Popular U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer is launching a repair service to help extend the life of its clothing, the Guardian reported. Called M&S Fixed by SOJO, the service is part of the retailer's ongoing work to reduce its environmental impact — and an innovative way to keep clothing out of landfills.
Starting this month, the clothing and home retailer is offering clothing repairs through a partnership with SOJO, a U.K.-based repair and tailoring company founded in 2021. Through the Marks & Spencer website, customers will be able to book M&S Fixed by SOJO services ranging from alterations to zipper replacements to knitwear mending, per the Guardian.
Once sent via mail for repairs or alterations, the clothing will be returned to customers in 7 to 10 days. Repairs start at £5 — or slightly over $6, as of August 10.
In connection with the program, Marks & Spencer also launched roughly minute-long how-to videos on social media covering common clothing repairs, like depilling knitwear and mending seams at home.
The new service is just one part of the company's Plan A — Another Life initiative. The eco-friendly initiative includes an already-established clothing donation program and other services helping to "support a shift to a more circular economy."
"We want to ensure that all our clothes are too good to waste," Richard Price, managing director of clothing and home at M&S, said in a press release. "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."
The new effort is a core way M&S plans to address the massive impact of textile waste. Globally, more than 101 million tons of textile waste go to landfills each year, with the average U.S. consumer throwing away an estimated 81.5 pounds of clothing in a single year, per Earth.org. Around the globe, only about 12% of textiles used for clothing is recycled.
But throwing out clothing isn't the only fashion-based environmental stressor — production is also a problem. According to the United Nations, the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global wastewater through dyeing fabrics and production. Clothing production is also responsible for an estimated 10% of planet-warming air pollution, Earth.org reports, which is more than international flights and shipping combined, per that outlet.
In a recent report, M&S detailed its progress — and future plans — for increased sustainability. The company has already reduced its carbon pollution by 33% since 2016/2017 and swapped sources of its cotton textiles to more "responsible sources." M&S also cut its plastic usage in recent years, preventing 85 million clothing hangers from going to landfills and swapping out plastic packaging for more sustainable options.
Moving forward, M&S hopes to further reduce its carbon-based pollution and implement more sustainable textile sourcing, like human-made cellulosic fibers. The company is also working toward achieving net zero, or removing the same amount of pollution from the air as it contributes.
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