Where to Ski And Snowboard - Patagonia Worn Wear Tour starts again

Patagonia Worn Wear Tour starts again

16th March 2017, by Abi Butcher

Patagonia is encouraging people not to ditch their old ski kit, but to repair

Outdoor clothing brand Patagonia is launching its Worn Wear tour across Europe – offering a repair service for owners of its ski kit.

The Worn Wear Tour started last year, encouraging customers to repair their kit rather than ditch it — decreasing the environmental impact over time. Heading across Europe, then in the UK from 29 April to 4 June, at each stop the Patagonia team will be offering free repairs on broken zips, rips, tears, buttons, pulls and much more — in addition to teaching people how to fix their own gear.

Patagonia guarantee their clothing for life, operating the largest repair facility in North America (they estimate more than 40,000 per year) and publish more than 40 free repair and care guides on their website from how to mend zips and repair holes to guides on washing down clothing and repairing loops of loose stitching on jackets. If it’s beyond repair, Patagonia will take the garment and find it a new home or recycle it.

“As a business, we have a responsibility to make higher quality products to help reclaim the act of ownership: make parts accessible and repair easy,” said Rose Marcario, president and CEO of Patagonia. “Let’s always celebrate the effort of trying to fix something. We need to enable our customers to become owners. It’s a radical thought, but change can start with just a needle and thread.”

If you own a Patagonia product that’s beyond repair, the company asks that you return it to them rather than bin it — since 2005 they’ve taken back more than 45 tons of clothing for recycling.

The tour begins in Chamonix on 6 April, heading on to the ski resorts of Nendaz, Zermatt, Verbier, St Anton and Garmisch-Partenkirchen to name just a few of the destinations throughout France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden before heading to the UK starting with the Llamff Festival in Gwynedd.

For a full list of tour dates and to view the repair guides, click here.