Introduction
You can rent anything these days, can’t you? We can absolutely say that this is as true as a statement can get. We all know about renting cars, bikes, houses….but renting all kinds of clothes? Not everyone knows it. Clothing rental has been around for decades.
Back in the Eighties, you could easily rent a dress for a black tie function. It made sense, right? A one-off event that called for a one-off dress that you would never wear again. However, it came with a little taboo: you couldn’t tell anyone!
The only question people might ask would be did you rent because you couldn’t afford to buy it? It could never have been anything to do with sustainability, which is very much part of the 21st century narrative. Nor could it have been to do with making a sensible choice for the sake of your wardrobe space. It couldn’t even have been to do with spending the money on something that you would get far more use out of. These just weren’t talking points back then.
Changes afoot
Moving forward four decades and you’d like to think that things have changed. They have, they really have. In so much as people are more aware. More aware of the damage that the fashion industry is causing.
There are some shocking statistics that have been around for a while and that you just can’t ignore. Consider the following:
- Nearly three-fifths of all clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of production.
- The apparel and footwear industries produce more than 8 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
- Around 20 to 25 per cent of globally reduced chemical compounds are utilised in the textile-finishing industry.
That’s pretty damning and these facts and figures are well sourced so they’re inescapable. The first two pieces of data come from reports by McKinsey and Qantis and the third is from a book entitled “Handbook of Textile Effluent Remediation” edited by Mohd Yusuf.
Awareness is crucial but we need to move forward with the reasoning. It doesn’t have to just be about that one-off event anymore. Of course, that is still the most likely reason that people will reach out to a fashion rental company. However, it shouldn’t be the only reason.
Can you rent anything these days?
Would you consider renting a pair of jeans for example, a trouser suit for that job interview, a pair of shoes to change up those investment pieces that are already in your wardrobe or a handbag, just to try it out for a few days without the financial commitment? Why not?
The great thing about fashion rental is that, in this regard, it has no limits, if we open our minds up and embrace the concept fully. There are pieces out there available to rent for a week at home or work, for a holiday in the sun, for a night out, for a brunch with the girls as well as for your best friend’s hen do.
The next time you get up in the morning, search your wardrobe for something to wear and feel despondent about what you see, it’s time to get online and check out what’s on offer in the world of rental fashion. This gives you the freedom to try every day looks that you might not have considered and all at a fraction of the purchase price.
And whilst you’re at it, those pieces you have in your wardrobe that you’re not wearing so much, why not list them and get lending? Now that’s sustainable thinking!
