EDRA has launched a guarantee, repair and end-of-life scheme for its running apparel, offering repair support and 20% of the original purchase price as credit when products genuinely reach the end of their useful life. The Leeds-based brand will cover faults in materials or manufacture for a product’s reasonable useful life, alongside customers’ statutory rights. Damaged garments can be assessed for repair by EDRA or through a home repair solution. Customers may also receive the credit when they recycle an end-of-life product locally and provide suitable evidence.

Supporting Longer Product Use

The scheme places continued use ahead of replacement or recycling where practical. EDRA will assess products damaged through use to determine whether a durable repair can be carried out, whether customers can make a repair at home, or whether another option is more suitable.

For products that cannot remain in use, customers can return them to the business. EDRA will first consider whether continued use is possible and, where it is not, select the most appropriate recycling or recovery route available for the materials involved.

Nathan Edmondson, Founder at EDRA, said:

“If we’re asking somebody to spend their money on an EDRA product, we should be prepared to stand behind the quality of it.

“For us, that starts before the product is made. We think about its whole life at the design stage, i.e., what it needs to do, how long it should last, whether we can remove unnecessary material complexity, and whether it can be repaired. Then, once somebody owns it, we want to help them keep it in use for as long as possible and provide a sensible route for it when it eventually reaches the end of its life.”

Credit For End Of Life Kit

Customers returning an EDRA item at the end of its useful life will receive credit worth 20% of the price originally paid towards a future full-price purchase. A product bought for £50, for example, would provide £10 of credit.

The same offer applies to customers who use an appropriate local textile recycling route rather than sending the product back to EDRA. This option is intended to avoid unnecessary transport where suitable recycling facilities are already available locally, provided the customer can show suitable evidence of responsible recycling.

The credit is not intended to encourage earlier replacement. EDRA states that repair and continued use take priority, with take-back and recycling reserved for products that have genuinely worn out.

Designing For Product Longevity

The initiative forms part of The EDRA Product Standard, which considers function, quality, material choice and longevity. The brand is increasingly assessing repairability and end-of-life considerations while products are still being designed.

EDRA intends to use mono-material construction where it can meet the required performance without unnecessary fibre blends. It also recognises that some garments, including shorts and tights, need elastane where stretch has a functional role.

Nathan Edmondson, Founder at EDRA, said:

“Where we can make a product mono-material without compromising it, we will. If a blend is needed for performance, we’ll use it.

“I’ve spent decades training and competing in outdoor sport in all sorts of weather, and I design every EDRA product myself. That experience feeds directly into the materials we choose. A running T-shirt is a good example. If the fabric is right, a mono-fibre technical material can perform better than a blend, so there is no reason to add another fibre just for the sake of it.

“With something like shorts or tights, it’s different. Stretch is important, and elastane currently earns its place. The point is to think about those decisions from the start, rather than trying to solve everything at the end.”

Feedback Into Future Products

The scheme gives EDRA a route to examine products that have failed, worn out or proved difficult to manage at the end of their useful life. That information can then inform future design decisions, linking product development with the condition of garments after use.

This focus on durability reflects a point raised by the European Environment Agency, whose work on textiles identifies longevity and durability as an important pathway towards circularity. For EDRA, the practical test is whether each item can continue to perform for runners over time.

Nathan Edmondson, Founder at EDRA, concluded:

“One of the most useful things for us is that this creates a feedback loop. If products come back to us because they’ve failed, worn out or are difficult to deal with at the end of their life, we get to see that first-hand. That keeps us accountable, but it also gives us information we can take back into the design of the next product. Over time, that should help us make better kit.”