What to do with your old jacket rather than throwing it out

Galindo, 31, who manages ReBIRD, the brand’s initiatives around care and repair, resale and upcycling, swiftly found the roughly inch-long rip on the back near the garment’s bottom. “But we won’t just look at that, we’ll look at the whole jacket.”

Shoppers are increasingly starting to see clothing as less disposable, and instead of buying more, they’re tapping into repair services and programs that allow them to fix or trade in their old gear. This is giving used items a second, or even third or fourth, life — and keeping them out of landfills.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, clothing ranks as the top source of textiles in municipal solid waste, above furniture, carpets, footwear, linens and towels. Landfills received 11.3 million tons of textiles in 2018, according to the agency, more than 7 percent of their total waste. Much of this discarded clothing is oftentimes still wearable.

“What we’re seeing is that customers really understand the value of used, both financially and from a sustainability perspective,” said Laura Kelley, senior manager for recommerce at REI, an outdoor apparel and gear retailer. “Especially younger generations are really bought into this model because it’s, in some ways, the right thing to do.”

To test how these programs work, we brought our own item — a well-loved all-purpose outdoor jacket — to the Arc’teryx store to have its trade-in potential assessed.

Here’s how it went.

A different way of shopping

These programs can help change how you see shopping from the moment you choose your item, to how you wear and care for it, and what you do with it once you no longer need it.

Perhaps you might be willing to spend more for better-made pieces if you know you can fix them to get more life out of them, or money when you trade them in. You now also have an option to buy high-quality used things that are still in good condition at a discount.

More companies, particularly higher-end brands, are starting to offer these types of programs, said Andy Ruben, founder of Trove, a recommerce company that works with brands to develop resale systems. Since launching in 2016, Trove has partnered with more than a dozen brands, including Arc’teryx, REI, Levi’s and Lululemon.

“Items that we pay more for — think of like a high-end luxury item — have market demand on its second, third, fourth go-around,” Ruben said. “An item that was very accessible or very affordable the first time around will have less secondary market demand.”

The original price of a new Arc’teryx jacket, for instance, can be more than $800. At the SoHo Arc’teryx store, which stocks used items, a bright red jacket featuring a blue patch on its sleeve from a repair was selling for $630.

At Patagonia, which has its own trade-in and resale program, customers can save more than 50 percent off the original price by buying a used item, said J.J. Huggins, a company spokesman.

Participating in resale is a smarter way of shopping, Ruben said. “The idea is like, if I buy an item second hand, I can have access to a nicer item than I would have been able to afford,” he said.

By keeping a used item in circulation, you’re saving the resources and materials it would have taken to make a new one to replace it. That was Zoe Zhou’s experience.

The New York resident was able to get her husband’s 2013 jacket, whose lining was separating from the outer fabric, fixed free at the Arc’teryx counter.

“I basically would have said forget it and bought another one because there are quite a few of them,” she said.

How does it work

Brands offering repair services typically allow you to bring items back to a store or mail them in, and then assess whether they can be sold as used. This can depend on the type of product, how old it is and its condition. Some manufacturers and retailers offer repair services and will accept repaired items if they determine the damage is fixable.

With practiced hands, Arc’teryx’s Galindo inspected the burnt orange jacket. Starting with the sleeves, she tested the Velcro at the wrists, deeming the fastenings “pretty healthy.” The glue holding other parts of the jacket together looked “shiny and happy.” After about 10 minutes, during which she checked all the zippers and turned the jacket inside out, Galindo determined a treatment plan: patch the rip and recommend a wash to address minor stains.

“Overall assessment, great condition,” she said.

Patching a small tear can be a simple fix that only takes minutes. More complicated repairs, such as repaneling or full zipper replacements, can still be done in-house, but may take extra time.

The store and its repair team are prepped to handle many cases of damage that might come in. More than two dozen different colors of zippers, including neutrals like brown and black, as well as lime green, teal, orange and fuchsia, hang along one wall next to spools of multicolored cords. Buckets of colorful zipper pulls are arranged in neat rows below.

A chest of drawers is full of more zipper tabs and plastic bags containing different patches. Fabric scissors dangle from a hook on the wall while other containers hold clamps, pliers and blades. Several workstations with sewing machines occupy a glass-walled room nearby.

After her exam, Galindo passed along the damaged three-year-old jacket to Helen Sotropa, one of several employees who handle repairs. “Helen is one of our top surgeons,” Galindo said.

Sotropa, dressed in a white blazer, got to work. Using a trapezoid-shaped die cut, she punched a hole in the jacket and removed the damaged piece.

She then laid the jacket on a heat press, positioned a brown adhesive patch over the hole and pulled the machine’s lever.

After multiple rounds of pressing, the repair was done. It’s a process that can take about five minutes.

The camel-colored patch was noticeable against the jacket’s orange exterior, a color choice made by the owner. “Sometimes guests want a close match, but sometimes they like to really choose colors that are contrasting so that it’s just a fun detail,” Galindo said. “It adds a sense of uniqueness to the jacket, and it makes you feel like you have something that no one else has.”

In a matter of days, the fixed-up jacket would be reunited with its owner, free of charge. Arc’teryx does all in-store repairs free, according to the company. For complex repairs that need to be sent out, customers will only be charged if the item is out of warranty. Some brands offer repair services, which can be free, to fix items that they would otherwise not take for resale.

But what if you no longer want your jacket? What are your options?

Deciding what’s best for your jacket

If your jacket is in good shape, some brands will give you back a certain percentage of the original cost of the item as a gift card or voucher. During promotional events, the percentages often increase.

There may be some restrictions on what you can use the gift card or store credit for. Arc’teryx, for example, currently only allows vouchers to be used on new items, said Dominique Showers, vice president of ReBIRD. But she said the company is working on expanding the vouchers to used gear.

Patagonia offers up to $100 in credits for each eligible item that can be used as gift cards for all new or used products, Huggins said.

But not all products are accepted, as we learned. The jacket we brought to the Arc’teryx store had been worn for more than two decades for skiing and on rainy or wintry days — and it showed. The pale blue and slate gray exterior was heavily stained. White duct tape had been stuck to the inside of the jacket, an attempt to attach the separated lining back to the hem.

Looking over the jacket, Galindo provided a clinical assessment: The glue had deteriorated, probably due to improper wash and care. (Arc’teryx encourages people to wash their jackets regularly, a process that can be done at home, and provides detailed instructions for how to properly do it.) Galindo said the jacket was ineligible for trade-in.

When asked about repair, Galindo said the duct tape had degraded the material beneath the adhesive, complicating a professional fix, but that it might be possible to fix the hem by topstitching it.

Guidelines for what brands deem eligible are generally available online. Patagonia similarly requires trade-in items to be clean and functional, Huggins said. The brand can still accept apparel with minor discoloration, but if an item is heavily discolored or severely sun-damaged, it can’t be resold.

REI, for instance, will only take gear that’s been purchased within the past six years and does not accept repaired items, Kelley said. But, she noted, the company will take products that weren’t bought from REI as long as they are items the brand carries. The company maintains a searchable online database of eligible items.

“The best frame to think through that is like, ‘Would I be comfortable giving this to a friend and would they be able to use it without needing to repair it or clean it?’” she said. “We can’t have any missing parts or pieces or holes, but as long as it still has good life in it, we will take it.”

While we wouldn’t dream of giving our battered jacket to a friend, we also won’t be throwing it out. For now, it’ll still be worn — thrown on when it’s time to take the dog out for a walk on a rainy day.