The outdoor clothing brand, Patagonia has struck up a new partnership with the United Repair Centre London and Fashion-Enter to launch a new textile repair centre in London.
The URC London says it will employ and train people who have challenges finding employment in high-quality clothing repairs as the opening marks its second Centre in Europe following its 2022 launch in Amsterdam.
United Repair Centre Amsterdam currently handles around 30,000 repairs per year from brands such as Decathlon, Lululemon, and Patagonia. The London centre will have the capacity to be hitting similar numbers by 2025.
Thami Schweichler, ceo and founder of United Repair Centre, said: “The apparel industry has a bad reputation for the harms inflicted on the environment and the people who make our clothes – but it doesn’t have to be this way.”
The aim of the Centre will be to enable customers to keep their clothes in use for longer and practice conscious consumption in the future.
“Now, with the launch of the URC London, we’re making it easy for responsible clothing brands to join the growing repair movement,” said Thami.
The Haringey-based garment production company, Fashion-Enter, has joined as a partner. URC London says Fashion-Enter had faced potential layoffs due to key retailers moving production to cheaper facilities abroad but the new repair centre will protect 15 UK jobs and provide a ‘bridge’ into the circular economy.
Circular reports that URC London has already received strategic guidance from the British Fashion Council’s Institute of Positive Fashion and circular economy support from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The shop will initially provide repairs for Patagonia’s UK-based customers, with three additional brands lined up to join the facility in the next 12 months.
Alex Beasley, country manager, UK, Ireland, and Nordics at Patagonia, said: “At Patagonia, we’re in business to save our home planet. But we know we can’t do this alone. With the launch of United Repair Centre London, we are looking to dramatically scale our impact and empower other clothing companies to move away from disposability and waste, and weave circularity into their business models.”
A new report from the recycling charity, WRAP delivered a blow to current efforts when it highlighted that the 12% reduction in the carbon impact of clothing had been negated by a 13% rise in the volume of textiles produced and sold.
It’s according to WRAP’s Textiles 2030 Annual Progress Report that brands signed up to the environmental voluntary agreement have reduced the carbon impact of the textiles they produce by 12% and water by 4% on a per tonne basis between 2019 and 2022.
The NGO said these reductions were made possible through actions taken to improve sustainability in design and manufacturing, and by increasing the amount of clothes reused and recycled.
However, the report warned that these reductions are currently being cancelled out by the 13% increase in volume of textiles produced and sold. WRAP says the increased production has reduced the actual carbon reduction to just 2%.
There are 26 brands and retailers actively reducing carbon emissions, improving water stewardship, and making the clothing and textiles sector more circular through the Textiles 2030 programme. Signatories include ASOS, ASDA, M&S, Frasers, Primark, and Dunelm.
WRAP says 71% of cotton used by signatories now comes from improved sources, mainly through the Better Cotton Initiaitve and Cotton Connect’s REEL Cotton Programme. Meanwhile, its insights show that designing for longer life and increasing the use of recycled fibres could achieve greater savings and uptake of recycled fibres could reduce the total carbon footprint by 12% and water by 18% for signatories.
However, higher production rates – the 13% increase in textiles produced and sold since 2019 – meant waster use increased 8%, totalling 3.1bn m3. While a greater number of take-back schemes are operating in partnership with brands and retailers in the UK, second hand products make up just 9% of textiles placed on the market.
However, reuse and recycling signatories collected and handled 233,500 tonnes of used textiles, an increase of 8% since 2019.
