Helping fashion businesses transition to the circular economy
Sustainability in fashion is now everywhere, with the past few years seeing a seismic shift in requirements for transparency and sustainability in fashion, both from consumers and legislators.
It is no longer enough to just sell clothing and apparel without knowing from where and how it was produced, and it is no longer enough to expect the purchase of clothes to be the end of the story. With consumers increasingly embracing resale, rental and repairs, the expectation is that brands and retailers help to facilitate those circular business models for the consumers. And if you do not, your customer will just go to someone who does.
Circular Business Models and the Future of Fashion
At Splendid Stitches we help you to identify the most appropriate Circular Business Models (CBMs); the most suitable service providers; and the internal processes you need for your unique business set-up to embrace the business opportunities CBMs bring to future-proof your business.
You can read more about Circular Business Models HERE
Our background and primary strength is in repairs services, but as these often work best in conjunction with resale, take-back, cleaning and / or rental, we also work with several different providers in auxiliary services and can tailor a service package uniquely made for your product and customer mix.
How clothes maintenance services benefits your business
With more than half of UK adults saying they cannot sew and 57% looking for repairs services if an item breaks, repairs are an underexplored area of opportunity. For smaller fashion businesses in particular, offering repair services is a smart strategic opportunity that can boost turnover and profitability, build stronger customer relationships and strengthen sustainability and ESG reporting.
- Repairs create revenue: chargeable repairs provide a new revenue stream.
- Reduce Returns: When a minor flaw potentially can lead to a full return, a non-chargeable repair is often more cost effective than processing a return.
From a brand perspective, your repair service can play a major role in building customer loyalty:
Repairs services tell your customers your items are worth investing in
- Offering repairs proves your brand believes in longevity and your customer can trust you to put things right if things go awry.
- Splendid Stitches makes the process smooth and simple, reducing customer pain points.
- Sustainability in Action: repairs services proves that instead of just talking about sustainability, you’re actively demonstrating it. This builds trust and resonates with increasingly environmentally conscious consumers
Your customer is already looking for it
- More than half of UK consumers want brands to offer mending services. 57% actively look for a repair if an item breaks. And nearly 60% of the UK population describe themselves as not able to sew.
- Splendid Stitches enable businesses to easily offer the repairs and alterations services your customers actively look for, enabling you to retain your customer and build loyalty and goodwill.
Stay ahead of legislation and voluntary agreements
- Companies working towards BCorp certification or other credentials benefit from demonstrable waste reduction and C02 reduction models. Here repairs services can provide a useful framework.
- Extended Producer Responsibility regulations also require repairs options in certain markets, and repairs are likely to be extended to clothes and apparel in the coming years.
Build loyalty and create new revenue streams in a challenging market
- As consumers demand more sustainable business practices, and industry calls to reduce clothing waste and make more of what is in existence already, Repairs models offer benefits on the triple bottom line, and can be a new revenue stream, marketing differentiator and customer loyalty builder.
How to Get Started with Repair Services
Before you even get to the point of deciding which service providers to work with and what CBMs to embrace, we have put together a handy guide of the strategic questions to consider, in order to make CBMs work for you:
- What is the objective, and how will success be measured?
- Who will do the actual repairs?
- How will the customer get the item to the repairs facility and returned again?
- Who will pay for the repairs?
- How involved as a company do you want to be?
- Who in your team is responsible for implementing, managing and measuring success?
- What is your budget and timeline for implementation?
Still unsure where to start? Email us for the in-depth guide to how to approach setting up repairs services.
You can also join our on-line Office Hours, or book a 1-2-1 session with Splendid Stitches’ Founder, Nanna. With over 15 years experience of setting up and running repairs services for brands and retailers, we will find the solution that works for you.
Clothes repairs consultancy and solutions
Splendid Stitches have advised on and implemented clothes repairs services for some of the UK’s best loved independent and sustainable fashion brands, and is honoured to support the UK Charity sector too. Commercial clients include Palava and Baukjen and we have worked with charities such as SATCoL and Smart Works advising on repairs systems.
