John Lewis has commenced the trial of a new in-store repair service, enabling customers to bring their favourite garments, accessories, and even a select range of homeware back to new life.

Teaming up with the specialists at Johnsons (part of the Timpson Group) the department store will offer a range of repair services, whether customers are looking to ‘revive a wedding dress, restore the zip on a luxury clutch, or adjust a pair of curtains.’ Services available will span repair and alterations, laundry, and dry cleaning.

In launching the trial, John Lewis has become the latest in a recent string of retailers to add repair servicing to their portfolios. Last week, Products of Change reported on Marks & Spencer’s new partnership with the clothing repair and alterations service, MoJo – a ‘Deliveroo-style clothing customisation service’ that prior to its M&S deal established its physical retail presence in Selfridges.

John Lewis’ partnership with Johnsons launched on July 22 and for the duration of its trial period will accept any brand, allowing customers to drop off items to be fixed, altered, cleaned, or restored before coming back to collect them in store.

Kathleen Mitchell, John Lewis’ commercial director, said: “Our customers come to us for fashion and homeware that’s well made and will last – and this just takes that mentality and service one step further.

“We want to help them extend the wear of their fashion items and have the option to bring those much-loved items back to life – whether they are hanging by a thread or just need a simply stitch or two.”

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 consumers embracing the culture of mending and repair, recent research found that more than a third of UK adults plan to increase household repairs, rather than buying new.

The trial will launch in five John Lewis branches: Oxford, Liverpool, Cheadle, Milton Keynes, and Welwyn. Over the course of the 16-week pilot run, John Lewis hopes to gain insights into customer habits, what garments are the most repaired, and the demographics of customers seeking the repair service.

Will Lankston, managing director of Timpson Direct, said: “We are really excited about working with John Lewis. Alterations have always been one of the core parts of our business and we have been seeing this increase over the past few years as more customers are conscious about the environment and are wanting to repair and bring to life some of their well-loved garments and accessories.

“Our service is well-established within the industry and we have an excellent team of specialists who undertake all our work and take a real pride and passion in all that they do. We look forward to working with John Lewis on developing this service over the coming weeks and months.”

The new move from John Lewis ties neatly with the John Lewis Partnership’s revised strategy in driving toward a circular economy. 

In September last year, John Lewis and the environmental charity, Hubbub published an impact report detailing the progress of four ground-breaking projects awarded funding as part of the retailer’s Circular Future Fund. 

The year prior, these four projects had been awarded grants of between £150,000 to £300,000 and whittled down from 245 applications to develop their innovative solutions to challenge the ‘make, use, throwaway’ culture of modern society.

The £1,000,000 fund was made possible by the sales of 10p plastic bags through the John Lewis Partnership.