Popular British retailer Marks & Spencer is launching a repair service to extend the life of its clothes, the Guardian reported. The service, called M&S Fixed by SOJO, is part of the retailer’s ongoing efforts to reduce its environmental impact – and an innovative way to prevent clothes from ending up in landfill.
Starting this month, the clothing and homeware retailer will offer clothing repairs through a partnership with SOJO, a British repair and tailoring company founded in 2021. Through Marks & Spencer’s website, customers can book services from M&S Fixed by SOJO, which range from alterations to zipper replacements and knitwear mending, according to the Guardian.
Once the clothing is sent in by post for repair or alteration, it will be returned to the customer within 7-10 days. Repairs cost from £5 – or just over $6 from August 10.
As part of the program, Marks & Spencer also published one-minute instructional videos on social media showing common garment repairs, such as removing pilling from knitwear or mending seams at home.
The new service is just one part of the company’s “Plan A – Another Life” initiative. The eco-friendly initiative includes an already established clothing donation program and other services that help “support the transition to a more circular economy.”
“We want to make sure all our clothes are too good to throw away,” said Richard Price, managing director of clothing and home at M&S, in a press release. “By launching our repair service, we are making it even easier for our customers to give their clothes a second life, whether they use our new repair service or our long-standing clothing recycling program.”
The new initiative is a key way M&S is tackling the massive impact of textile waste. Globally, more than 101 million tonnes of textile waste ends up in landfills each year, with the average US consumer throwing away an estimated 37 kilograms of clothing in a single year, according to Earth.org. Globally, only about 12 percent of textiles used in clothing are recycled.
But discarding clothes isn’t the only environmental stressor caused by fashion – production is also a problem. According to the United Nations, the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of the world’s wastewater through fabric dyeing and production. Clothing production is also responsible for an estimated 10% of planet-warming air pollution, reports Earth.org. That’s more than international flights and shipping combined, according to this source.
In a recent report, M&S outlined its progress – and future plans – to become more sustainable. The company has already reduced its carbon emissions by 33% since 2016/2017 and switched its cotton textiles to more “responsible” sources. M&S has also reduced its plastic use in recent years, diverting 85 million hangers from landfill and replacing plastic packaging with more sustainable options.
In the future, M&S hopes to further reduce its carbon-based pollution and use more sustainable textile sourcing, such as man-made cellulosic fibres. The company is also working to reach net zero, or remove the same amount of air pollution as it creates.
Subscribe to our free newsletter for good news And useful tipsand don’t miss this cool list of simple ways you can help yourself and the planet at the same time.
