10 Companies Offering Repairs on Bike Clothing - Pinkbike

https://m.pinkbike.com/news/9-brands-changing-the-bike-clothing-industry-by-offering-repairs.html

The bike industry, with all its bright colors, changing standards, and synthetic clothing is not always the most environmentally conscious and has a part in the massive amount of material and resources wasted by clothing production each year. Over the last several years, some companies have started breaking the mold by encouraging customers to send worn clothes back for repairs rather than discard damaged apparel to keep buying more and more. Here are some examples.

Velocio, Apidura, Velocolour & 'What Happened'

US bike clothing company Velocio has partnered with companies in the UK, the EU, and Canada to facilitate product repairs around the world. The collaboration, Velocio said, is to minimize global shipping, which will help reduce both the environmental impact and the cost of repair.

UK bikepacking gear company Apidura has an existing in-store repair program alongside a program for selling the repaired gear. Now, in addition to repairing their own used packs, Apidura will fix clothing such as jerseys, shorts, and other layers sent in by Velocio customers in the U.K. Similarly, Canadian company Velocolour, which produces an impressive range of cycling clothes, bags made from recycled materials, and custom paint jobs for bicycles, will adopt Velocio repairs alongside its usual collecting and repurposing unwanted pieces of gear. To cover the EU, Velocio enlisted a one-woman Slovenian operation known as What Happened. The owner, Neza Peterca, worked for Patagonia's Worn Wear program (described below) before starting What Happened, which deals with all kinds of outdoor gear repairs, custom products, and gear education. The collaboration seems to be a more efficient system for gear repairs than we've seen so far in the bike industry and will hopefully be a mutually beneficial partnership all around.

Patagonia

It wouldn't be a list of companies that emphasize repairs without Patagonia. The outdoor gear giant has long led the industry in sustainability and encourages customers to keep gear in play for as long as possible. The brand encourages customers to send in damaged clothing for repairs, and if the items are too far gone to fix, Patagonia gives store credit. Items that are traded in and salvageable go to the Worn Wear store once they're fixed. Patagonia also makes care and repair tutorials with catchy descriptions like "We can put a human on the moon. But fixing a broken zipper? This video shows you how to do one of those things." (I'm about to watch that one because 100% of the zippers in my life seem to be broken at once.)

Patagonia's warranty and repair policy also seems to be about as forgiving as possible. Rather than just compensate customers for quality issues like most warranty programs do, the program is genuinely aimed at extending the lifetime of all products. I currently have way more Patagonia store credit than I deserve for sending in a pair of tattered old ski pants that had crampon holes all over the ankles. I was sure that they were beyond repair and beyond warranty because all the damage was definitively my fault. As it turns out, you're expected to wear out your gear, and Patagonia's trade-in program will give you store credit even for clothing items that fully deserve retirement.

Kitsbow

Kitsbow's whole ethos is about cutting down on manufacturing waste. The brand goes a step beyond local production by making each item specifically for the customer in its North Carolina production facility, a process it calls "lean manufacturing." Since the idea is to eliminate waste from unsold clothing and scraps, it only makes sense that Kitsbow also encourages customers to repair, rather than replace damaged items.

Customers can reach out about manufacturing defects, standard wear and tear, and crash repairs, but Kitsbow does reserve the right to charge a repair fee for fixing some items that are damaged from crashes or everyday use.

Pearl Izumi & The Renewal Workshop

Pearl Izumi's Keep You Riding program is for items that are still in good condition but need minor repairs. Those situations include things like broken zippers, some loose stitches, and crash damage. The Keep You Riding works just like the standard warranty program, and Pearl Izumi will decide whether an item should be repaired or replaced.