United Repair Centre: Doughnut Design Case Study

01 | Brief Summary and Key Facts

• Location: Amsterdam, NL and London, UK
• Founded: 2022
• Size: 35 FTEs, Revenue 2024 €1,3M euro
• Sector: Fashion and sustainability 
• Legal form: Limited Company / B-Corp with mission & profit lock
• Website:  www.unitedrepaircentre.com
• Main products/services: Business to Business (B2B) Repair, Remake & Renew services

A highlight of their unique approach

United Repair Centre (URC) offers a unique approach to tackling both environmental and social issues within the clothing industry by combining circular economy principles with a commitment to social inclusion. What sets URC apart is its ability to address two critical challenges simultaneously: reducing textile waste and creating long-term, meaningful employment opportunities for individuals distanced from the labor market. 

URC provides fashion brands with the infrastructure to embrace circularity, offering scalable, accessible repair, renew, and remake solutions without the need for brands to invest in their own systems. This innovative model aligns with the global shift toward sustainability. It enables brands to reduce waste and adopt more sustainable practices, while fostering social inclusion through job creation. The company’s ability to collaborate with both large corporations and governments gives it the potential to become a powerful agent of change, working across sectors to reshape the clothing industry into one that delivers positive outcomes for both people and the planet.

Highlight of their unique design 

URC’s governance and ownership model is designed to support long-term impact and scalability. At its core, URC operates with a mission-driven structure, backed by strategic, mission-aligned investments that enable it to drive innovation and growth. - Its social mission is locked by a golden share owned by an independent foundation and 50% of the profits are reinvested to support its social mission. In making these choices, the company prioritizes transparent, responsible decision-making and accountability to all stakeholders, from the brands it serves to the communities it supports.

URC’s financing model combines both philanthropic investments and impact-driven capital, ensuring that its operations are sustainable and its mission is central to its growth. This approach allows URC to continually reinvest in the development of cutting-edge technologies, like its Repair Management Platform, while keeping the focus on its long-term social and environmental impact.

By aligning its governance with its mission and securing investments that fuel scalable, high-impact solutions, URC ensures its operations contribute to positive change within the fashion and repair ecosystems. This governance and financing framework underpins the company’s ability to scale and innovate in the circular economy, while ensuring that its foundational goals remain intact.

02 | Founding Story

United Repair Centre (URC) was born from a collaboration between Patagonia, social enterprise Makers Unite and the Amsterdam Economic Board. These entities were united by a shared vision to revolutionize the clothing industry by shifting from a waste-heavy, linear model to one that values repair, reuse, and circularity. Recognizing the urgent environmental need to reduce textile waste, the founders aimed to democratize knowledge around large-scale repair programs, making repair accessible and scalable for fashion brands of all sizes. At the same time, they sought to use the repair potential to create jobs and provide skills training for individuals typically excluded from the labor market, such as newcomers. Makers Unite, a social enterprise, played a key role in ensuring that the social impact of job creation was at the heart of URC’s model. The ultimate goal was to build an organization that not only helps businesses adopt sustainable practices but also strengthens communities, offering opportunities for those who need them most, while contributing to a greener planet.

03 | Industry Context

The clothing industry faces a major environmental challenge due to the immense textile waste generated annually. While consumers are increasingly aware of their clothing choices' environmental impact, they often lack accessible, reliable, and high-quality options for repairing or renewing garments instead of discarding them. The key pain point URC addresses is the absence of professional repair, renew, and remake services that align with modern consumer standards and convenience expectations. This need has remained unmet because the industry has focused on fast fashion, prioritising low-cost production and frequent consumption over sustainability. Additionally, the infrastructure for scalable, widespread repair services was underdeveloped, leaving consumers with limited options for reliable and aesthetically aligned garment repair. URC bridges this gap by providing solutions that meet consumer demands for sustainability while helping brands enhance their value proposition and reduce their environmental footprint.

04 | Regenerative & Redistributive Strategies and Ambitions

URC aims to revolutionise the clothing industry by transforming how brands and consumers view clothing lifecycle management. By enabling brands to integrate repair, renew, and remake services seamlessly into their operations, URC facilitates a shift from linear consumption to a truly circular model. In 2023, they repaired 14,875 garments. These repairs kept 7,347.70 kg of textiles out of landfills and prevented 40,088 kg of CO2 emissions.

URC’s approach is rooted in the belief that sustainable fashion should benefit both the planet and people. Through its regenerative model, URC extends the life of garments, minimizing the demand for new production, and conserving resources. Its redistributive mission is equally powerful: URC provides employment and skills training for individuals often excluded from the labor market, including refugees and young adults. This initiative not only drives positive social change but also helps address the clothing industry's responsibility to promote social equity.

In collaboration with major brands like Patagonia, Lululemon, and The North Face, URC facilitates direct consumer engagement, data feedback, and impact reporting, empowering brands to track and publicise their circular economy contributions. URC offers brands a cost-effective way to boost customer loyalty through sustainable services. With plans to expand to multiple cities across Europe and reach 1 million repaired garments by 2028, URC’s innovative approach to repair as a standard business practice is setting a new benchmark in sustainable fashion.

05 | How the Deep Design Enables Strategy and Action

United Repair Centre’s (URC) deep design is centered around a mission-driven structure that combines governance, ownership, and a commitment to long-term social and environmental impact. At the core of URC’s design is a robust governance model that ensures the company’s mission remains protected and central to all operations. The company operates as a private limited liability company (designated in the Netherlands as a B.V.). A golden share is owned by an independent foundation. This golden share acts as a mission-lock, safeguarding the company’s social and environmental objectives by ensuring that its governance and strategic decisions remain aligned with its core mission, even as it grows and attracts new investments.

URC’s ownership model is crafted to secure long-term, sustainable impact. The company’s shareholders, including impact-driven investors, are aligned with URC’s vision of using business as a force for good. These investors prioritize mission over short-term financial returns, which allows URC to focus on long-term, systemic change within the fashion and repair sectors. This patient capital differs  from traditional venture capital, as it does not demand rapid exits or immediate financial returns but instead values consistent growth that drives measurable social and environmental benefits.

A key element of URC’s financial structure is its 50% profit lock, ensuring that half of its profits are reinvested into its social mission. This commitment to reinvestment guarantees that the company’s growth directly benefits its mission, fueling further innovation and the scaling of impact-driven projects. The reinvestment strategy ensures that URC’s success is always tied to its purpose, allowing for both sustainable growth and long-term impact.

The governance model at URC is built for transparency and accountability. Its board consists of experts in circular economy, social impact, and sustainability, ensuring that the company’s operations reflect its mission at all levels. The management model is designed to be collaborative and inclusive, empowering leadership while ensuring that all decisions align with URC’s social and environmental objectives.

In addition, URC’s legal framework embeds its mission directly into the company’s articles of association, further strengthening the commitment to its purpose. The golden share and profit reinvestment model are key elements of this legal structure, providing a safeguard to prevent any shifts away from the company’s social goals. URC is also exploring additional mechanisms, such as guardian shares, to further lock in its mission and ensure that it remains integral to the company’s growth for years to come.

As URC continues to scale and expand into new markets, such as France in the coming year, its mission-driven design provides a solid foundation for driving positive change. By focusing on long-term social and environmental outcomes, URC’s deep design enables the company to lead the transition towards a more circular and sustainable clothing industry.

06 | Reflections and Lessons for other Businesses

URC’s model demonstrates that combining sustainability with social impact can be both profitable and scalable. Other businesses can learn from URC’s integrated approach, which combines a tech-driven platform with strong ethical values to create a unique value proposition. By addressing both environmental and social issues, URC shows that businesses can achieve greater market relevance and consumer loyalty by committing to positive change. This highlights that through thoughtful design and a focus on inclusivity, brands in any industry can foster a more sustainable future while engaging meaningfully with their communities.