According to a 2019 survey, only one-third (36%) of people in the UK repair their clothes when they break. One in four skips mending because 'it's just easier to buy something new' (Censuswide, 2019)*. This results in a staggering 13 million items going to landfills in the UK each week.

Consumers who are already embracing sustainable habits by shopping second-hand on the other hand, often find that garments are unfortunately not the right size for them and finding a qualified seamster who can do the alteration can be time-consuming.

Finally, from a business perspective, 64% of customer returns are due to poor fit, with a £20 average cost of return and 2.8kg of carbon per item returned. Clearly, there is a gap that can be bridged by an accessible and streamlined repair service.

The positive impact of repair as a circular strategy is substantial as wearing an item 5 times produces 400% more carbon than wearing it 50 times. To extend the life of much-loved garments as well as remove some of the barriers to buying pre-worn clothing, Sojo operates on a direct-to-consumer and a business-to-business model.

As a D2C, users can choose from a list of services or add new requests and read about the allocated seamster. Currently covering zone 1&2 in London, orders are picked up and brought by bike to small tailoring businesses in the area and delivered within 5 days. Sojo takes a 30% commission from the seamsters to whom it sends work through the app and charges a £3.99 delivery fee.

To nail the perfect fit from a distance, they recommend users to include an item that fits them well in their order as a reference, or to pin the excess fabric (for which they have supporting video tutorials).

As a B2B, they offer eCom alterations and repairs as a post-purchase sizing solution to reduce returns and increase LTV, quickly integrated into a company's website by Sojo's technical team. To date, they have partnered with Ganni, Beyond Retro and Prochaine (Sep 2022).

Sojo aims to decentralise a fragmented industry by creating a community of seamsters and giving them exposure and a steady flow of work via the app. The hyper-local setup of their business model makes it a cheaper alternative for brands compared to in-house repairs.

Sojo has raised $2.4 million (around £1.9 million) in funding to scale the business, with plans to extend its services to the whole of London and eventually the wider UK, as well as to grow the B2B business and onboard more brands to offer alterations and repairs to their customer base.

Sojo has opted to support small tailor businesses in the "dying high-street" to allow them to tap into a younger demographic, yet hopes to collaborate with freelance seamsters in the future.

Sources:

* Survey conducted in July 2019 by Censuswide on behalf of Thought to 2,000 UK adults aged 16 and above 

Photo: Reuben Kim © Unsplash