PARTNERSHIPS | COMMUNITY | PODCAST | FRIENDS
Clothing Retailers Want Their Young Customers To Fix Their Clothes
Courtesy of Levi’s
Several casual retailers and fast-fashion brands are rolling out “fix-it” classes that teach customers how to DIY repair their clothes.
Why It Hits: Gen Z has turned to secondhand retail and clothing-rental startups to lower their carbon footprint and save money on new clothing. According to insights from GlobalData and ThredUp, Gen Z has fueled faster growth in the pre-owned clothing market than in new retail sales over the past few years.
Behind The Fixes: Brands are picking up where home ec left off, according to Fast Company.
Levi’s is expanding its “Wear Longer Project” — which teaches people how to sew on a button, hem, patch a hole, and fix a tear — to stores across the US.
Primark hosts “Love It For Longer” events that teach customers different skills, such as replacing zippers and buttons. It has also started testing year-round repairs in stores.
Uniqlo has begun offering several “aftercare services,” including repairs, decorative sashiko mending, embroidery, and creative restyling. The services are currently available in 75 of its approximately 2,500 stores worldwide.
Last Looks: The wholesale expansion of repair services and education has the potential to extend the lifespan of clothes beyond outdoors-focused brands and luxury labels. That could have a real impact, especially since textile waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gases — the UN estimates that enough fabric waste is generated to fill a garbage truck every second.
Learning some basic sewing skills could help keep landfills just a little less full.
The Future: Self-repair skills could do more than just keep clothes in good condition for longer — they could also become a cool new fashion trend.
Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.