Caring for extending-consumer configuration in fashion retail settings

Even though clothing items have been sold with attached washing instructions for a long time, the importance of appropriate garment care has only recently started to appear in fashion retailers’ sustainability reports. Simultaneously, some retailers also developed educational campaigns, and started selling washing items (detergents, washing bags), and upcycling tools (repair kits, iron-on patches). These offerings are often framed around sustainability and the need to prolong the lifetime of garments to reduce the impact on the environment. The present paper builds on qualitative research tradition, stemming from rich text and image material related to the appearance of garment care offerings (GCOs) in fashion retail settings, which are collected through offline and online retail setting observations. The collected material is approached through the lens of qualification, which allows to identify the processes through which fashion retailers aim to make care part of the fashion market. The preliminary findings suggest that GCOs aim to do this work by qualifying care practices as essential and clothing items as worthy of care. The present paper argues that if fashion retailers want to carve out a position within a slower fashion future, they need to focus their businesses more on scaling GCOs and establish their position as assisting consumers through clothing ownership and use with different care offerings.