Levi’s is betting that teaching customers to repair jeans can build a longer relationship with the brand.
For decades, apparel retail ran on a simple premise: sell one more pair. Now, a growing number of stores will help customers fix the pair they already own.
Levi’s held a clothing-repair workshop at a retail store in downtown San Francisco on July 22, 2026. Its Wear Longer Project teaches students to sew on buttons, hem garments, patch holes, and repair tears.
Uniqlo operates RE.UNIQLO repair and remake studios in 75 stores globally, offering services including patching, stitching, button replacement, embroidery, and sashiko mending.
Primark has held more than 730 free “Love It for Longer” mending workshops across nine countries.
Zara Pre-Owned—offering repair, resale, donation, and secondhand purchasing—operates in 17 markets.
ThredUp’s 2023 Resale Report found that 64% of Gen Z respondents looked for an item secondhand before buying it new.
Meanwhile, market forecasts differ substantially by methodology: one forecast puts global secondhand apparel at $198.6 billion in 2025 and projects nearly $486 billion by 2031. Other forecasts project slower growth, but the direction is clear: resale and product longevity are becoming more central to how younger consumers assess apparel.
Levi’s Q2 2026 results show a brand with the assets to capitalize on that behavior. Revenue reached $1.56 billion, up 8% year over year. Adjusted EPS rose 27%, adjusted free cash flow reached $231 million—up nearly 60%—and the company raised full-year revenue-growth guidance to 7%–7.5%. DTC represented 51% of revenue; organic DTC growth was 8%.
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