Back Market at SXSW: “We want to create a joyful revolution”

The famous South by Southwest [SXSW] festival, which aims to spotlight the future of our creative industries, made its official debut in London in June 2025. Back Market’s CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze was among the high-profile speakers.

Interviewed by The Restart Project’s co-director Fiona Dear during a session called ‘Repair > Replace’, Hug de Larauze called for more legalisation that ensures tech brands make their products easier to fix. 

“If you have a MacBook Pro and the battery needs replacing then Apple won’t touch it after the five year warranty ends,” the Back Market co-founder told a packed audience. "It then requires so many screws and glue and alcohol cleaner to remove the MacBook battery, where you essentially risk damaging your device due to how complex the process is." 

He continued: “That’s not okay! When it comes to Back Market’s Right To Repair movement, we’re pushing so devices can be repaired much more easily, and we want to change the laws in Europe so this is enforced properly. Remember the Nokia 3310? You just unclipped it and the battery could instantly be switched. It needs to become as easy as that again… and for all devices.”

“Our strategy is about sparking a joyful revolution... convincing the world that by making our products last longer, we can make our planet last longer, too. That's what Back Market is all about.”

Hug de Larauze stressed that keeping devices such as iPhones alive longer was crucial to the future of our planet. Currently, there’s 36 billion tons of CO2 emissions produced every year, with 4% of that due to the production of new hardware products. By making old devices easier to repair and be sold refurbished on Back Market, he said consumers would be doing something genuinely good for the environment. This would essentially stem the flow of new product launches and, by investing in Back Market, you would be supporting a service where all excess products are recycled.

“Listen: if we don’t change course then that 4% is going to rise to 14% before we know it,” Hug de Larauze warned. “So, ending fast tech and creating a world where using refurbished second-hand devices is actively encouraged, makes a lot of sense! Five years ago, people were holding into their smartphone devices for an average of 2.5 years before upgrading. Now, it’s more like 3.5 years, but we’re hoping that becomes much, much longer. Back Market is here to lead the charge.”

He then went on to speak about an ongoing collaboration with e-commerce and how-to platform iFixit and how the ultimate dream from this partnership was for broken old devices to be “as easy to fix as replacing a car tire”. Amid Back Market’s journey to grow as both a consumer brand and conduit for institutional change, Hug de Larauze said the key was to never condescend.

“You cannot make people feel guilty or frame them as a bad person for buying a lot of new tech!” he concluded. “Our strategy is more about sparking a joyful revolution, not forcing people into a change, but explaining why it is important in a fun, non-judgemental way. It’s about convincing the world that by making our products last longer, we can make our planet last longer, too. That's what Back Market is all about."