Vancouver-based apparel brand Arc’teryx has been a pioneer in the circular fashion space, implementing programs for clothing repair, resale and related standardization. The 35-year-old brand has strived to ensure longevity for its products since its early days.
Through the company’s 3-year-old ReBird by Arc’teryx program, which includes ReCare, ReGear and ReCut initiatives, Arc’teryx encourages proper maintenance, resells pre-owned items and upcycles leftover materials, respectively. While the company currently offers repairs for free, its pre-owned and recycled products are becoming revenue drivers. Arc’teryx declined to disclose what percentage of the business is driven by ReBird’s initiatives.
Arc’teryx’s parent company, Amer Sports, reported on May 21 that its first-quarter revenue increased by 13% year-over-year, reaching $1.2 billion. This growth was primarily driven by a 44% rise in the technical apparel segment, which includes Arc’teryx.
“We’ve always focused on durability,” said Dominique Showers, who heads up ReBird by Arc’teryx. “And over the past five years, we have put significant effort into scaling our repair operations globally.”
Showers emphasized the importance of customer awareness as a driver for adoption. “We want guests to understand how to maintain their technical gear and demystify its complexity,” she said. Currently, on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, the company posts videos to help customers repair their gear and offers phone support.
Arc’teryx has expanded its repair center capabilities to include repairs beyond seam stitching and zip repairs. It has opened two centers in North America, two in EMEA and more in the APAC region in the last two years.
Showers said the company’s resale and upcycled offerings fund many of its ReBird initiatives, although declined to share exact figures. The latter attracts a younger audience seeking unique, high-quality gear at more accessible prices — the items are one-of-a-kind.
According to the company’s own estimates, in 2023, Arc’teryx’s resale program saved 74,000 kilograms of CO2 and diverted 7,400 kilograms of waste from landfills, compared to the resources that would be needed to produce and sell new products instead. Also last year, the company’s trade-ins increased 94% in Canada and 65% in the U.S., and global store event-based trade-ins surged by 371% year-over-year. Overall customer engagement in product care and repair grew 20-25% in 2023, with a 53% increase in repairs. Arc’teryx now has 15 ReBird Service Centres worldwide, including in Vancouver, London, Sydney, Berlin and Tokyo.
In Toronto in May, as an evolution of these Service Centres, Arc’teryx opened an Alpha Store featuring advanced repair capabilities, like backpack and coat reconstruction after extensive wear and tear. And this summer, the brand will open a New York store with repair services. “Even if a store doesn’t have a dedicated repair station, all our retail stores are equipped with toolkits for minor repairs, making it easy for customers to maintain their products,” Showers said.
Standardizing its repair processes and raw materials globally has been a critical step for Arc’teryx in rolling out these programs. “We ensure anyone repairing an Arc’teryx product knows exactly how to handle specific issues, such as installing zippers, by passing a series of tests,” Showers said.
Arc’teryx owns a manufacturing facility just outside of Vancouver called Arc’One, which opened in 2016. According to Showers, it has a series of manufacturing lines and two repair lines. “Naturally, the team started building out the repair area with off-cuts of materials used in the lines for future use,” she said
That cooperation between manufacturing and repair is now the model the brand plans to replicate in other regions.
Jules Lennon, Fashion Lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said that to challenge conventional linear fashion models, brands must decouple revenue from production. “[They must do this] by accelerating efforts to redesign the products to be used in the future, as well as rethinking the services and business models which deliver them to customers to keep them in use,” she said.
Launched at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen this May, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Fashion ReModel program aims to normalize circular business models. Arc’teryx, Arket, Cos, H&M Group, Primark, Reformation, Weekday and Zalando are among the first participants in the project.
According to a 2021 study by the Ellen McArthur Foundation and consulting group Boston Consulting Group, the circular economy will capture 23% of the global apparel market by 2030. That translates to a $700 billion opportunity to remake the fashion industry for the better.