M&S launches ‘sustainable’ repair service

Marks & Spencer will fix knitwear with holes and broken zips with a new clothes repair service to help people get the most out of their clothes.

It has partnered with SOJO, a repair and tailoring business, to launch the service through its website.

Repairs will start from £5 and enable M&S clothes to be sent off, repaired and returned to customers within 10 days, the retailer said.

The service, while primarily designed for repairing M&S items, will accept items from other brands.

Repairs will start from £5 for replacing a shirt button and range up to £13 for a loose hem on a skirt or £17 for torn jeans. Customers will be able to have a coat relined from £100 when the service launches in August.

M&S is investing £1 million from its climate fund “plan A” into the service, after launching a free postal trial in April for customers to donate their “too-good-to-waste” clothes to Oxfam.

There are 1.6 billion pieces of clothing in the UK which are not being worn – 31 items per person – according to a climate group WRAP.

The retailer said that since 2008, when its recycling programme was launched, more than 36 million pieces have been donated by customers. In 2023 and 2024, its scheme for reusing clothes hangers stopped 85 million going to landfill.

Richard Price, managing director of clothing and home at M&S, said: “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 Philips, founder of SOJO, said: “It has always been a core mission of ours to make repairing clothes mainstream and to extend the life of as many garments as possible.”

M&S is not the only retailer capitalising on a renewed make-do and mend attitude. As sustainable clothes shopping has increased in popularity, businesses such as Vinted and Depop built around selling second-hand designer clothing and vintage items

Louise Duncum, of personal stylist Weiz Styles, said the move showed that repairing items is becoming more popular and “it is great to see M&S jumping head first into this sustainable initiative”.

“Reduce, reuse and recycle is back,” she added.

“In terms of sustainability and reselling items, fast fashion brands often cannot fetch a good resale price, whereas good quality premium clothing brands have an inherent value which maintains a higher price point, even when sold as a preloved item.”

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “With even Primark now offering vintage franchises in store, M&S needed an offering to set it apart from high street rivals. Small repairs to garments will lengthen their life and will elevate the value proposition.”

But she warned that repair services can be overwhelmed, and that its nation-wide scale would make it expensive.

Ms Streeter said: “Running a repair service of this scale won’t come cheap, even though its partnering with SOJO, and there is some risk that it could unravel particularly if demand exceeds expectations.’’

M&S has seen a period of growth after it modernised its clothing offering. In May, it revealed that its profits had surged 58pc in its latest financial year to hit £716.4m.

Last year M&S increased sales not only in its food business but also clothing, where growth has typically lagged. It now holds a 10pc share of the overall UK clothing and home goods market.