30,000 Repairs and Counting: What That Really Means for Sustainable Fashion

The Seam has now passed a milestone: more than 30,000 garments repaired or altered by our network of Makers across the UK. For us, this isn’t just a number. It represents tens of thousands of moments when people chose to keep something they love, make it fit better, or give it a second life.

From a silk dress worn to countless weddings, to a much-used parka with a broken zip, these are the items that matter to people. Repair has never really been about sustainability slogans - it’s about access. It’s about giving people the ability to hold on to their clothes, to make them work again, to choose care over replacement.

Still, the environmental benefits can’t be ignored. According to WRAP’s Displacement Rates Untangled study, most repairs directly displace the purchase of something new. Here’s what WRAP found, and what it means for sustainable fashion:

• In the UK context, for every 5 items repaired, 4 new purchases are displaced: a displacement rate of 82.2 %.
  

• As a point of reference, WRAP reports that repairing one pair of jeans (instead of buying new) can save around 33 kg CO₂e - equivalent to driving more than 80 miles in a typical petrol car.

  
  

Applied to our 30,000 repairs, that means more than 24,000 new garments avoided - each one carrying its own carbon, water, and waste footprint. In other words, the small, personal decision to repair adds up to measurable impact.

Still, for The Seam, this milestone is less about the planet in the abstract, and more about people in the everyday. It shows there is genuine demand for services that make clothes last. It proves that repair is not niche, but mainstream - and that with access, people will choose it.