Digital garment repair platform (CIRCLEWEAR)

The global fashion industry generates more than 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year and contributes 8–10% of global CO₂ emissions. Within the European Union, textile waste amounted to 6.94 million tonnes in 2022, making textile consumption the fifth largest contributor to environmental and climate pressures. CIRCLEWEAR aims to help mitigate these impacts by enabling affordable, scalable, and efficient clothing repairs through a digital platform. 

The project is led by RISE in partnership with the product design studio Boid AB and the repair service start‑up Circle Wear AB. CIRCLEWEAR has conducted scientific research on clothing repair behaviour and the repair business ecosystem, and has developed a scalable digital repair platform for Circle Wear AB. The platform, developed by Boid AB with insights from RISE research, is a web‑based service where consumers—particularly those needing jeans repairs—can describe their repair needs, upload images, find local menders, request cost estimates, choose pick‑up and delivery options, and track the entire process. See the platform here, and watch the demonstration clip here.

In addition, CIRCLEWEAR has produced and submitted two scientific articles to peer‑reviewed international journals. The first article examines repair business ecosystems and the potential of a digital platform to connect consumers, menders, and logistics actors. Using qualitative and quantitative analyses, the study shows that although certain technical and cultural barriers remain, the foundational actors and infrastructure needed for a viable repair ecosystem are already in place.

The second article is based on a choice experiment involving more than 3,000 respondents from Denmark, Poland, and Sweden. The experiment investigated consumer preferences for various features of digital‑platform‑enabled repair services, including pick‑up and delivery, repair time, payment timing, and cost. The results show strong potential demand for platform‑enabled repair services and reveal that consumers across all three countries strongly prefer shorter repair times. Moreover, the study identifies three distinct segments in each country:

• a majority value‑oriented segment that seeks good service features at a reasonable cost,
• a highly price‑sensitive segment, and
• a small group of indifferent bystanders with no strong preferences.