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A REPAIR REVOLUTION ACROSS EUROPE WITH NEW PARIS LOCATION
Dec 8, 2025
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Repairing the broken apparel system gets one step closer today as circularity innovator United Repair Centre (URC) announces it will launch a new repair hub in the fashion capital of Paris.
This will be the third European location for the repair and social inclusion company, following the launch of repair hubs in Amsterdam and London, to handle repairs of leading brands such as Patagonia, lululemon, Levi’s, Arc’teryx, The North Face and Decathlon. It is made possible through new investment of 3.2 million Euros from a group of impact investors from the Netherlands and France, plus the support of the city of Paris. The investment in URC will also enable two new European hubs to open in the next two years, as well as a tech team to further develop the proprietary service platforms used by URC’s customers.
Given Paris’s heritage as the epicentre of fashion for Europe, the new hub will provide an opportunity to incite behaviour change among citizens and businesses, encouraging repair over buying new. It will be based in the vibrant 13th arrondissement, in a new, architecturally designed space that already houses a range of circularity and social inclusion organisations.
Founded in partnership with outdoor brand Patagonia, with the support of Amsterdam Economic Board, United Repair Centre is headed by CEO Thami Schweichler and COO Paul Kerssens, who share a passion for making repair the new cool, through a network of socially inclusive repair hubs across Europe.
Thami Schweichler, founder and CEO, United Repair Centre says: “France has led the world in instigating bold and ambitious policies to curb the rise of cheap, badly made clothing, so it always made sense for us to bring the United Repair Centre philosophy to Paris. And seeing the launch of Shein’s first physical store in the city, we’re getting here just in time to demonstrate the social and environmental impacts of repairing the clothes you already love, rather than buying new things you don’t need.”
United Repair Centre Paris will launch in February 2026 with a team of local repair technicians, many of whom come from a refugee background and have been tailors in the past. Alongside the repair business there will be a United Repair Academy on site, offering training and a guaranteed job at the end of the course to people who have challenges in gaining employment.
The investment round is a collaboration between impact finance and social entrepreneurship investment companies Phitrust and makesense in France and Belgium, and ROM InWest in the Netherlands, plus early stage Dutch investors DOEN Ventures and Parrot Eyes. Funding was facilitated by Generous Minds.
Schweichler adds: “When we envisaged bringing together the very best companies in purpose investment, we hoped we would find true partners to share our ethos and ambitions. The future of United Repair Centre as a catalyst for systems level change across Europe, driven by technology and repair craft, has been made possible by this dream team of financial innovators. We’re beyond delighted.”
Investor quotes
Rogier de Groot, Impact Investment Manager, DOEN Ventures: “To make the apparel industry more sustainable, it is essential to repair and re-use the vast amount of clothing that already exists today. United Repair Centre has proven that this can be done at scale and in a socially inclusive way. URC enables the transition towards making repair the standard for brands in Europe and accessible to all consumers.”
Ronald Beuk, Founder, Generous Minds: "We are proud to be long term supporters of the United Repair Centre team, through their different lifecycles and funding rounds, scaling their double impact on both people and planet with their unique, game-changing company.”
Marion Schuppe, Partner, makesense: “We invest in an inclusive and circular economy to help meet everyone’s fundamental needs, while staying within our planetary boundaries. United Repair Centre is a powerful demonstration that this economy is real and already creating social, environmental, and economic value for all stakeholders. We are proud to join this adventure and support this outstanding team as they unlock the full potential of the company.”
Gaëtan Herinckx, Associate, Phitrust Benelux: “We chose to invest in United Repair Centre because the team has demonstrated, with figures to prove it, that a circular model can both massively reduce textile-related emissions and offer professional opportunities to people who are far from the job market. This is exactly the type of systemic innovation that Phitrust wants to help scale up.”
Max Terheggen, investment manager, ROM InWest: “United Repair Centre shows that you can build a strong business and deliver value to customers while putting people first. For Noord-Holland, this means an inclusive manufacturing industry and a region that leads internationally in circular textiles. From the very beginning, ROM InWest has believed in the strength of United Repair Centre. With this new growth capital, they can expand their impact and show across Europe that they are delivering a repair solution at scale.”
About United Repair Centre
Founded as a partnership between outdoor brand Patagonia and textile-based social company Makers Unite, with the support of Amsterdam Economic Board, URC opened the doors of its first location in Amsterdam in 2022, followed by London in 2023.
Today it employs 50 repair technicians across these two hubs - most of whom have been refugees and tailors in their previous countries - helping apparel companies across outdoor and fashion to prolong the life of their products. Through the United Repair Academy, people with challenges in gaining employment are trained in repair skills and guaranteed a job at URC when they complete the course.
In 2024 the URC team repaired over 29,000 items, for more than 30 brands including Patagonia, The North Face, Arc’teryx, Lululemon, Levi’s and Decathlon and repairs are set to increase by over 100 per cent in 2025 as operations continue to scale up. The vision for the organisation is to build a pan-European network of repair hubs, through cutting edge technology, skilled job creation and values-aligned partnerships. URC is headed by CEO Thami Schweichler and COO Paul Kerssens, who share a passion for making repair the new cool.
About the investment partners
DOEN Ventures
The main objective of DOEN Ventures is to achieve a positive impact on society by supporting new sustainable or socially inclusive entrepreneurs. Impact is central to all our investments. Over the past 25 years, DOEN Ventures has become the biggest impact investor for sustainable and socially inclusive start-ups in the Netherlands. Currently, our portfolio consists of 50 equity investments and convertible loans, and 18 fund investments.
Generous Minds
A non-profit, steward-owned cooperative since 2013, Generous Minds is headquartered in Amsterdam, with impact-driven experts and capital to accelerate impactful companies for a better world.
makesense seed II
makesense Seed II is the third investment fund launched by makesense, designed to finance an inclusive and circular economy across France and Europe.
makesense is a non-profit organization created in 2015 to empower all stakeholders in society to drive social and environmental transitions and build a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future.
Over the past six years, makesense has invested in 40 companies across Europe — including Drive Tout Nu, Toopi Organics, Lokki, and Helios — and now manages €115 million, strengthened by the launch of its latest fund.
Backed by a broad ecosystem that includes a media platform, a job board, and multiple incubation programs, makesense Seed II leverages an in-house Operating Team to support entrepreneurs, help them scale, and unlock their full value-creation potential.
Phitrust
Phitrust is an independent French asset management company investing in listed companies to encourage them to improve their ESG practices, and in innovative social enterprises to provide them with the financial and human resources they need to scale up and increase their impact. Two activities, one mission: to be a shareholder committed to impact. Phitrust adopted the status of a mission-driven company in June 2021.The launch of Phitrust Partenaires Inclusion was made possible thanks to the support of the European Investment Fund, among others.
ROM InWest
ROM InWest is the regional development agency of the Dutch province of North Holland. The team, consisting of some thirty driven professionals and with its office in Haarlem, supports entrepreneurs with innovations that contribute to societal transitions essential in the areas of food, energy, healthcare, the circular economy, and to a robust, sustainable, and social economy in North Holland.
With various programs, ROM InWest helps these entrepreneurs to scale up their solution and make it investor ready. Next to helping businesses in finding external financing, ROM InWest also invests in these companies itself from the SME Fund and the Transition Fund. To provide knowledge and networks, ROM InWest collaborates extensively with regional partners.
For further information, images and interview requests, please contact press@unitedrepaircentre.com.
Repairing the broken apparel system gets one step closer today as circularity innovator United Repair Centre (URC) announces it will launch a new repair hub in the fashion capital of Paris.
This will be the third European location for the repair and social inclusion company, following the launch of repair hubs in Amsterdam and London, to handle repairs of leading brands such as Patagonia, lululemon, Levi’s, Arc’teryx, The North Face and Decathlon. It is made possible through new investment of 3.2 million Euros from a group of impact investors from the Netherlands and France, plus the support of the city of Paris. The investment in URC will also enable two new European hubs to open in the next two years, as well as a tech team to further develop the proprietary service platforms used by URC’s customers.
Given Paris’s heritage as the epicentre of fashion for Europe, the new hub will provide an opportunity to incite behaviour change among citizens and businesses, encouraging repair over buying new. It will be based in the vibrant 13th arrondissement, in a new, architecturally designed space that already houses a range of circularity and social inclusion organisations.
Founded in partnership with outdoor brand Patagonia, with the support of Amsterdam Economic Board, United Repair Centre is headed by CEO Thami Schweichler and COO Paul Kerssens, who share a passion for making repair the new cool, through a network of socially inclusive repair hubs across Europe.
Thami Schweichler, founder and CEO, United Repair Centre says: “France has led the world in instigating bold and ambitious policies to curb the rise of cheap, badly made clothing, so it always made sense for us to bring the United Repair Centre philosophy to Paris. And seeing the launch of Shein’s first physical store in the city, we’re getting here just in time to demonstrate the social and environmental impacts of repairing the clothes you already love, rather than buying new things you don’t need.”
United Repair Centre Paris will launch in February 2026 with a team of local repair technicians, many of whom come from a refugee background and have been tailors in the past. Alongside the repair business there will be a United Repair Academy on site, offering training and a guaranteed job at the end of the course to people who have challenges in gaining employment.
The investment round is a collaboration between impact finance and social entrepreneurship investment companies Phitrust and makesense in France and Belgium, and ROM InWest in the Netherlands, plus early stage Dutch investors DOEN Ventures and Parrot Eyes. Funding was facilitated by Generous Minds.
Schweichler adds: “When we envisaged bringing together the very best companies in purpose investment, we hoped we would find true partners to share our ethos and ambitions. The future of United Repair Centre as a catalyst for systems level change across Europe, driven by technology and repair craft, has been made possible by this dream team of financial innovators. We’re beyond delighted.”
Investor quotes
Rogier de Groot, Impact Investment Manager, DOEN Ventures: “To make the apparel industry more sustainable, it is essential to repair and re-use the vast amount of clothing that already exists today. United Repair Centre has proven that this can be done at scale and in a socially inclusive way. URC enables the transition towards making repair the standard for brands in Europe and accessible to all consumers.”
Ronald Beuk, Founder, Generous Minds: "We are proud to be long term supporters of the United Repair Centre team, through their different lifecycles and funding rounds, scaling their double impact on both people and planet with their unique, game-changing company.”
Marion Schuppe, Partner, makesense: “We invest in an inclusive and circular economy to help meet everyone’s fundamental needs, while staying within our planetary boundaries. United Repair Centre is a powerful demonstration that this economy is real and already creating social, environmental, and economic value for all stakeholders. We are proud to join this adventure and support this outstanding team as they unlock the full potential of the company.”
Gaëtan Herinckx, Associate, Phitrust Benelux: “We chose to invest in United Repair Centre because the team has demonstrated, with figures to prove it, that a circular model can both massively reduce textile-related emissions and offer professional opportunities to people who are far from the job market. This is exactly the type of systemic innovation that Phitrust wants to help scale up.”
Max Terheggen, investment manager, ROM InWest: “United Repair Centre shows that you can build a strong business and deliver value to customers while putting people first. For Noord-Holland, this means an inclusive manufacturing industry and a region that leads internationally in circular textiles. From the very beginning, ROM InWest has believed in the strength of United Repair Centre. With this new growth capital, they can expand their impact and show across Europe that they are delivering a repair solution at scale.”
About United Repair Centre
Founded as a partnership between outdoor brand Patagonia and textile-based social company Makers Unite, with the support of Amsterdam Economic Board, URC opened the doors of its first location in Amsterdam in 2022, followed by London in 2023.
Today it employs 50 repair technicians across these two hubs - most of whom have been refugees and tailors in their previous countries - helping apparel companies across outdoor and fashion to prolong the life of their products. Through the United Repair Academy, people with challenges in gaining employment are trained in repair skills and guaranteed a job at URC when they complete the course.
In 2024 the URC team repaired over 29,000 items, for more than 30 brands including Patagonia, The North Face, Arc’teryx, Lululemon, Levi’s and Decathlon and repairs are set to increase by over 100 per cent in 2025 as operations continue to scale up. The vision for the organisation is to build a pan-European network of repair hubs, through cutting edge technology, skilled job creation and values-aligned partnerships. URC is headed by CEO Thami Schweichler and COO Paul Kerssens, who share a passion for making repair the new cool.
About the investment partners
DOEN Ventures
The main objective of DOEN Ventures is to achieve a positive impact on society by supporting new sustainable or socially inclusive entrepreneurs. Impact is central to all our investments. Over the past 25 years, DOEN Ventures has become the biggest impact investor for sustainable and socially inclusive start-ups in the Netherlands. Currently, our portfolio consists of 50 equity investments and convertible loans, and 18 fund investments.
Generous Minds
A non-profit, steward-owned cooperative since 2013, Generous Minds is headquartered in Amsterdam, with impact-driven experts and capital to accelerate impactful companies for a better world.
makesense seed II
makesense Seed II is the third investment fund launched by makesense, designed to finance an inclusive and circular economy across France and Europe.
makesense is a non-profit organization created in 2015 to empower all stakeholders in society to drive social and environmental transitions and build a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future.
Over the past six years, makesense has invested in 40 companies across Europe — including Drive Tout Nu, Toopi Organics, Lokki, and Helios — and now manages €115 million, strengthened by the launch of its latest fund.
Backed by a broad ecosystem that includes a media platform, a job board, and multiple incubation programs, makesense Seed II leverages an in-house Operating Team to support entrepreneurs, help them scale, and unlock their full value-creation potential.
Phitrust
Phitrust is an independent French asset management company investing in listed companies to encourage them to improve their ESG practices, and in innovative social enterprises to provide them with the financial and human resources they need to scale up and increase their impact. Two activities, one mission: to be a shareholder committed to impact. Phitrust adopted the status of a mission-driven company in June 2021.The launch of Phitrust Partenaires Inclusion was made possible thanks to the support of the European Investment Fund, among others.
ROM InWest
ROM InWest is the regional development agency of the Dutch province of North Holland. The team, consisting of some thirty driven professionals and with its office in Haarlem, supports entrepreneurs with innovations that contribute to societal transitions essential in the areas of food, energy, healthcare, the circular economy, and to a robust, sustainable, and social economy in North Holland.
With various programs, ROM InWest helps these entrepreneurs to scale up their solution and make it investor ready. Next to helping businesses in finding external financing, ROM InWest also invests in these companies itself from the SME Fund and the Transition Fund. To provide knowledge and networks, ROM InWest collaborates extensively with regional partners.
For further information, images and interview requests, please contact press@unitedrepaircentre.com.
