NEW YORK, Dec 3 — How many clothes are thrown away every day because of a hole, wear and tear, or a lost button? Faced with the climate emergency, garment repair and alteration — two services that have fallen out of favour in recent years — are emerging as essential alternatives for the fashion industry, which is gradually embracing and even modernising them.
“Here, pass me your pants, I’ll fix the hem.” That’s not something that anyone under the age of 20 is likely to have heard often, given how much repairing clothes has become a rare occurrence in recent years. But maybe it’s time we started fixing those jeans, sweatshirts, T-shirts and the likes, which, as soon as they get the slightest hole or a stuck zipper, inevitably end up in the trash or, at best, in a collection center.
Yet the numbers show that it is undoubtedly an unbeatable solution for keeping our clothes going through the years. A report from the Waste & Resources Action Programme reveals that extending the life of clothes by nine months would reduce their carbon footprint by about 20 to 30 per cent. This is enough to motivate brands — and even new players — to fill a space in the market that we thought was gone forever.
But the emergence of start-ups such as Sojo clearly suggests that it might just be a matter of time. In search of solutions to reduce their impact on the planet, it isn’t likely to take fashion brands long to be won over by this age-old process which, if not revolutionary, today seems to be essential for giving our clothes a longer life. What’s more, this eco-friendly and economical approach could even help tip the balance when it comes to making a purchase.