We recently launched our new line of durable and sustainable cables and chargers, which were received with much appreciation across the tech world. Not only are they faster and safer than its predecessors, they are made fairer too, using more fair and recycled materials, contributing to our living wage bonus program, and assembled using green energy. And like all other recent launches from Fairphone, they are 100% e-waste neutral too. 

The new USB-C 3.2 Long Life Charging & Data Cable and USB-C Long Life Charging Cable are both super strong cables, clearing 100,000 and 70,000 bend tests respectively. On the other hand, the 65W Triple-Port Fast Charger and 30W USB-C Fast Charger are powerful where it counts, yet compact enough to take on the road. In fact, the form factor on the 30W fast charger is so small, it fits into your pocket! They are also universally compatible, supporting multiple charging protocols, and come with an integrated USB-A adapter for legacy devices.

Our new line of cables and chargers also have the added distinction of being the products from Fairphone to sport the coveted LONGTIME®-certified label, validating its long-life credentials. We sat down with LONGTIME® co-founder Elsa Lomont to learn more about the label, what it stands for, and the certification process.

What’s the story behind the LONGTIME® label?

The idea was born when we were forced to replace a drill simply because the battery model was no longer available. In the middle of all the references, a simple question came up: how do you identify a reliable and repairable product when buying something? 

The starting point for the project was the obsolescence of goods, the increase in premature waste, and the frustration when faced with a product that cannot be repaired. Lacking reliable and verified information, we took the codes of food labels and decided to create a simple and effective tool for evaluating products, a label that would bring to the forefront products that are truly designed to last. It would be a tool for manufacturers who want to stand out and for consumers who want to consume better. It would help build a system that would raise practices and activate a virtuous circle of more responsible consumption. 

This solution had to be international and adapted to all products on the market. That’s how we came to draw up the specifications, and we named it LONGTIME®! 

Planned or programmed obsolescence is something that we at Fairphone hate with a passion. And it’s something we share in common with LONGTIME®. 

We do indeed hate obsolescence, and in fact we use the term ‘’organized obsolescence‘’ a lot. The things that shorten the lifespan of our products can certainly be programmed by industrial malice, but that’s only a tiny part of what ‘organized obsolescence’ embraces. Beyond the chip that blocks the use of a product after X cycles, there are many practices that accelerate the arrival of the first breakdown. From poor material sizing to reduce costs, to failure to take account of failures exogenous to the design, to product body welding that prevents any repair, and unavailability of parts—These are all practices that, taken together, considerably reduce the lifespan of our products.

So to choose a long-lasting product, you have to investigate. That’s what we did when we started writing the LONGTIME® standards, by talking to repairers, manufacturers, consumers, environmental associations and so on, to come up with a common-sense document detailing what seems essential for a durable product. Coupled with research work and input from players committed to extending the life of goods, the foundations of the LONGTIME® tool were laid.

The standard is made up of 38 criteria, organized into three pillars: 

• Reliability: A series of criteria to ensure that, from the design stage, choices are made to ensure a long product life, so that the first breakdown occurs as late as possible
• Repairability: In the event of breakage or breakdown, the manufacturer must do everything possible to offer a solution that encourages repair and, above all, avoids the need for replacement. 
• Life cycle: To ensure consistency with our aspirations, we have incorporated criteria relating to environmental performance, such as recyclability.

Are there are any other initiatives you are leading to counter organized obsolescence?

In addition to the tasks directly linked to the LONGTIME® label, we work daily to share our expertise and our vision of extending product life. This involves a number of different activities, for example: 

• We take part in numerous working groups on circular economy and product life extension, both in France (INEC, Club de la durabilité, EC2027), Europe (Right to repair, RREUSE) and internationally (ECOS, UNEP). We are involved in a number of working groups to draw up ambitious regulations and participate in open letters from ECOS and R2R where we appear as an example of good practice. Here’s an example.
• We take part in civic initiatives such as the HOP Agora in Paris for more sustainable marketing on our own time.
• We want to raise awareness of repairability among young people and future product designers. To this end, we give courses to students in the renowned mechanical engineering master’s program at Toulouse on the theme of product sustainability, with more than 16 hours of courses already given and the integration of this new theme into training curricula.
• We’re involved in discussions with the French government to improve the way in which small and very small enterprises with advanced expertise in a technical subject can get involved in the drafting of new standards.
• We are creating tools accessible to professionals, whatever their level of maturity, to help make products more repairable as the RepairAbility software.

Let’s talk about Fairphone and LONGTIME®. Were we already on your radar?

Of course! We spent the first few years looking for industry gems, manufacturers who had this approach in their DNA, those who showed the rest of the market that alternatives were possible. Fairphone seemed to us to be a committed, responsible and daring player: to create a digital product that uses rare resources in a fair trade way, if we can draw a parallel with food for you too! And when Fairphone 1 came out, we quickly said to ourselves, this smartphone has all the makings of a LONGTIME® product! We were obviously tempted to compare our approaches, to learn and challenge each other in return.

Working alongside the Fairphone teams, as with all the committed manufacturers, is highly relevant, and has been, above all, a great pleasure.

Our first products to get the LONGTIME® label is our new line of cables and chargers. What was your initial reaction to the products themselves?

Cables and chargers are a good example of typical products that every household has, in several copies, so they represent a huge volume of material. This is the type of product you can find in a shop for a few euros, and which will only last a few months before ending up in the bin. It’s the typical product that’s used intensively, almost every day, and that is subjected to high levels of use, transport, twisting, environmental conditions, abrasion… In fact, it’s a perfect case study for LONGTIME®. 

Today, we can shout from the rooftops that there are durable cables and chargers that you can buy with your eyes closed, that will accompany you over several years, that reduce the use of resources and the budget when compared to cumulative purchases. We’re delighted with every new label, especially when we’re working in a new sector. The fact that Fairphone is the first digital player to be certified makes so much sense!  

Could you tell us a little bit more about the LONGTIME® certification process?

LONGTIME® has developed a robust network of entities to analyze product reliability and repairability. LONGTIME® is not a test laboratory, nor a certification body. Our mission is to apply our technical expertise to two key phases of durability assessment.

Phase 1: The label’s technical teams determine Product Specific Requirements (PSR) to the product family under study. The LONGTIME® label is made up of 38 generic criteria, which are specified by product family to define around 100 PSR. These PSRs are defined by combining the technical knowledge of LONGTIME® experts, capitalizing on products already studied, an in-depth market benchmark, in-house tools, European databases, and so on.

These PSRs are then submitted to a multi-stage consultation phase involving a representative panel of stakeholders (manufacturers, suppliers, repairers, consumers, federations, etc.) The process is transparent and can be consulted here. 

LONGTIME® can call on its committee of experts to make adjustments to specific points of difficulty (adjustment of a specific threshold, etc.). In the final repository containing all the revised PSRs, a certain number of product tests with specific associated standards and thresholds are requested to prove the robustness of the product.

Phase 2: LONGTIME® teams accompany the manufacturer through till an audit. They provide support to answer questions, and above all, to challenge the methods of proof presented by the manufacturer. For example, for a given test, LONGTIME® may ask for visibility on the test conditions (in-house laboratory? Accredited? Certified external testing organization? Standardized or internally defined protocol?) and results (number of samples tested, extrapolation of data).

Once the thresholds for compliance with the criteria for obtaining the label are met, and the means of proof appear sufficiently robust, the audit can be triggered. In Fairphone’s case, the on-site audit was carried out by an approved inspection body, APAVE Certification. The auditor checks that the product complies with the label criteria. If everything is in order, it issues a certificate of conformity, which allows the manufacturer to use the LONGTIME® certification mark.

And we passed with flying colors?

Yes! The test results show that the resistance thresholds for cables and chargers go far beyond those of other products on the market.

In fact, the durability stakes for a cable and a charger are very much based on reliability, as there are few repairability stakes for these products (low price, few parts, etc.). The major stresses on a cable are mechanical torsion and tension, and connection/disconnection cycles. We all put our charging cables through their paces every day!

Fairphone charging cables withstand over 20,000 twisting cycles, which represents more than 10 years of cable use if used every day ! The cables also withstand 70,000 bending cycles, 10 Kg of tension, 10,000 connection insertions… For comparison, on average, Fairphone cables are six times more resistant than the best cables tested in this study !

In addition to mechanical stress, they are also resistant to UV stress (when you leave your cable in direct sunlight) and chemical stress (when you have sweat or products on your hands, such as suntan lotion). So nothing has been left to chance in terms of the stresses applied to the product and the tests carried out in front of it.

As our impact study shows, the LONGTIME® approach does not stop at certification. We are leading a community of players who are witnessing benefits such as the development of practices that promote repairability and good use, as well as the creation of a new market for refurbished products, for example! We aim to be as inspiring as players like you!

Any last comments for our readers?

Thank you for your questions. Your readers will undoubtedly appreciate our approach!

I’d like to emphasize that LONGTIME® is, above all, a citizen-powered initiative—created by and for the people… and the planet. And that’s not just a slogan. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the label’s evolution. For example, we’re currently working on a new criterion addressing “Marketing obsolescence”, and this is being shaped with real-world input from users and experts alike.

Indeed, we want to further strengthen the overall coherence of our approach: not only must a LONGTIME®-labeled product be designed to last, but the manufacturer must also associate it with marketing practices that encourage longer life rather than over-consumption. This criterion therefore includes the following themes in particular: transparency on the real contributions of new models and associated impact, long-term compatibility and encouragement to upgrade, timeless design and marketing of new models and encouragement to buy, communication budget allocated to new models and supports, use of unscrupulous promotions/prices to encourage purchase.

So please feel free to follow us on social media, visit our website, or join our open consultations. We want the label to remain dynamic, ambitious and above all, something that reflects your values.

And finally, without encouraging overconsumption, and always prioritizing quality second-hand options when available, we warmly invite any readers looking for a heater, deck chair, suitcase, coffee machine… to check out our directory of LONGTIME®-certified products for trusted, durable alternatives.

Our new line of Fairphone cables and chargers is now available in the Fairphone webshop.