The Luxury of Repair

Headnote

How high-end handbags are being restored, primped and prepped.

There is a very right and wrong way to perform repair in the world of luxury depending on who you ask. Though as old as time, the storied (and highly skilled) art of repair is seeing disruption as interest in clothing and accessory care rises.

As with resale, alterations is a billiondollar game. The average American family spent roughly $1,700 on clothes in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or some $140 a month (despite other reports signaling much higher). For clothing, tailoring fees can cost anywhere from $30 to $200 and up but can stretch the lives of garments considerably.

If repair wasn't already in the brand's playbook, it is today and here's why.

What the Luxury Brands Say

Despite the rise of resale, luxury brands are apt to keep things in-house when they can, in a nod to tradition.

For Mulberry, there's a raison d'etre behind its own repair program.

"As we outlined in our Made to Last manifesto, Mulberry believes that our responsibility and our business doesn't end when a customer leaves our store," a spokesperson for the British fashion company best known for its luxury leather goods, told WWD. "We know that many of the bags we made 50 years ago are still going strong today, and we believe those we make today should be doing the same for the next 50 years. This attitude is fundamental in our approach to undertaking each repair with the upmost care and attention to detail so our bags can one day be passed on, ready for another lifetime of use."

Mulberry performs some 10,000 repairs a year at The Rookery, one of its two Somerset factories where the brand still makes 50 percent of its bags.

Typically completed between five to 16 weeks, Mulberry's repairs are performed by its lifetime service center experts at no extra cost within a year if the bag is purchased new (or six months from Mulberry's pre-loved offering). Outside of those windows, repairs can cost anywhere from 45 pounds for hardware replacement to 250 pounds on any of Mulberry's leather goods.

As for ultra-vintage Mulberry finds?

"Customers are recommended to send their Mulberry bags in for a...