COS and Bleckmann extend successful garment repair partnership

Bleckmann, experts in supply chain management for fashion brands, has announced the extension of its partnership with COS to deliver the COS Restore programme, after a one-year pilot.

The H&M Group-owned brand first launched the circular supply chain, Restore, to focus on repairing and re-purposing damaged clothing. This fashion initiative is an important milestone in the fashion brand’s ‘omni-circular’ strategy, which ensures the longevity of garments and helps to reduce clothing from ending up in landfill.

The project is led by Bleckmann’s team of circular fashion experts, The Renewal Workshop. Their proprietary garment renewal process combines 'lower-impact cleaning methods, data-rich tracking capabilities and invisible mending expertise, to bring pre-loved COS clothing back to life. The garments are then sold at a discount in COS stores across Europe.

The one-year pilot of the programme has already proven to be a success. As a result, COS has decided to continue the project beyond the pilot phase.

Francesca Lilley, Head of Sustainability and Brand Strategy at COS, commented: "Taking COS Restore to the next level with Bleckmann was a natural choice, given the success we’ve had so far. The more we grow COS Restore, the more economies of scale we can achieve, further enhancing our circular fashion offering."

As part of this ongoing strategy, the brand recently launched new COS Restore collections, adding Madrid and Vienna stores to the list including Paris and Amsterdam.

Lilley added: "By including more markets and more renewal streams in the COS Restore offering, we can extend the lifetime of many more garments. This will help us continue to decouple growth from resource consumption while meeting consumer demand for more sustainable ways to shop."

COS Restore is a key part of the fashion brand’s wider ‘omni-circular infrastructure’. Its initiatives are designed to make circular fashion a natural part of the shopping experience. For example, COS Resell is an online peer-to-peer commerce platform that allows users to buy and sell verified COS items.

Tamara Zwart, Director of Renewal at Bleckmann, added: "Working with COS is a true partnership, built on our collective commitment to advancing circular fashion solutions.

"We both have a collaborative and iterative ethos, together with an always-on approach to continuous improvement. This made it a pleasure to develop the COS Restore offering side by side. Thanks to this strong foundation, we’ve built a truly scalable circular solution that helps meet the needs of customers, the business and the planet."