Encouraging customers to repair worn clothing rather than replace it may seem like retail suicide. Yet, in-store repairs and sewing workshops are rapidly becoming essential services as brands vie for Generation Z consumers who prioritize both sustainability and savings.
While luxury houses and outdoor specialists like Patagonia have offered repairs for decades, the practice has now gone mainstream. Mass-market giants including Levi Strauss & Co., Uniqlo, Zara, and Primark are adopting the needle and thread as strategic tools to build loyalty with younger shoppers.
Teaching Skills to Extend Garment Life
Levi’s recently launched a hand-stitching course for high school students after discovering that many Gen Z consumers lacked the skills to support their interest in thrifting and sustainability. In 90-minute sessions, employees teach four fundamental tasks: sewing buttons, hemming, patching holes, and fixing tears.
The initiative, part of the expanding "Wear Longer" program, builds on repair services already available at hundreds of Levi’s locations worldwide.
“We think it’s important to empower the people who buy our clothes with the skill sets to maintain them, to get them to that second life,” said Paul Dillinger, Levi’s head of global design innovation.
The Consumer Shift: Fix It, Don’t Ditch It
Chloe Halprin, 25, embodies the demographic retailers hope to reach. In high school, she shopped at trendy fast-fashion stores; if a garment ripped, she threw it away because repairing it felt beyond her abilities.
Today, the nonprofit grant writer buys mostly secondhand and has learned to hem and alter garments herself.
“I try to be conscientious of my carbon footprint,” Halprin said. “I really don’t like waste. I’m trying to save money as well.”
A Drop in the Ocean of Textile Waste
The fashion industry faces intensifying pressure to address its environmental impact. The UN Environment Program estimates that textile waste is generated at a rate equivalent to one garbage truck dumped or incinerated every second. Between 2000 and 2015, clothing production roughly doubled while the average number of wears per garment declined by 36%, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Less than 1% of discarded clothing is currently recycled into new apparel.
Researchers agree that repairing and reselling can reduce a garment's environmental footprint by delaying replacement. However, experts caution that these practices remain too niche to offset the industry's continued growth in production and consumption.
Gen Z’s Dual Reality
Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z came of age amid fast fashion, e-commerce, the pandemic, and inflation. This cohort has fueled the preowned market’s growth, which now outpaces traditional retail sales, according to GlobalData and ThredUp.
For brands selling new clothes, mending programs address “deeper consumer needs and behaviors,” said GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders. “It puts a halo on the brand.”
Yet skepticism persists. Kate Fletcher, a professor of sustainability and fashion systems at Manchester Metropolitan University, notes that while repair initiatives are well-meaning, they occur *in addition to* growing production volumes, not instead of them. “The fashion sector’s primary source of impact is due to overproduction,” she said.
How Major Retailers Are Adapting
Despite the challenges, mass-market retailers are testing various models:
- **Zara:** Launched a digital platform in 2022 for resale, alterations, and repairs, now available in 17 countries.
- **Primark:** Focuses on education through free “Love It For Longer” workshops teaching zipper and button replacement. The company has held over 730 events across nine countries and tested in-store repairs in the U.K. “There is nothing throw-away about our products,” said Vicki Swain, Primark’s product longevity lead.
- **Uniqlo:** Offers repairs, sashiko mending, embroidery, and restyling in 75 stores globally, positioning aftercare as an extension of the product lifecycle.
The Economic Hurdle
The central question remains whether repairs can evolve from a niche service to a commercially viable model. H&M Group has been candid about the obstacle: manufacturing new garments currently costs less than maintaining existing ones.
H&M, which owns the secondhand platform Sellpy, joined Primark, ThredUp, and dozens of other businesses in May to urge North American and EU governments to adopt tax policies making repair and resale profitable.
Making mending work is challenging because it is labor-intensive and must be priced low enough to attract customers. Consumer signals also remain mixed.
“Younger shoppers still shop fast fashion because it is one of the most accessible parts of the market, even though it goes against some of their principles,” Saunders said. “But they’re also buying into alternative channels like resale and having things repaired.”
Ultimately, brands are betting that offering a needle and thread isn't just about fixing clothes—it's about stitching together a new relationship with a generation demanding accountability, affordability, and longevity.