Marks & Spencer has launched a new repair service in partnership with Sojo, emphasizing its commitment to circular fashion.
- Customers can now access repair services like zip replacements and knitwear mending through an online hub.
- The service promises convenient and quick repair solutions, with items returned within seven to ten days.
- M&S’s initiative aligns with its sustainability goals, supported by a significant investment in reducing textile waste.
- This move enhances M&S’s existing circularity services, including a beauty takeback scheme and clothing donation program.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has taken a significant stride towards sustainability by partnering with Sojo to offer a dedicated clothing repair service. This initiative underscores the retailer’s investment in circular fashion, allowing customers to book repair services easily through an online hub named “M&S fixed by Sojo.” This service includes options such as zip replacements and invisible knitwear mending, with repairs completed and returned to customers within a week to ten days.
The repair costs begin at a reasonable £5, making it accessible for a wide range of customers. The introduction of this service is part of M&S’s broader ‘another life’ campaign, which integrates various circularity services across its website, app, and stores. This campaign aims to consolidate the retailer’s efforts in promoting sustainability and reducing fashion waste.
In addition to the repair services, M&S has expanded its sustainability efforts through a range of initiatives. This includes a beauty takeback scheme launched in collaboration with Handle, a cosmetics recycler, in June 2023. M&S has also been in a long-standing partnership with Oxfam for clothing donations, originally established under the ‘Shwopping’ label in 2008. As of April, a new postal donation service with Oxfam has been introduced, allowing customers to send unwearable clothes directly to the charity.
Backing these efforts is the Plan A Accelerator Fund, through which M&S has committed £1 million to support projects aimed at reducing textile waste and increasing the use of recycled fibers. This funding supports M&S in its ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, providing a robust framework for its sustainability mission.
The impact of these initiatives is reinforced by Richard Price, managing director of clothing and home at M&S, who remarked, “Through the launch of our repair service, we’re making it even easier for customers to give their clothes another life.” Meanwhile, Josephine Phillips, founder and CEO of Sojo, highlighted the partnership’s potential, stating that having M&S join their ‘Pledge to Repair’ could herald industry-wide change within the UK.
M&S’s collaboration with Sojo marks a pivotal step in its sustainability journey, integrating repair services into its broader circular economy strategy.
