Levi’s, Uniqlo, Primark and Zara are expanding repair and mending services as younger shoppers embrace resale and garment longevity—but economics remain a major barrier to scale.
Clothing retailers are increasingly adding repairs, alterations and sewing education to stores as they seek stronger relationships with younger consumers while responding to pressure over textile waste. Levi Strauss, Uniqlo, Primark and Zara are among the mass-market brands extending services once associated mainly with premium labels and outdoor companies such as Patagonia.
Levi’s teaches customers to mend
Levi’s is expanding its Wear Longer programme across the United States, including 90-minute workshops teaching high-school students how to sew buttons, hem garments, patch holes and repair tears. The initiative complements Tailor Shops offering alterations, repairs and customisation at stores worldwide.
Uniqlo offers repairs, sashiko-style mending, embroidery and garment restyling through RE.UNIQLO Studio locations. AP reports that such services are currently available at 75 of the retailer’s roughly 2,500 stores.
Primark has taken an education-led approach. Its free Love It For Longer programme has delivered 730 repair workshops since 2021, offering 14,400 places and teaching mending, darning, alterations and upcycling.
Longevity meets the volume problem
The environmental rationale is substantial. Clothing production roughly doubled between 2000 and 2015 while average garment use fell about 36%; less than 1% of discarded clothing material is recycled into new apparel, according to Ellen MacArthur Foundation figures cited by AP.
Yet repairs cannot compensate for continuing growth in garment production. Their strongest immediate commercial value may instead lie in customer engagement, loyalty and differentiation—particularly among Gen Z consumers participating simultaneously in fast fashion, resale and repair.
The economics remain difficult
Repair is labour-intensive, while producing a new low-cost garment can still be cheaper. H&M acknowledges that circular services need stronger economics to scale and has called for policy conditions that improve their commercial viability.
For manufacturers, this trend moves durability upstream. Brands pursuing repair models will increasingly need stronger seams, replaceable components, accessible construction and materials capable of surviving repeated wear and repair. The real circularity test will be whether brands design products to need fewer replacements, rather than simply adding repair services to continually rising production volumes.
