The Threadbare World of Clothing Repairs

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Barbour has a global reputation for selling its iconic waxed jacket, but the company doesn’t traffic in the kind of “lifetime warranty” language that has gotten L.L. Bean and Bass Pro sued for breach of contract by outdoorsmen with torn clothing and dismembered boots. Rather than offering free repairs, the 129-year-old English brand charges $50 per rewax — its most commonly requested service — though legend has it Queen Elizabeth didn’t pay. This year the brand expects to charge for 60,000 rewaxings performed at a London facility and sell 100,000 tins of wax “thornproof” dressing for those who prefer to take matters into their own hands. 

Meanwhile, Nudie Jeans, which charges $200 for everyday (non-selvedge) jeans online and at physical locations in New York and Los Angeles, is aggressively marketing “FREE REPAIRS FOR LIFE.” Nudie Jeans is not alone. Similar guarantees are being made by Filson, the outdoors outfitter, or Lowie, a newer, sustainability-forward womenswear brand similar to Nudie. It’s hard to argue with the model as one that builds brand loyalty – Apple’s repair services, which include “Genius Bar” technical support, have helped turn iPhone ownership into a religion. 

It’s no wonder why clothing companies want to emulate Barbour and Apple. As marketing expert Adam Alter explains, “We’ve become more cost-conscious, which makes lifetime warranties more appealing.” But why are these brands willing to bet on their product in a way that a heritage brand is not? The answer has everything to do with the nature of the bet. 

The first bet many children ever make is on a game of chicken. And that is, according to Marcus Collins, a marketing professor at the University of Michigan, exactly what a free service guarantee represents. “You make this claim so it reduces peoples’ apprehensions. Whatever buyers’ remorse they may have, they’ll never take you up on the repair or the money back guarantee — it’s a sunk cost,” he says. 

Brands bet that consumers won’t take them up on the offer — too inconvenient, too time-consuming — and consumers bet that they will. More often than not, consumers lose. And they lose two ways. 

Put aside the first reason. That’s self explanatory. Now consider the Nudie Jean. It is stylish. It fits well. It’s a nice pair. However, it has a weakness. The crotch. The brand has developed a reputation for crotch blowouts. This is true for a lot of men’s jeans because of a) the friction to the area and b) tightness of the fabric in that area . Given that, it should actually make more sense to buy jeans with free repairs. But… a sampling of Reddit reviews of Nudie Jeans repair work: “A shitty single stitch across the area to pull them back together”; “Pretty damn sloppy but functional” ; “So visually bad and uncomfortable that I never wore them again.”

Therein lies the rub (get it?). Repairs do not negate a fundamental flaw in the product. Heritage brands like Barbour (the Hermes leather department and Mont Blanc have similar programs) don’t guarantee repairs because they don’t anticipate the necessity of repairs, just upkeep. As JFK quipped, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” The Nudie Jeans value proposition is, in essence, “jeans that last forever,” but that’s not really what they sell and the price tag, which is steep but not much steeper than a pair of Todd Snyder selvedge, is the giveaway.

“There’s a gap between the value proposition and the pricing strategy,” explains Thomai Serdari, a marketing professor at NYU and a strategist in luxury marketing and branding. “This strategy doesn’t seem authentic to what the brand is.”

There’s a common idea that consumers pay for either brand or product, which is to say that price points are justified by either clout or quality. What complicates this is that many brands build equity by selling quality. What’s interesting about lifetime warranties is that they appeal to consumers looking to buy products, but are actually a branding play. The repair is hypothetical and products that do get repaired don’t get better. The product remains the product. 

The truth is that the brands that do guarantee their products open the door for brands where the marketing department has the wheel. Arc’teryx, brand of choice for those with “Aspen” somewhere in the GCal, offers a limited warranty that replaces and recovers its products. But many reviews cite shoddy work. That’s in contrast to Patagonia, which all-but buries its guarantee because, well, it shouldn’t come to that if someone is paying $130 for a quarter zip.  

Collins says that it’s usually the brands that say a little that do a lot. The classic example? Zappos. The company has historically offered a year-long warranty and full-money back guarantee.

“It wasn’t advertised, but people told other people,” he says. “It was like lore.”