Launched by Refashion in November 2023, the “repair bonus” for clothing and shoes allowed the French to save 6.8 million euros in one year, with more than 800,000 repairs financed by this system.
One year after its launch, the Textile and Shoe Repair Bonus created at the initiative of Refashion is showing positive results. In one year, 826,000 repairs were carried out. The number of repairs has almost tripled over the last six months compared to the 250,000 repairs recorded during the six-month assessment in mars 2024. For each repair carried out, the French benefit from an immediate reduction of between 6 and 25 euros. In total, they were able to save 6.8 million euros in one year.
To date, 83% of repairs have been carried out by shoemakers and 17% by refinishers. According to Refashion, this significant volume dedicated to shoe repair is mainly explained by two reasons: on the one hand, the majority of consumers do not have the necessary skills to repair their shoes themselves, unlike clothes. On the other hand, shoe repair shops, generally more digital than alteration workshops, can handle a larger volume of requests.
Furthermore, shoemaking is almost exclusively focused on repairs, unlike alteration workshops, whose activity is divided between repairs (30% of their activity), transformation and adjustments, such as size alterations, etc. Overall, small repairs are the majority: heel tips for shoes, holes for textiles, etc.
While the initial goal was to get 500 additional repairers on board each year, professional interest has grown faster than expected. By the end of 2024, more than 1,530 repairers (30% of which are brands) are certified and listed on the bonusreparation.fr platform.
-“We listened [les] concerns [des réparateurs] and simplified the procedures as much as possible, which encouraged their membership and made it possible to strengthen the network,” underlines Elsa Chassagnette, Repair Fund Manager at Refashion, in a press release. “Many certified repairers have also reported to us an increase of 20 to 30% in their turnover, without observing an increase in the prices charged. »
Distribution by region
Île-de-France is, unsurprisingly, the region with the highest number of repairers with 208 certified. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes comes in second position with 154 certified repairers, followed by Hauts-de-France with 142 certified repairers.
In one year, 150,000 repairs were carried out in Île-de-France; 75,000 for Occitanie; 65,000 for Hauts-de-France and finally 64,000 for the Grand Est.
The Repair Bonus is financed by marketers – brands, distributors and manufacturers – through an eco-contribution paid to Refashion. The initiative is part of Refashion’s broader approach to promoting the act of repair, a major asset in the battle against overconsumption in fashion. In 2019, 16 million items (clothing and shoes) were repaired, according to Ademe data shared by AFP.
