Marks & Spencer is partnering with clothing and alterations experts SOJO, supported by the £1 million ‘M&S Plan A Accelerator Fund’ as the retailer “commits to investing in driving the circular economy”.
From August, the British department store’s customers can book a repair service through a new online hub called ‘M&S Fixed by SOJO’.
It comes after new insight from Marks & Spencer research revealed only 10% of the population is confident enough to repair clothes themselves, while 60% of consumers are looking for retailers to offer more services which support them to lower their carbon footprint.
Through the dedicated online hub, M&S customers will be able to select and book a range of bespoke repair services – from zip replacements to invisible knitwear mending – through an online form.
With repairs starting from just £5, M&S clothing can be sent, repaired by SOJOs in-house repair team and returned directly to the customers doorstep within seven to 10 days.
Richard Price, Managing Director of Clothing & Home at Marks & Spencer, said: “At M&S, exceptional quality products are at the heart of everything we do, and we want to ensure that all our clothes are too good to waste.
“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.”
Founded in 2021 by Josephine Philips, SOJO is on a mission to make tailoring and repairs more accessible. She added: “It has always been a core mission of ours at SOJO to make repairing clothes mainstream and to extend the life of as many garments as possible.
“I’m so excited that M&S has chosen to launch a repair service with us at SOJO as it’s an incredibly big step towards that mission. As a brand that has remained a firm constant in almost every household and wardrobe in Britain, this partnership with truly bring easy, accessible and convenient repairs to the masses.
“Beyond that, as one of the longest standing British brands, having M&S join our Pledge to Repair adds such a great weight to our call for industry wide change here in the UK.”
The partnership with SOJO comes as M&S reveals a new platform called Plan A ‘Another life’ – visible across the retailer’s, website, app and stores from this month. It brings together all the retailer’s circularity services into one place, from the new partnership with SOJO and Beauty Takeback Scheme with Handle, to its long-running clothes donation partnership with Oxfam, which was formerly known as ‘Shwopping’.
All initiatives now sit together as part of Plan A – ‘Another Life’ to offer a more seamless experience for customers who are looking for ways they can support a shift to a more circular economy.
As well the range of services, the platform will be home to a selection of 60 second ‘how to’ videos covering everything from removing bobbles from knitwear to adjusting hemlines – created by M&S’ team of in-house technical experts.
