Today, Marks & Spencer has announced it will offer a dedicated clothing repair service for the first time.
With new insight from M&S* revealing only 10% of the population is confident enough to repair clothing themselves and 60% of consumers looking for retailers to offer more services which support them to lower their carbon footprint, M&S is partnering with clothing repair and alterations experts, SOJO.
Founded in 2021 by Josephine Philips, SOJO is on a mission to make tailoring and repairs more accessible. Today, the small but growing team is made up of tailors, riders, developers and creatives working to accelerate change in the fashion industry. With a shared set of values, the two businesses have come together, as partners in change.
According to WRAP, the climate action NGO, in the UK alone, 1.6 billion items of clothing in our wardrobes aren’t being worn – which is an average of 31 items per person. The ‘M&S fixed by SOJO’ hub – launching in August – will support M&S customers to give their M&S clothes ‘Another life.’ and reduce textile waste, a key pillar of the retailer’s Plan A roadmap to drive the circular economy. The partnership builds on the retailers established clothes donation scheme with Oxfam, which has collected over 36 million items of clothing raising an estimated £23m to tackle poverty around the world.
Giving clothes Another life.
Through a dedicated online hub, M&S customers will be able to select and book a range of bespoke repair services – from zip replacements to invisible knitwear mending – all through one simple online form. With repairs starting from just £5, M&S clothing can be sent, repaired by SOJOs in-house repair team and returned directly to the customers doorstep within seven to 10 days.
The partnership with SOJO comes as M&S reveals ‘Another life.’ Visible across the retailer’s, website, app and stores from this month, Plan A – ‘Another life.’ brings together all the retailer’s circularity services into one place. From the new partnership with SOJO, Beauty Takeback Scheme with Handle to its long-running clothes donation partnership with Oxfam, which was formerly known as ‘Shwopping’, all initiatives now sit together as part of Plan A – ‘Another Life.’ to offer a more seamless experience for customers who are looking for ways they can support a shift to a more circular economy. As well as a range of services, the Plan A – ‘Another life.’ platform will be home to a selection of 60 second ‘how to’ videos covering everything from debobbling knitwear to adjusting hemlines – created by M&S’ team of in-house technical experts.
Plan A, because there is no Plan B
Last week, M&S published its annual ESG Report 2024 revealing the progress made to date on its Plan A roadmap. Looking ahead, the retailer is continuing to find new ways to reduce textile waste to drive the circular economy.
The new partnership with SOJO is supported by M&S’ Plan A Accelerator Fund which aims to take rapid action to climate change through a series of innovation projects. Earlier this year, the fund was used to support an online postal trial with Oxfam which enabled customers to donate their unwearable – but too good to waste – clothing, alongside their pre-loved wearable clothing directly to Oxfam to be resold, reused, or recycled.
Richard Price, Managing Director of Clothing & Home at M&S, commented: “At M&S, exceptional quality products are at the heart of everything we do, and we want to ensure that all our clothes are too good to waste. Through the launch of our repair service, we’re making it even easier for customers to give their clothes Another life, whether they are using our new repair service or long-standing clothes recycling scheme.”
Josephine Phillips, founder and CEO of SOJO, commented: “It has always been a core mission of ours at SOJO to make repairing clothes mainstream and to extend the life of as many garments as possible. I’m so excited that M&S has chosen to launch a repair service with us at SOJO as it’s an incredibly big step towards that mission. As a brand that has remained a firm constant in almost every household and wardrobe in Britain, this partnership with truly bring easy, accessible and convenient repairs to the masses. Beyond that, as one of the longest standing British brands, having M&S join our Pledge to Repair adds such a great weight to our call for industry-wide change here in the UK.”
