At a time when resource scarcity and environmental pollution are becoming increasingly important issues, the question of consumption is also becoming more and more pressing: how sensible is it to keep buying new clothes as soon as the current ones are a little worn or damaged? The outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia is of the opinion that a rain jacket with a tear, bike shorts and a shirt with a hole need not be discarded. If the items of clothing are otherwise still functional, they can also be repaired.

Buy less, reduce emissions

By buying fewer new items, CO2 emissions, waste and wastewater associated with their production can be avoided. The non-profit organization WRAP does the math: If you use your clothes for just nine months longer, you reduce your CO2, water and waste footprint by 20 to 30 percent each, it notes - simply because less is then produced and thrown away.

To this end, Patagonia launched the Worn Wear Tour in 2013 to motivate people to look after their clothing carefully, wash it and repair it if necessary. Extending the life of clothing through care and repair is the most important contribution that can be made to reducing the impact on the planet, according to the clothing manufacturer.

On the Patagonia Repair Tour, the Flick team offers free repairs for clothing of all brands. Repairs are carried out on a first come, first served basis. For example, repairs are made to zippers, tears, missing buttons, holes and other damage. The repair team shows how to repair and mend clothing and equipment themselves; how to apply patches, restore water resistance and repair zippers.

At the end of May, Patagonia's Worn Wear Tour included a stop in Valposchiavo, where Ride editor Balz Weber was on site and had the broken zipper of his rain jacket replaced. "The fact that the original zipper is no longer in there is hardly noticeable and the jacket and zipper keep perfectly tight in the rain."

The next stop on the Worn Wear Tour will be in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, from July 14 to 16, 2022. Garments will also be repaired in Patagonia stores. And even if the figures for these events are impressive, it is the incentive to repair things yourself that should make a decisive contribution to reducing emissions and waste, and this goes far beyond sportswear. Anyone who remembers the handicraft lessons from back then will now know - these lessons were not in vain!

Worn Wear in figures

Since 2019, Patagonia has held 56 Worn Wear repair events throughout Europe. These were attended by around 25,000 people during this time. Over 100,000 items of clothing have had their lives extended at Patagonia's Worn Wear repair centers.