When we started Hiut, we offered ‘Free Repairs for Life’ on our jeans.

I wanted us to be ‘Responsible for the Total.’

Those words had been uttered at the Do lectures by Gabriel Branby from Gransfors axes.

And they had got to me.

I wanted to run a company that did that, too.

In the early days, Paul found it easy to keep up.

We simply hadn’t made that many jeans.

But now, ten years in, there are lots of Hiut’s in the world.

And this year all the buses arrived at the bus stop at once.

The waitlist for repairs rapidly grew.

It is now over 12 months.

And our customers have had to wait far too long.

That is the disaster bit.

The thing we did out of belief has become a stress point.

But it can be solved.

We need to find an apprentice for Paul.

No quick answers, there.

Paul has skills.

And it has taken him a while to get this good at it.

But we can train someone up. In time.

But this is the brilliant bit.

Paul has kept a ledger of every pair he has repaired.

Page after page.

Thousands of them.

When I look through it, I feel Gabriel would be proud.

No, not perfect, but true.

Our accountant can’t understand why we do it.

And I can’t understand why we would ever stop.