Whering app expands into care, repair, and donation

Whering, better known as the ‘Clueless’ wardrobe app, has launched a new Caring Partners feature to help prolong the lifecycle of clothes by allowing users to browse a range of care, repair and donation services.

The app, which lets users digitise their wardrobe and create a virtual closet, has had more than 30,000 downloads to date, and the Care Partners expansion will allow users to find services to care for their wardrobe.

The new additions make it easy for users to find and book clothing services tailored to their locations, such as eco-friendly dry-cleaning, natural laundry products, clothing repair and repurposing services, and ethical donation points.

Items that need tailoring or dry-cleaning can be exported directly to providers with bespoke checkouts and saved preferences, saving time and driving repeat customers to Whering partners, alongside unique discounts of 10-20 percent.

Launch partners include Oxwash, an on-demand sustainable laundry, ironing and dry cleaning service to your door, using state-of-art low impact washing technology, Sojo and The Seam, both on-demand clothing alterations, repairs and tailoring services that use local seamsters, Thrift+, a re-sale platform for preloved clothing, and Kair, which offers a sustainable range of detergents, fabric conditioners and sprays.

Whering launches Caring Partners feature to prolong clothing

The update comes in light of the continued shift away from fast fashion, explains the fashion app, as consumers instead look for more ethical and effective means of prolonging the life of the pieces they already own.

This cultural shift has been exemplified during Covid-19 lockdowns with 43 percent of consumers caring more about the quality of clothing than before the pandemic, while disdain for clothing waste has increased by over 50 percent, according to research from ThreadUp.

Bianca Rangecroft, founder and chief executive of Whering, said in a statement: “We consume five times as much as we did in 2000 and use things 40 percent less. A big part of Whering’s mission is to help people buy less and wear more - and with that comes garment care as the best way to ensure long-lasting wardrobes that we love.

“Our users are redefining what it means to care for people and the planet - a green closet places extensive emphasis on looking after what you own; think repurposing, upcycling. For us, this is about creating a culture of caring for our clothes, by empowering our users to extend the life cycle of the garments they already own. A digital wardrobe opens up unlimited possibilities to integrate sustainable caring solutions that come straight to your door.”