Cut hands and faces quickly heal, but the deep rip in the shoulder of my beloved Paramo Velez smock would not. Repair or replace? After all, I bought it in 2007, so it was almost six years old. The smart deep black of the fabric had faded to a charcoal grey and, even with meticulous cleaning, each re-proofing seemed slightly less effective than the last. Was it time to part with an old friend (and around £170!)?
Surely not. It had seen me through another TGO Challenge as dry and comfortable as always - and Paramo make a great deal of their green credentials (repairs, recycling etc). So I decided to give the repair service a try, and packed it off to the service centre in Wadhurst.
I quickly got a letter quoting £38 for the repair, inclusive of return postage. The waiting period was six weeks, which seemed rather a long time, but as I never use it in the summer that didn't bother me too much.
The Velez came back last week and I am delighted with the result - a jacket that performs virtually "as new" for just £38. Not only has the damaged shoulder panel been replaced with new fabric, but, no doubt because the jacket has faded, the other shoulder panel has been replaced too, so that it matches. The stitching is neat and the professional clean and reproof has made the jacket repel water just like new.
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| New shoulder panel - note water beading |
I wholeheartedly recommend Paramo's repair service. Like my old gran's broom, which had both head and handle replaced many times over the years, this jacket could last forever!
