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Customers in Berlin Can Now Use Zalando’s “Care & Repair” Service

The pilot program builds on data about garment, shoe and accessory maintenance and repair in five European markets.

October 12, 2021
Company

Zalando’s “Care & Repair” pilot launches today in Berlin, allowing customers to wear their favorite pieces longer by connecting them with local tailors, cobblers and sneaker cleaners. The service – a partnership with London-based start-up Save Your Wardrobe, who provide the technical platform – uses Zalando’s Premium Logistics to pick-up and drop-off items at small service providers. Behind the program, which will soon be piloted in Düsseldorf as well, is extensive research on both the desire to care for and repair items and the obstacles that customers face.

Last year, Zalando published the Attitude-Behavior Gap Report, which found that more than 58 percent of people believe that it is important to prolong the life of their clothing through mending, but less than half of people act on this intention. We dove deeper into this topic through a survey of more than 5,000 Zalando and non-Zalando customers, concentrated in five countries: Poland, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and France. Here are our findings:

Statement: I have repaired a fashion item in the last six months. Result: Polish people lead the curve in terms of repair (53 %), followed by Germany and Sweden (40% each), France (38%), the Netherlands (30%)

Fg1: The percentage of respondents across survey markets who have repaired a fashion garment in a half-year time period 

Question: Have you previously worn repaired fashion items? Result: Swedes turn to family and friends for repairs. In Poland people are looking for professional support.

Fg2: We asked respondents in our survey countries about their personal familiarity with integrating repair into their lifestyles and compared the overall results, to see how they differed from the experiences of Zalando customers

Question: Before repairing a damaged item, do you look for help on how to fix the damage? Result: For repair most people turn to friends and family for advice; Dutch people most likely to use professional repair services; Swedes go ahead and repair a damaged fashion item without consulting any help more than any other country

Fg3: We found clear differences between country markets when it comes to how people inform themselves about repairing garments

Diving into common types of mending, we gauged the confidence in different survey markets to tackle specific repairs themselves

Fg4: Diving into common types of mending, we gauged the confidence in different survey markets to tackle specific repairs themselves

While it is clear that there is a growing desire across all markets to use mending and proper maintenance as a way to prolong the life of wardrobe staples, there are also roadblocks in knowledge and accessibility that still create a gap between attitudes and behavior. With ongoing research and service options like “Care & Repair” – which services all wardrobe items, regardless of where they were purchased – Zalando aims to offer a convenient, accessible and educational solution to drive a behaviour shift and help close this gap.

Note: Costs and duration for cleaning and repair through Zalando’s “Care & Repair” program are unique to each order. For transparency, customers receive price evaluations before booking the service.