What: following second-hand business, repair services can reap rewards

Why is it important: Farfetch has seen significant year on year growth in purchases of pre-owned items

Fashion retailers Farfetch and FW have both found benefits from moving into repair, with the latter reducing warranty return costs “by 60% after launching a gold standard repair guarantee for its outdoor clothing”.

Farfetch and FW have worked with ReLondon and QSA over a two-year period to develop, trial and launch their new circular offerings, as part of a project called Circular Fashion Fast Forward.

Farfetch launched both its Secondlife and Donate models during the period and said it has seen “significant year on year growth in purchases of pre-owned items”. The company is actively seeking to include even more product categories in its re-commerce model and has already rolled it out to more of its global markets.

For FW has embedded a repair service, embracing circular business models. It is helping to strengthen customer loyalty. It has also reduced their costs, as they have not had to make new products to replace warranty claims.

'Repair' rather than 'replace' can yield rewards says new report