Repair Is a Crowd Magnet – When Done Right

You don’t need another article telling you that retail has changed. That customers only walk into stores when there’s something worth getting off the couch for. You know this already. So let’s skip the obvious – and talk about something you might be overlooking: repair. 

Not the dusty kind. Not the “cute little sewing corner” in the back of the store. We’re talking about repair as a brand experience.  As a magnet for foot traffic, for higher sales days, for online buzz and for fresh brand relevance. 

What do we mean by doing it right?
Here’s the truth: most people still think repair is boring. Old-school. Inconvenient. A chore. So if you promote your repair pop-up in store, this is what people expect. And besides your handful of hard-core green customers, most won’t be interested.

So when you do it differently, when you make it exciting, but most of all, find the hook that works for your customer. For some brands, that’s Live denim repairs in the window. For others, it’s hiding repair clues at the coffee bar. Others lean into custom embroidery events. We’ve done repair with a side of cocktails. Or a live tattoo station for the back labels of your jeans. All ways to keep clothes in play that lead to repair. 

Most importantly: That’s the kind of thing customers film. Post. Go Viral. Remember. It’s not just about fixing clothes. It’s about getting people off their couch – and into your store. 

We’ve shown what repair can do online and offline, too.

When we launched with ARMEDANGELS, we didn’t just hit the target of 100 repairs for Q1 – we hit it in 10 minutes. That’s what we mean by doing it right, both in-store and online. Still need to convince your boss (or are you the boss yourself, who needs convincing)? Here’s what you’re quietly missing:

– A Sales Driver: Nudie Jeans clocked 65,000 repairs in 2022. Look at that number again. That’s 130,000 extra store visits, powered by repair. You do the math on what that means for additional sales.

– A Buzz Creator: Want to be talked about? Then give people something to talk about. Your in-store activation might be local, but its social reach won’t be. It’s not a service, it’s a spectacle.  

P.S.: We’ve shown that repair works in the office too. 

Yes, we’ve proved these results online and in-store. But what if you bring repair somewhere new: inside your company? That’s exactly what we did at Just Brands, where we brought repair to 150+ employees. Turning the lobby into a buzzing live repair booth. We expected engagement – but this?

– 3× more repairs than forecasted
– Curiosity from different corners: product, marketing, sales teams
– Our Repair Talk had a full house of employees across departments 

To say it with the words of Chanel Hoogduin, Corporate Responsibility Manager: “MENDED really showed us the power of repair - not just for our customers, but internally too. It created engagement across the Just Brands - Fashion & Retail company and sparked more repairs and interest than we expected.” 

From PME Legend to Cast Iron to Vanguard – we kept clothes in play and showed the full team how repair is good business.