Personal Goods Repair and Maintenance Market

Three million devices crossed uBreakiFix by Asurion counters in a single year, while France’s two-year repair bonus for shoes and clothing reached 1.7 million jobs: the personal goods repair and maintenance market still earns most from screens, yet its needle-and-heel side is catching up. Personal goods repair and maintenance covers paid fixing, servicing and alteration of things people carry or wear, from smartphones, tablets and watches to shoes, handbags, clothing, bicycles and eyewear; household appliances, furniture and garden machinery sit outside it. Douglas Insights sizes the market at USD 57.91 billion in 2025 and USD 96.8 billion in 2035, a revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.27%, from 1.27 billion paid repair tickets at an average USD 45.60 each, which equals USD 57.9 billion. The turning point came on 20 June 2025, when Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 began to require spare parts for smartphones and tablets for at least 7 years after a model leaves the market. The study belongs to our consumer goods and retail coverage, and every number follows the Douglas Insights research methodology, with the uBreakiFix press kit as the source of the device count.

Which repair category makes the money in personal goods repair and maintenance?

Smartphones and personal electronics carry 46.3% of personal goods repair and maintenance revenue, worth USD 26.8 billion in 2025, because a cracked screen or a tired battery costs far more to fix than a heel. Watches and jewellery follow at 18.7%, and clothing alterations and textile repair grow fastest at 6.24% a year.

Douglas Insights counts 278.1 million paid smartphone and personal electronics tickets in 2025 at an average USD 96.40, the highest ticket in the market, which is why the category holds USD 26.8 billion. Screen, battery and charging-port work fill most of those benches. Watches and jewellery earn USD 10.8 billion from 152.1 million tickets averaging USD 71.20, lifted by mechanical movement servicing that costs nearly three times a quartz service. Footwear and leather goods hold USD 8.22 billion: the ticket count is large at 331.6 million, but a heel, a sole or a handbag stitch averages only USD 24.80. Readers who track the product side can compare it with our Footwear Market report.

Clothing alterations and textile repair is worth USD 7.18 billion across 366.4 million tickets, the largest ticket count in the market at the lowest average, USD 19.60. Bicycles and other personal goods, a group that takes in eyewear, musical instruments and suitcase wheels and handles, add USD 4.86 billion from 141.8 million tickets at about USD 34.31; the suitcase share links to our Luggage Market study. Clothing alterations and textile repair is the fastest segment, at 6.24% a year to USD 13.2 billion in 2035, because producer-funded bonuses now cut the price the customer sees at the counter. Short verdict: screens pay, stitches grow.

Why are cracked smartphone screens and worn soles pulling more owners into personal goods repair shops?

Volume growth of 2.9% a year powers personal goods repair. Four forces supply it: European spare-parts rules for phones and tablets add 1.1 points, producer-funded repair bonuses for shoes and clothing add 0.8, a larger base of premium devices and wearables adds 0.6, and denser authorised repair networks add 0.4.

Seven years of spare parts for smartphones and tablets

The European Union (EU) smartphone ecodesign regulation has applied since 20 June 2025. It obliges makers to supply spare parts to professional repairers and end-users for at least 7 years after the last unit of a model is placed on the market, within 5 working days for the first 5 years and 10 working days after that. Smartphone batteries must also survive 800 charge cycles while keeping 80% of their capacity. Douglas Insights credits the rule with 1.1 points of the 2.9-point volume leg, because a phone that can still get a genuine screen in its sixth year stays in the repair pool instead of a drawer. European smartphone and personal electronics repair is the first beneficiary.

Repair bonuses that move shoes and clothing back to the counter

France launched its textile and footwear repair bonus on 7 November 2023. According to Refashion, the producer-responsibility body that runs it, the scheme had supported 1.7 million repairs and paid EUR 13 million of brand-funded bonuses by December 2025, through more than 1,500 labelled repairers. Shoe repairers handled 83% of eligible repairs and alteration specialists 17%, and the average bonus works out at about EUR 7.65 per job. We give producer-funded bonuses 0.8 points of volume growth for footwear, leather goods and clothing repair, because the bonus removes a large slice of a ticket that averages USD 19.60 to USD 24.80.

A bigger base of premium phones and wearables

Premium devices widen the repair pool. Timpson repairs Apple Watch screens for GBP 80 to GBP 150 depending on the model, and quotes GBP 20 as a starting price for smaller smartwatch jobs. Wearables, folding phones and wireless earbuds add 0.6 points of personal goods repair volume in our model. Our Smart Wearable Market report tracks the installed base behind that figure.

Authorised repair networks that sit closer to the customer

Distance kills repair tickets, and networks are shrinking it. Samsung stated on 2 August 2022 that it offered more than 2,000 mobile repair locations covering 80% of the United States population, over 550 service vans, more than 700 uBreakiFix locations, over 250 Best Buy stores with same-day support and more than 11,000 certified technicians. Denser authorised coverage of that kind adds 0.4 points, completing the sum: 1.1 plus 0.8 plus 0.6 plus 0.4 equals the 2.9-point volume leg of the personal goods repair forecast.

What hurdles keep cobblers and phone benches from winning more personal goods repair work?

Three hurdles define the slower case, where personal goods repair volume growth drops from 2.9% to 1.9% a year. Douglas Insights attributes 0.5 points of that loss to cheap replacement goods, 0.3 points to a thinning bench of trained cobblers and watchmakers, and 0.2 points to parts pairing and patchy parts supply on older phones.

Cheap replacement goods remove the first 0.5 points. A clothing alteration averages USD 19.60, so a garment bought for less than two alterations rarely comes back for repair, and the French bonus of about EUR 7.65 only partly closes that gap. Skills remove 0.3 points. Timpson tells customers to expect 7 days for a watch battery and pressure test, 21 days for a quartz service and 35 days for a mechanical service; long queues push owners of mid-priced watches toward replacement.

Parts access removes the final 0.2 points. The 7-year parts duty covers smartphones and tablets placed on the EU market under the 20 June 2025 rule, so older handsets and most non-EU devices still depend on grey-market screens and batteries. Phones sold before that date carry no such guarantee, which is why the slower case still trims 0.2 points from smartphone and personal electronics volume.

How much does a quartz watch service, a phone screen or a resole cost in personal goods repair?

Personal goods repair tickets average USD 45.60 in 2025 and climb to USD 57.24 by 2035 at 2.3% a year. Bands run from about USD 19.60 for a clothing alteration to USD 96.40 for a phone or laptop job, while Timpson quotes GBP 40 as the starting price for a basic quartz watch service.

Realised prices at the counter cluster in clear bands. A mechanical watch service at Timpson starts from around GBP 115, almost three times the quartz entry price, and replacement straps sell for GBP 14.95 to GBP 32.95. Apple Watch screen repairs run GBP 80 to GBP 150. Timpson backs watch repairs with a 1-year warranty, extended to 2 years for TAG Heuer pieces. In France, the repair bonus knocks an average of about EUR 7.65 off a shoe or clothing ticket. Price growth of 2.3% a year reflects labour costs and a richer mix of premium watch and phone work.

Who wins the personal goods repair bench: Asurion, Timpson or the brands themselves?

Douglas Insights estimates that the three largest operators hold about 2.4% of 2025 personal goods repair revenue, so independent repair shops still take most tickets. The leader by countable volume, uBreakiFix by Asurion, holds an estimated 0.50%, or USD 289.2 million, from more than 3 million repairs a year.

Asurion’s position rests on the uBreakiFix network of nearly 700 United States locations and about 400 mobile repair vehicles, with over 24 million devices repaired to date and authorised status for Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and the Apple Independent Repair Provider programme. Our 0.50% share multiplies its 3 million annual repairs by the USD 96.40 electronics ticket. Samsung builds on reach: more than 2,000 United States mobile repair locations and over 11,000 certified technicians. Apple sells more than 200 individual parts and tools through its Self Service Repair store, which keeps owners inside its own parts chain.

Timpson Group is the high-street generalist, offering shoe, watch, phone, jewellery and clothing repairs plus watch work under The Watch Lab brand. iFixit supplies the parts and tools behind Samsung’s self-repair programme. Best Buy adds same-day Samsung support in more than 250 stores. Swatch Group runs service centres across Europe, from Austria and Belgium to Switzerland and the United Kingdom, behind a two-year warranty. The 20 June 2025 parts rule helps every authorised network most, because guaranteed parts delivery within 5 working days lets them quote firm turnaround times.

Which region earns the most from personal goods repair and maintenance: Asia Pacific, Europe or North America?

Asia Pacific earns the most personal goods repair and maintenance revenue, USD 18.4 billion in 2025 or 31.8% of the total. It is also the fastest-growing region, at 5.94% a year, because its device base is the largest and its tickets start lowest. Europe follows at USD 17.1 billion and North America at USD 15.9 billion.

Asia Pacific reaches USD 32.8 billion in 2035 as dense phone repair markets add premium watch and handbag servicing. Europe, at 29.6% of revenue, grows 5.48% a year to USD 29.2 billion, the region most exposed to the EU repair directive and to French-style repair bonuses. North America, at 27.4%, grows 4.42% a year to USD 24.5 billion; its electronics tickets are the highest priced. Latin America holds USD 3.65 billion and grows 4.87% a year to USD 5.87 billion. Middle East and Africa is the smallest region: USD 2.84 billion in 2025 rising 4.51% a year to USD 4.41 billion.

How large is the mail-in and self-repair channel in personal goods repair for Galaxy and iPhone owners?

Mail-in and self-repair takes 6.7% of personal goods repair revenue in 2025, about USD 3.88 billion, against 58.4% for independent repair shops and 34.9% for brand-authorised service centres. Self-repair stays small because most owners prefer a technician once a screen or battery job needs heat, adhesive and calibration.

Samsung opened its self-repair programme with iFixit on 2 August 2022 for the Galaxy S20 and S21 families and the Galaxy Tab S7+, starting with screens, back glass and charging ports. Apple’s Self Service Repair store offers more than 200 parts and tools. The EU parts rule extends the 7-year supply duty to end-users as well as professionals. Douglas Insights expects mail-in and self-repair to hold its 6.7% share rather than take share from the counter, because the USD 96.40 electronics ticket mostly buys labour and risk transfer, not parts.

What do the EU rules on personal goods repair ask of phone makers, repairers and member states?

Two EU instruments set the rules for personal goods repair. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 has required 7-year spare-parts supply for phones and tablets since 20 June 2025, and Directive (EU) 2024/1799 obliges manufacturers to repair covered goods on request, with member states applying it from 31 July 2026.

The repair directive was signed on 13 June 2024 and published in the Official Journal on 10 July 2024. Its Annex II lists the Union acts that set repairability requirements, and manufacturers of those goods must repair them for free or at a reasonable price. A voluntary European Repair Information Form must stay valid for at least 30 calendar days. A European online platform for finding repairers is due by 31 July 2027. Each member state must adopt at least one measure to promote repair, such as repair vouchers, training or a reduced value-added tax (VAT) rate. When a consumer chooses repair under the legal guarantee, the seller’s liability is extended by 12 months.

What if repair vouchers spread: how large is personal goods repair in 2035?

Personal goods repair and maintenance reaches USD 96.8 billion in 2035 in the base case, from 2.9% volume and 2.3% price growth. A slower case lands at USD 83.6 billion and a faster case at USD 113 billion, depending mainly on how many member states copy France’s repair bonus.

The slower case runs volume at 1.9% and price at 1.8%, a 3.73% revenue CAGR, with cheap clothing and parts pairing biting harder. The faster case runs volume at 4.1% and price at 2.7%, a 6.91% CAGR, assuming the 20 June 2025 parts rule is copied outside Europe and repair vouchers spread under the directive’s Article 13 duty. Add one point to the volume leg and 2035 lands USD 9.82 billion higher; take one away and it lands USD 9.00 billion lower. Our 5.27% sits between the 3.3% that outside forecasters give device repair and the 7.5% they give the wider personal and household goods repair basket.

Douglas Exclusive: the Personal Goods Repair Obligation Register

The Personal Goods Repair Obligation Register is a Douglas Insights count of 14 entries built from 6 documents. Those are 2 EU legal acts, 1 producer-responsibility release, 2 company disclosures and 1 Census Bureau revenue series. It logs every binding duty, subsidy or capacity commitment that changes how many personal goods reach a repair bench, with its number. It is our compilation, not an official register.

The register’s finding: Douglas Insights puts USD 5.36 billion, or 9.25% of 2025 personal goods repair revenue, directly under the 7-year parts duty, that is European smartphone and tablet repair. We derive it as Europe’s USD 17.1 billion, times a 44% electronics share, times a 71% phone and tablet share within electronics. Every other entry touches repair through incentives or capacity rather than obligation, which is why clothing and footwear growth still depends on voluntary schemes.

What should a cobbler chain or phone brand do next about personal goods repair?

Personal goods repair rewards whoever owns parts and proximity: 34.9% of 2025 revenue already flows through brand-authorised service centres, and the 7-year parts duty strengthens them. Cobbler chains should register for repair bonuses, and phone brands should price out-of-warranty work against the USD 96.40 average electronics ticket.

For multi-service chains, the fastest money is in clothing alterations and textile repair at 6.24% a year, where a labelled repairer collects bonus-backed tickets. For watch specialists, the gap between a GBP 40 quartz service and a GBP 115 mechanical service is the margin case for training more watchmakers. For investors, North America’s 4.42% growth is the slowest of the three large regions, so acquisitions there buy density, not momentum.

Which methodology checks test the 1.27 billion repair-ticket count?

The model counts 1.27 billion paid personal goods repair tickets in 2025 across 5 regions. Multiplying by the USD 45.60 average ticket gives USD 57.91 billion; the five segment ticket counts and averages add back to the same total.

Segment arithmetic: 278.1 million tickets at USD 96.40, 152.1 million at USD 71.20, 331.6 million at USD 24.80, 366.4 million at USD 19.60 and 141.8 million at USD 34.31 sum to 1.27 billion tickets and USD 57.9 billion. Cross-check one: the Census Bureau Service Annual Survey put 2022 US employer revenue at USD 6.61 billion for other personal and household goods repair and USD 178 million for footwear and leather goods repair. Grown at 4.42% a year, that USD 6.79 billion becomes USD 7.73 billion in 2025, against our US non-electronics estimate of USD 7.67 billion, a gap of 0.8%. Cross-check two: uBreakiFix’s 3 million annual repairs equal 3.9% of our 76.2 million North American electronics tickets, consistent with a fragmented counter trade. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes include some household items, so the first check is a ceiling rather than a match.

Sources

1. EUR-Lex Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670, ecodesign requirements for smartphones and tablets (2023)
2. EUR-Lex Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on common rules promoting the repair of goods (2024)
3. Refashion Two years of the repair bonus (2025)
4. uBreakiFix by Asurion uBreakiFix by Asurion press kit (2025)
5. Samsung Newsroom US Samsung Self-Repair Program now available for Galaxy customers (2022)
6. US Census Bureau via FRED Total revenue for other personal and household goods repair and maintenance (2022)