“Luxury Is That Which You Can Repair”—Why Renewable Fashion’s Time Has Come - Vogue

That’s all very well for fashion resellers, but what about fashion originators? One possible answer lies in what Hermès artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas told Vogue last year. “I remember my grandfather telling me as a kid, I heard him tell me, literally, that “luxury is that which you can repair.” And he told me that back in the ’60s, the ’70s—back when people didn’t care about repairing. Today we understand how important it is because you don’t waste. When you think my bag needs a good repair but it can be repaired and continue to live alongside me, that’s a wonderful feeling.”

Inside the Hermès repair workshop Photo: Alfredo Piola / Courtesy of Hermès

Building repairability into accessories and clothing does indeed unlock the “wonderful feeling” that fashion has been contorting itself to rediscover the source of. And yet along with Hermès, only a few old-school or more-recently enlightened brands offer in-house repairs. Probably the most notable service is that of Brunello Cucinelli, on the basis that after you’ve purchased the object in question all subsequent repairs are free—he really is offering a lifetime of wear from a single garment. Also excellent are the repair and re-soling services offered by traditional shoemakers such as the 1829 founded British company Tricker’s. Every Thursday the firm’s Instagram feed @trickers_shoes features one of the 100 or so overhauls that customers send in each month. Billie Crabtree, who runs Tricker’s social media, kindly got in touch with the factory’s repair manager, and reported back: “The oldest pair the manager has worked on was over 40 years old… and there really isn’t a pair that he cannot fix.” Tricker’s might be heavier than your average pair of sneakers, but their footprint is infinitely lighter.

Tricker’s overhauls about 100 pairs of shoes and boots a month. Photo: Courtesy of Tricker’s

Photo: Courtesy of Tricker’s

Mid-repair. Photo: Courtesy of Tricker’s

Photo: Coutesy of Tricker’s

“The oldest pair the manager has worked on was over 40 years old… and there really isn’t a pair that he cannot fix.” Photo: Courtesy of Tricker’s

Photo: Courtesy of Tricker’s 

In the past year, I’ve built up quite a pile of much-worn pieces that are too knackered to wear further, but which, when lockdown allows, will be entirely revivable. A Macintosh field jacket in olive green (ripped pocket, worn proofing), an Anderson & Sheppard overcoat (burst shoulder), a pair of Levi’s Lot 01 jeans cut in deadstock Cone Mills denim (worn through at both knees), and Church’s brogues in burgundy shell cordovan (all soled out) will all go back to the factories and tailors that made them. Meanwhile a gray shirt in brushed cotton by Giorgio Armani that was a 21st birthday present (rip at the yoke, a shattered button) will go to my local repair and alterations pro Tony (when he is fully recovered from COVID-19).

The prospect of wearing these clothes—especially the coats—stirs more pleasurable anticipation that the idea of buying anything new brings me. To be reunited with garments you already know you love, that are renewed yet still bear the wear of past adventures together, and whose regeneration is infinitely more responsible than buying a replacement—that’s what makes a well-repaired piece better than new.

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