Are you already repairing, or are you still buying? Durability is one of the absolute cornerstones for a sustainable future and protecting the environment. One of the most important factors for this? Repairing instead of throwing away. That's why many brands offer repair services. We show you an example of 17 brands that make your outdoor equipment immortal.
The European elections in June 2024 highlighted what many sports retailers have long felt: people's interest in sustainability is receding in the face of economic problems. Recent analyses provide insights into the changing consumer behavior and offer intriguing conclusions for sports brands.
The willingness to pay a premium for sustainable products is waning. The current consumer behavior poses a real challenge for many companies. Especially the sports industry has invested heavily in making their products more sustainable.
At the OutDoor by ISPO, two market experts presented recent research findings on “green fatigue” in consumer behavior, international differences, and their strategies: Bastian Graber is Senior Manager of Client Development at the US-based market research firm Circana. Fredrik Ekström is a Brand Strategist and founder of Above The Clouds and has surveyed 2,500 Scandinavian consumers and conducted qualitative interviews with 32 brand representatives for his analysis.
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Repairing shoes, accessories and clothing is not a revolutionary new service in the sports and outdoor sector. With the new EU "Right to Repair" directive, which must be implemented in the member states by 2026, brands and retailers will expand their repair services even further - and make many customers very happy.
Vintage sweatshirts, trail running shorts, shoes, tents, rucksacks... The list of products that visitors to the Worn Wear Tiny House from Patagonia is long. "We've made some people happy here," says Mick Austermühle. Patagonia has been touring Europe with its Worn Wear repairs since 2013, visiting trade shows, events and festivals. "Many people bring us their favorite item, which holds precious memories."
This is how the Patagonia Country Manager Germany & Austria describes the biggest advantage of repair services for brands: customer loyalty. After all, few things are as charged with positive emotions as an item that has accompanied the wearer through countless adventures. A brand that saves the life of this material piece of memory digs deep into the heart of the owner.
It's no wonder that this is also repeatedly taken up in advertising. Thus writes Fjällräven for example, writes about the history of a 43-year-old rucksack, while Deuter has even dedicated an entire campaign to its favorite items under #deuterforever.
Mammut has also published figures on its repair service, which the Swiss brand has been offering since 1992. Mammut repairs around 16,000 products worldwide every year. On the one hand in its two repair workshops in Germany and Switzerland, and on the other through an established network of local repair workshops and third-party providers. Replacing zippers is the most common repair. "If you compare the environmental impact of repairing items with buying new products, our workshops save almost 375,000 kg of CO2 and 3,000,000 liters of water every year," says the Mammut sustainability report.
Repairing has long been a trend: in 2009, Martine Postma organized the very first Repair Café in Amsterdam. Repair Café. There are now almost 2,800 branches all over the world, where people come together and repair things that usually no longer have any material value worth mentioning. Growing environmental awareness and increasing sensitivity in the use of resources have supported this development. This is also demonstrated by the more than 100,000 repair instructions that are now available on the ifixit.com platform - everything from a broken microwave to a torn down jacket. Some sports brands, such as Vaude, also provide tutorials there.
However, consumers quickly reach their limits when it comes to some repairs, especially for shoes and textiles. Either special tools or materials are required or there is simply a lack of experience. This is why more and more companies are offering post-warranty repairs under different conditions. According to a study by the European Outdoor Group, almost all of the 69 brands surveyed already offer repair services (76%) or plan to offer them (19%). The few brands that were negative about repairs usually justified this with the costs or complicated logistics.
Repair platforms such as Goodloop are now helping to optimize the after-sales service process. Among other things, the interface offers shipping processing, real-time repair status and data analysis on repaired items and the amount of CO2 saved through repairs.
Retailers also use repair offers to retain customers and boost sales - and this even applies to online-only retailers. According to the eCommerce report by creativestyle almost 50 percent of the largest German online stores in the sports and outdoor industry already offer this service.
Globetrotter recently opened its 17th repair workshop in Germany in its Cologne store. According to Matthias Schwartze, this is now "Europe's largest network of inner-city repair workshops". "Last year, we handled, maintained, repaired and put around 25,000 items back into circulation," says the Globetrotter marketing manager, pleased with the positive response from customers.
The repairability and durability of products has increased in recent years, adds Retail Manager André Gerber: "The number of mono-materials is increasing, as are the demands brands place on their suppliers." The procurement of spare parts still sometimes causes problems. "But we are in the process of reorganizing the processes with our brands. Parts must be available in sufficient quantities and this must be managed in production. We are also currently testing a 3D printer that we could use to reproduce individual parts such as buckles."
The number of repairs is still manageable and relatively easy for brands to handle. However, this will change with greater acceptance and processes will need to be professionalized. Equip Outdoor, with its Rab and Lowe Alpine brands, has therefore already opened four service centers in Canada, the USA, the UK and the Netherlands. The company also offers a "second stitch" there, where only recycled fabrics and offcuts are used for repairs. This saves even more resources and the sometimes contrasting fabrics and trims make the favorite pieces absolutely unique.
Patagonia also repairs clothes not only at trade shows such as OutDoor by ISPO, but since 2022 together with other textile companies at the United Repair Center (URC) in Amsterdam - a project that puts socially disadvantaged people in particular to work. Willem Swager, Director of Finance & Operations EMEA at Patagonia, says: "The textile industry needs a structural change. That's why we are calling for the reuse and longer wear of clothing through repair and recycling. It needs to become the norm for more brands to offer this as a service and consider it part of their normal business." Or, as the URC website puts it: "Repair is the new cool!"
"We can't do it alone" and "Together". As if the speakers at OutDoor 2024 had come to an agreement, these demands filled the exhibition halls more than once. The goal: to save the ecosystem and biodiversity. Why we should care about this and what solutions already exist.
Species are dying out, natural habitats are shrinking and the ecological balance is being shaken - caused by pollution, climate change, deforestation and overuse of natural resources. This is nothing new, it is a problem that industry and people are becoming increasingly aware of. This topic was emphasized once again at OutDoor 2024. "We are all interdependent. Environment, animals, people," said Mackenzie Muir, Market Relationship Manager European Market at The New Zealand Merino Company, addressing one of the most important topics in the outdoor industry: Biodiversity.
If biodiversity is impaired, this can have serious consequences for the entire ecosystem. Species extinction means a loss of genetic diversity and our health and quality of life also decline. The decline in biodiversity also means the loss of food sources, medicinal resources and natural raw materials.
The role of the outdoor industry in particular is paradoxical here: as much as outdoor fans and the outdoor industry enjoy and benefit from nature with its biodiversity, it is also the outdoor industry that has a high share in the destruction. "More than a third of textiles are made from natural resources," explained Anna Rodewald from GreenRoom Voice.
The experts therefore all agree that the outdoor industry must take action. "There is something for everyone to do," emphasized Rodewald. And Tanya Bascombe Joint, General Manager of EOCA, called for: "Start, just start!"
Many brands are currently working on improving the durability of their products. The EU will soon be demanding this of all clothing manufacturers. Waterproof jackets should also last longer and be more durable. What is the industry doing to achieve this and what can consumers do to extend the lifespan of their jacket? And how do you actually measure the durability of a jacket?
Waterproof jackets are the epitome of outdoor clothing. It was only when Bob Gore discovered the possibilities of stretched PTFE for the production of breathable and waterproof membranes in 1969, thus laying the foundation for Gore-Tex, that the outdoor clothing segment and trade developed into a huge international growth market. There are now numerous other technical solutions and suppliers that make clothing waterproof and breathable. However, as indispensable as waterproof jackets are in the outdoor market today, they are also problematic for the environment.
Waterproof outdoor jackets consist almost exclusively of petroleum-based outer fabrics (e.g. polyester) laminated with a petroleum-based membrane. In the case of Gore-Tex, for example, with a membrane made of PTFE or the new ePE membrane made of polyethylene. Once bonded together, the outer fabric and membrane cannot be separated again, which makes recycling considerably more difficult. "Gore-Tex laminates are not yet recycled," says Hannu Haslach from the Gore Fabric Marketing team. And as long as recycling is not yet available, these jackets end up either in waste incineration or in landfill, where they take centuries to decompose. Considering how many of these jackets come onto the market every year, that's a lot of waste for the future.
In addition, waterproof jackets require a water-repellent finish on the outer fabric, also known as DWR (Durable Water Repellency), so that the fabric does not become saturated and thus impair breathability. Until a few years ago, almost 100 percent of these DWRs were made of polyfluorocarbon, better known as PFC or PFAS. This abbreviation stands for a group of chemicals that are at least suspected of being harmful to health and the environment, which is why Greenpeace has been campaigning against them for years and the EU is considering a ban. It has taken a long time to find an equivalent and environmentally friendly alternative to PFCs - and it has still not been completely successful. PFCs are therefore still used in workwear and protective clothing. But the good news is that the outdoor industry has now largely banned them from its products.
If there are no recycling solutions yet and no rapid progress is expected in the development of more sustainable materials, what could a solution look like that would make a waterproof jacket more sustainable? How can the ecological footprint of such a high-tech jacket be reduced? In a life cycle analysis, W.L. Gore found that 65 percent of the CO₂ footprint is attributable to production, around 34 percent to the use phase and one percent to the end of life. Making materials and production facilities more climate-friendly therefore has a major impact. "But the industry is producing more and more products, often with less and less quality, which are used by consumers for shorter and shorter periods of time," says Marie Mawe, Director Sustainability Engagement of the Gore-Tex Fabrics Division. "This automatically increases pollution and waste. Even if the ecological footprint of our clothing improves step by step during production, the sheer volume of new products will outweigh this positive effect." The most effective approach would therefore be to produce fewer items of clothing and extend the useful life of the products.
It is not only the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) that requires clothing to last longer, more and more outdoor brands are also developing strategies to ensure their products can be used for longer. This starts with "Design for Durability" and includes not only product quality and the materials used, but also the provision of detailed care instructions, the guarantee of repairability and repair services through to the sale of second-hand products.
When it comes to product care, waterproof jackets still have a lot to do. "Some people believe that a Gore-Tex jacket should not be washed, but the opposite is true," says Sander Effring, Account Marketing Specialist at W. L. Gore. In order to maintain full functionality for a long time, the jackets must be washed regularly and cleaned of dirt, sweat, sun cream etc.. This also washes out the DWR over time, which needs to be reactivated with heat (in the dryer or with an iron) or refreshed by re-impregnating. "Care is becoming increasingly important for everyone," says Hannu Haslach, referring to the new DWRs. "There is no longer such a strong treatment as we had with the PFC DWRs. New DWRs are more susceptible to sweat and grease, which is why they are not yet an alternative for protective clothing." It is therefore becoming increasingly important to care for a waterproof jacket correctly so that it retains its function and is used for as long as possible. This applies not only to waterproof jackets, but also to soft shells and water-repellent textiles without a membrane. They will all require more care in future in order to last longer.
At Gore, questions about the care of Gore-Tex products have been among the three most frequently asked questions by customers on the international service hotline for decades. Videos with care instructions also regularly achieve high click rates on the website and in social media. This also applies to brand partners and retailers, who are now focusing more on this topic. "Gore, as well as retailers and the industry, must pass this knowledge on to consumers," says Haslach. That's why proper care has long been part of training courses for sales staff in retail and for brand partners.
Gore further strengthened its commitment two years ago with the launch of the "Gore-Tex Gear Tour": Gore tours Europe and cooperates with retailers to educate consumers about the care of Gore-Tex products and repair products on site. The company has also established partnerships for the repair of Gore-Tex products and set up 35 officially certified Gore-Tex repair centers. If the repair is carried out there, the "Guaranteed To Keep You Dry" promise remains valid.
The intention to bring more durable and longer-lasting products onto the market so that fewer new products need to be purchased is understandable and correct. It is more difficult to find a definition of what durability actually means so that this term can be brought to life in future European legislation, for example. There is currently no method for measuring the shelf life of products, even though it is the key to a more sustainable industry. In spring 2023, Mittuniversitetet in Sweden initiated a global research project with the aim of creating a common industry standard measurement that takes product function and performance into account.
"We understand very well when a product fails in the early phase of use, because then the warranty case occurs and the product is complained about. Then the manufacturers get the product back and can draw conclusions for improvements. But we know very little about which criteria lead consumers to throw away a product after many years," said Dr. Judith Waller, Louisa Nilsson and Isabell Vorne from the Sports Tech Research Centre at Mittuniversitetet in their presentation at the last OutDoor (3 - 5 June 2024 in Munich).
Using 318 discarded waterproof jackets from different manufacturers that consumers have given to the researchers, the team wants to determine which functional aspects users consider to be the cause of the end of the service life and compare these with the defects the clothing actually had. After all, it is not only objective, purely functional criteria that determine useful life. Subjective, emotional aspects such as aesthetics, brand identity or comfort are just as important. The aim is to develop a test protocol for measuring the durability of jackets that reflects actual use.
The research work is not due to be completed until 2026. However, the evaluation of the jackets shows that the condition of the jackets sent in varied greatly, with 2.5-layer jackets, for example, being in a particularly poor condition. In general, the neck, hood and front areas showed the most defects and signs of wear. The industry could derive specific opportunities for improvement from this. But here too, product care remains a key lever and the help of consumers is essential. "The question that has already emerged from our results so far is whether the deterioration of the product could be prevented by avoiding care errors and through better care. It would be good if we could reduce the number of these errors," says Judith Waller. She therefore also wants to find out at what point you would have to intervene in order to improve the shelf life through proper care.