How To Get Patagonia Jacket Repaired

For years, Patagonia has prepare a high standard for product lifespan with their Ironclad Guarantee and unparalleled customer service. They've been providing free repair services for garments that take been ripped, torn, or otherwise damaged since 1973.

Their repair section—based in Reno, Nevada—is the largest garment repair facility in the Usa, with a humble team of just 45 people. Even with such a small team, they are able to receive, repair, and return garments within 30 days. An impressive turnaround time if yous've seen the state that some of these clothes arrive in.

As Patagonia has exploded in popularity, their repair services have had difficulty meeting the increased demand. In 2010, they repaired roughly 12,000 items, today the almanac number of garments repaired is over 30,000—a 150% increase.

So how does a large outdoor wearing apparel company mitigate this increasing demand?

Simple. Bring repair to the customers.

How to Empower Your Customers

Patagonia has been taking an active stance against over consumption since their humble beginnings, advocating for production longevity over purchasing new dress every season. In 2022, they famously stood by this philosophy in an iconic Black Friday advert, which frankly stated, "Don't Buy This Jacket."

In addition to bringing this ethos into their advertising, they besides created the Worn Wear program, designed to save garments from landfills. The Worn Wear truck travels the country, fixing torn jackets and backpacks from country to state. Their motto — "If it'south broke, fix it!"

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Dozuki'southward Contribution

From fixing cleaved zippers to a simple patch-job, the partnership was able to create useful repair instructions for customers of all feel levels. Using the Dozuki platform, they shared these guides on the Worn Wear site.

Dozuki'due south integrated collaboration features also helped plough this online guide collection into vibrant online community.

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As a client, all yous have to do is locate the mode number on your Patagonia gear and match it to the corresponding repair guide. From there, Patagonia's repair department will ship out the cloth and replacement materials needed for repair. Once they arrive, follow the respective guide online, and voila, your item is fixed.

An Added Benefit From Documenting Procedures

With high-quality repair information readily available to the general public, Patagonia was surprised to find that the repair guides also improved employee training efforts.

We weren't.

We spoke with Nellie Cohen, Programme Manager for the Patagonia Worn Vesture program, to gain some insight on how guides on Dozuki improved internal training.

"In our stores, we would always hear "Oh, the guy who used to do repair left," or "we don't have the right parts," at that place was e'er an excuse."

Cohen was privy to an insight that nosotros are all too familiar with hither at Dozuki —company knowledge isn't a grouping asset unless it'southward properly documented and standardized. The Worn Habiliment program found that past standardizing one process (product repair), they were able to standardize related processes equally well.

"The repair knowledge in our stores was generally passed downwards and wasn't institutionalized. But now, with training online, information technology helped us streamline the repair procedure. This increased employee accountability and ultimately helped create a better customer feel."

Instead of repair skills being passed down through more experienced employees, the data is at present accessible to everyone. Employees and customers at stores beyond the world can perform repairs at Patagonia stores, rather than shipping them to the small Reno facility.

Key Takeaways From Patagonia'due south Training Plan

Empowering your customers can have a tangible ROI and build brand loyalty.
Keeping noesis inside the heads of a select few is neither helpful or scalable.
Documenting important skills and procedures is what turns individual knowledge into a group nugget.
Making grooming information hands accessible increases employee accountability by eliminating excuses.

Training Procedures: If They're Broke, Fix Them

The almost important takeaway from Patagonia's journeying is to sympathise that fifty-fifty the most noble of causes take their share of logistical challenges. Standardizing mutual procedures is an essential component in creating preparation materials that are both constructive and can be distributed easily.