Hey funny! I’m on tour at the moment and actually came up with a similar solution! I’m using tape and the small disposable nail file from the hotel bathroom 
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Similar situation here, after using the headphones for a couple months, both headband bases broke in a span of 2 weeks.
As you can see the breaking points are also very similar.
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Hello everybody,
I proudly announce, that the headband gets broken again. But in the case, I am more aware of that issue it is only partially fracturerd.
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Mine is luckily still in one piece… 
Hi everybody:
Right before christmas I got my replacement.
But inside the headband you can disassemble the weak plastic from the strong metal part. Why they are not sold seperatly?
In my opinion the weak plastic should be cheaper and the replacement less envirnomental affectively.
Greetings
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My Headband Base also broke. This was the 2nd time since owning the Fairbuds. When contacting support, they admitted there had been a manufacturing issue and have sent me 2 replacement parts for free. So it may be worth it to contact them if yours broke early as well.
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I ordered mine from Clove Technology in the UK on Nov 20. The left side broke a week after that. The right side broke lower down about an hour ago.
I suspect this is less a problem with bad or recycled plastic, and more a design issue. On these headphones, the point of greatest stress is the part that is the weakest and the thick upper headband acts as a fulcrum right at where the heaband base part inserts. Rather than a part sliding out of a bigger one just above the ear where the moment of torsion is highest, it should have been a reinforced slide-over part, as in these headphones:
See how the part close to the ear slides over the metal headband and directs to force higher up to where the curve of the headband prevents it from being a fulcrum point.
Unfortunately I also came across the snapping headband issue 
Used it for roughly a month, got mine from Amazon. Contacted support hoping they can supply replacement part. Would hate to send the whole headphones back…
My broke after just one month of use, I didn’t want to send it for warranty, so I just ordered the replacement one. But then the other one broke too, so I decided to contact support, I provided evidence and asked them to simply send me a replacement piece. They refused.
The whole process took 2.5 months, from 1st of September to receiving a new set of headphones on 14th of November. A lot of that time was waiting for a reply from support, I waited a week for first message back, and even more for a shipping label.
This experience alone made me not buy Fairphone 5, because when buying a product that is supposed to last, you expect reliability, or at least good support. Here we got neither. Also, it is wasteful to make me ship a product back, and then give me a new one, the old headphones then have to be refurbished. When they had the replacement simply available on the store.
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@JacekJagosz that’s unfortunate and I hope that’s not the experience of others!
My experience with support was luckily better and they send me a replacement part. From making a ticket to receiving the part took a total of 2 weeks. 
I hope anyone who runs into this issue gets my experience and a replacement part in no time!
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Yep, I was decently convinced that it was an issue with the green plastic until yesterday, when one of my black replacement parts finally gave way. That means four instances of the same mode of failure, on three different parts, in six months. Starting to feel environmentally problematic.
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After my second replacement on both headbands are multiple slight breaks visible.
I fill a RMA and ask if they are able to solve the issue. If not, hopefully I can send it back and return my money. I am not interested in consulting them every two months.
I am now convinced that plastic is the problem here. When can I buy them as metal?
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Yet another broken band here, rather disappointing!
I am concerned that this is a design defect that will keep recurring. I was hoping to keep these for a good long time. Does anyone who has done repairs after the manufacturing defect was reported have experience with the bands breaking again? Or have they been good since then?
Fairphone should share the 3D model file for the part under a noncommercial license.
I got a pair about 6 months ago and one day both headband bases snapped at the same time while I was simply putting it on my head. (my head is slightly bigger than average but not THAT much).
I’m in the US and Fairphone seems to not ship this part here… so it isn’t clear to me how I can solve this issue. If they are having logistical or customs issues importing the part they should consider allowing customers to 3D print the part in countries they don’t ship to.
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The same situation here, ones broke 5 months after buying the second one just now, very frustrate.
How did they make the quality test?
if they now know it is a failure on desing or manufacturing why they don´t openly say it. and resolve it. they lost many things on mistake like this one.
because this is so basic.
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I hope fairphone has an official statement soon. After getting a replacement from fp, my other base is starting to show fractures and my hair is getting stuck in them… Saw this post from reddit where OP added a metal bar to the base. I love fairphone for the mission and products they produce. But 250 for headphones that constantly break is not good for the wallet nor environment…
https://www.reddit.com/r/fairphone/comments/1buyaqw/fairbuds_xl_headband_base_fix/
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@admins Do we already have a company position on this matter? The descriptions and photos indicate that this is a manufacturing defect. I myself would be able to organize the production of such elements from aluminium or simply different more durable plastic. Just let me know.
Admins of the forum are not responsible to answer such questions, nor is the forum an official company contact. Please contact support.
What problem do you see with at least answering the question? Can you just tell me if there is any information available about this?
I will repeat myself: its a user forum and technical forum admins are not here to answer questions about products, nor am I, so please contact support or take what other users already shraed
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