for this file are welcomed!