Patagonia opens repair centre alongside URC and Fashion-Enter

Outerwear specialist Patagonia has unveiled a new repair centre in London, established alongside social impact companies United Repair Centre (URC) and Fashion Enter.

The location’s goal is focused around making repairs more accessible, allowing other brands to also participate while also contributing to the local job market.

Clothing manufacturer Fashion Enter will train the centre’s team on-site in regards to technical repairs, with URC to then take on carrying out repairs for Patagonia’s UK customers, as well as three more brands that are expected to join the initiative within the next year.

The opening follows URC’s launch of a repair centre in Amsterdam, where it teamed up with Makers Unite, the Amsterdam Economic Board and Patagonia and now handles 30,000 repairs per year, according to a press release.

The firm noted that its London base is also striving to achieve the same capacity of repairs per year by 2025.

In a release, CEO and founder of URC, Thami Schweichler, said: "The clothing industry has a bad reputation for harming the environment and the people who make our clothing - but it doesn't have to be that way. We have to support customers.

“We want to help people wear their clothes longer and consume consciously in the future if we want to have a vibrant planet to do business in. With the launch of URC London, we are making it easy for responsible clothing brands to join the growing repair movement.”