The sportswear giant, Adidas is piloting a new Repair & Care service for customers looking to give their favourite garments a new lease of life rather than throwing their worn-out and much loved items away.
In partnership with the British on-demand tailoring and repair platform, The Seam, the new initiative will offer customers services including repairs, cleaning, and refurbishment across a selection of Adidas items.
Services can be booked online and include sneaker clean & repair; bag & accessory repair; outdoor gear repair; activewear repair; and zip replacement. Most repairs will take between seven and ten days and customers will receive their items back via post.
“This is an exciting moment for The Seam and a much bigger shift for the wider industry as care and repair is being embraced by more accessible brands,” said Layla Sargent, founder and ceo at The Seam.
“This partnership meets growing demand from high street customers to extend the life of their belongings and I’m grateful to everyone who has helped to bring it to life.”
The Seam acts to connect customers with its network of ‘makers’, a cohort of skilled seamstresses and upholsterers based in the UK and boasting a range of competencies and experience working across garment alteration and mending, leather, activewear, or cordwainer. To continue to build out its offering and capabilities, The Seam continually recruits new ‘makers’ to its network, requiring qualifications, certifications relating to the fashion design and tailoring industry, and a minimum of five years working in a specialist area.
Circular fashion has been identified as a key trend within the growing global sustainable fashion market, in which the promotion of reuse, recycling, and upcycling of clothing to minimise waste and reduce the industry’s environmental footprint has been found to be at the forefront. Currently valued at around $7.8bn, this market is anticipated to reach $33.05bn by 2030. A recent report from Coherent Market Insights chalks this up to growth at a compound annual rate of 22.9% over the next five and a half years.
Separate research has found that extending a garment’s life by just nine months can reduce its carbon, waste, and water footprints by up to 30%. Prolonging the life of clothing is a key pillar of the circular economy and with more customers embracing the culture of mending and repair, it’s been found that more than one third of UK adults now plan to increase household repairs, rather than buying new.
Adidas joins a growing cohort of brands and businesses to turn their attention to the repair and refurbishment market. Earlier this week, John Lewis detailed its own repair service pilot with the Timpsons Group, while Marks & Spencer partnered with the repair and alterations platform, SOJO last month to offer its customers a repair and care service. Prior to this, SOJO made its bricks and mortar debut with Selfridges.
