Customers of John Lewis will be able to repair a pillow cover or give their favourite leather jacket a new lease of life thanks to a repairs relationship with Timpson Group, a company known for providing second chances to ex-offenders.
The service is intended to persuade customers to pay to have products altered, mended, cleaned, or restored rather than throwing them away and purchasing replacements. It will begin a trial run at five stores.
According to Wrap, a nonprofit that promotes the circular economy, extending a garment’s life by nine months can cut its carbon, waste, and water footprints by as much as thirty per cent.
The 16-week study is being conducted in partnership with Johnsons, the 200-year-old dry cleaner, at John Lewis’s branches in Oxford, Liverpool, Cheadle, Milton Keynes, and Welwyn.
Johnsons is a division of the Timpson Group, which also owns the Snappy Snaps picture chain and is well-known for its shoe repair and key-cutting services. The organisation has a long history of hiring ex-offenders; in fact, more than 10 per cent of its staff, or 1,200 ex-offenders overall, are former prisoners.
Will Lankston, the managing director of Timpson Direct, said, “Alterations have always been one of the core parts of our business and we have been seeing this increase over the past few years as more customers are conscious about the environment and are wanting to repair and bring back to life some of their well-loved garments and accessories.”
John Lewis said the trial would show it which customers wanted to use the service and what they wanted from it, such as the type of garments most commonly brought in for repair.
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