Longevity in Action
Long-lasting products aside, getting consumers to actually keep their product in use requires support. Perhaps none go to such great lengths as Patagonia’s Worn Wear program.
“As individual consumers, the single best thing we can do for the planet is to keep our stuff in use longer,” penned Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia, in a public letter titled Repair is a Radical Act.
“This simple act of extending the life of our garments through proper care and repair reduces the need to buy more over time—thereby avoiding the CO2 emissions, waste output and water usage required to build it.”
Patagonia’s longevity ethos assumed form in its Worn Wear programme back in 2013, with the task of encouraging people to take care of their gear and help keep it in circulation as long as possible through education and special services. Worn Wear has since grown to encompass Patagonia’s repair, trade-in, and online re-commerce marketplace - repairing 100,000 products and putting a further 85,000 up for resale annually.
Worn Wear also includes Patagonia’s recycling programme, whereby customers can either drop off or mail in their apparel that can no longer be repaired or resold. Since 2005, Patagonia has recycled over 82 tons of clothing.
Alpine tour 3.0
But sometimes it’s not enough to wait for the customer to come to you – people are busy out having fun, after all – so you have to bring the service to the customer. That’s the idea behind the Worn Wear Tour, anyway, a quirky repair service a-la Jack Kerouac that has previously made appearances across the US and Europe.
Going into its third winter season in Europe, the people at Worn Wear anticipated a fresh wave of tree-skiing tears and iced-up zippers, and decided to take their service directly to the customer at snow destinations throughout Europe in the 2019/20 Worn Wear Snow Tour. The repair team onboard will offer repairs on a first come, first serve basis.
And since they are just out to spread the longevity love, they won’t discriminate against other clothing brands, nor charge a single Eurocent for their time.