260,000 tons of clothing end up in the trash in France every year. That should change. Anyone who has damaged clothing or shoes repaired receives a discount – financed by a fund.
Tailor Hassan Amadassan looks up from his work at the sewing machine in disbelief. A repair bonus with which he can give a discount of between 6 and 25 euros? This is the first time he’s heard of it. Jeans, skirts and jackets are piled high in his small, chaotic shop on Rue Letort in the north of Paris. His customers, who aren’t particularly well-heeled, could definitely use the discount, he says: “That’s interesting. I charge eight to ten euros to repair a pair of trousers, 15 euros for a pair of jeans, and repairing a jacket can sometimes cost 30 euros . I then try to explain how much work it is.”
You can also mend sneakers
Nadja has just come out of the store and lights a cigarette. The young woman in her late 20s regularly drops off things that need repairing: “It’s pretty common among us young people. I even have sneakers and sports shoes repaired if there’s a small hole in them. If this new bonus is really juicy, then that’s it “It’s interesting.”
Anne-Marie thinks so too. The pensioner places her heavy shopping bags in front of the shop door. She is a regular customer here and has met Monsieur Amadassan Just had my winter boots mended. But she found the coat repair too expensive, so she decided to leave it alone: ”The zipper was broken. That should cost 40 euros, but I can almost buy a new coat for that, it’s no longer worth it. And unfortunately I can use the broken one like that “Don’t give it away. What do I do with it now?”
Anne-Marie’s winter coat might still have a chance at a second life if tailor Hassan Amadassan decided decide to take part in the repair bonus program. Elsa Chassagnette explains exactly how it works and how the bonus is financed. She helped launch the repair bonus.
At the press conference in the eco-café La Recyclerie, she first made it clear: “It is not the state that pays for the customer’s discount, but the non-profit company Refashion, which is financed by textile manufacturers. We represent clothing and shoe manufacturers throughout France. The The brands involved all pay an eco-contribution to Refashion in order to implement projects such as the repair bonus.”
More than 150 million euros in the pot
154 million euros have been collected in a fund. Retail chains such as Zara, Eram and Le bon marché are taking part. Forced: Since the adoption of the anti-waste law in 2020, manufacturers in France have been obliged to work more sustainably. Not only to dispose of waste, but to help ensure that less waste is created.
Every year in France, 700,000 tons of clothing are bought and 260,000 tons of clothes are thrown away. That should change. By 2028, Refashion wants to increase the number of clothing and shoe repairs by 35 percent. It was therefore important to Elsa Chassagnette and her team to keep the hurdles for tailors and cobblers as low as possible: “Registering in the bonus program is free, you don’t have to pay anything. And the registration works online. No on-site inspection. You have to only upload the tax and other paperwork that proves that you are actually running the store.”
Customers then receive the discount directly in the store, and Refashion takes care of the refund. This can be done with a specially developed app, explains Mary Lanos. She is the chairwoman of the tailors and seamstresses in France and has tested the process in collaboration with Refashion: “For example, my customer brings me a jacket, then I tap on the ‘Jacket’ icon in the app. Because I have my price list in the app beforehand In the app, all I have to do is upload a photo of the broken jacket and the invoice with the discount shown. It really doesn’t take long.”
600 workshops are registered
At the end of the month, Madame Lanos gets the discounts from Refashion paid back. To date, 600 tailor and shoemaker workshops across the country have registered for the repair bonus program. The goal is to have 1,500 by 2025. They can be found on their own website.
Mary Lanos sees only advantages. “I hope that customers accept this correctly. Because the best waste is the one we don’t produce in the first place. With this bonus we support people’s purchasing power, they have more in their wallets and don’t need to buy new things,” says she. “I hope that in this way we will gain many more customers and that we will be able to employ more people in the tailor shops. Maybe one or two, depending on the company.”
Back on Rue Letort, where the tailor Amadassan has his shop. Anne-Marie grabs her shopping bags. That would be a beautiful world: more money in your pocket and fewer clothes in the trash. “If everyone on this earth does their part, then we can do it.” Anne Marie firmly believes in this.