How Levi’s and Uniqlo are using a ‘fix it, don’t ditch it’ sales strategy to appeal to Gen Z

The UN estimates that each year, the world produces fabric waste at a rate equivalent to a garbage truck’s worth getting dumped every second. Encouraging customers to mend worn clothes instead of buying new ones might seem like a self-defeating sales strategy. But in-store repairs and sewing workshops are becoming essential retail services for clothing brands as they try to appeal to young consumers who want to save money and the planet.While luxury fashion houses and select specialty retailers like Patagonia and L.L. Bean have offered product repairs for decades, the concept has caught on. Jeans giant Levi Strauss & Co., casual wear chain Uniqlo and budget retailer Primark are a few of the apparel companies hoping to win over Generation Z shoppers with a needle and thread.Levi’s created a handstitching course for high school students after determining that many members of Gen Z lacked the sewing skills to match their interest in thrift store shopping and sustainability. Employees spend 90 minutes instructing teenagers on four tasks: sewing on a button, hemming, patching a hole and fixing a tear.The Wear Longer program, which the San Francisco-based company is expanding across the U.S., builds on the repair and customization services Levi’s offers at hundreds of stores worldwide.“We think it’s important to empower the people who buy our clothes with the skill sets to maintain them, to get them to that second life,” Paul Dillinger, Levi’s head of global design innovation, said.Detroit resident Chloe Halprin, 25, is the kind of consumer retailers hope to attract with a “fix it, don’t ditch it” message.In high school, Halprin shopped at inexpensive, trendy stores. Fixing a big rip felt beyond her limited sewing ability. If she damaged a top or skirt from Forever 21, “I might just throw it away.”These days, Halprin buys most of her clothes secondhand. She recently learned to hem with a sewing machine and hopes to tackle projects like turning a skirt into a shirt.“I try to be conscientious of my carbon footprint,” Halprin, a nonprofit grant writer, said. “I really don’t like waste. I’m trying to save money as well.”