Why You Should Join The Fashion Rental Revolution
Has there ever been that one designer dress that you could envision yourself wearing for one event, but you simply cannot justify the price tag for so few wears? Well, you wouldn’t be alone. Most people can’t afford those sorts of lavish purchases and is it really ethical to splash so much cash on something you will barely ever wear. As the world of social media has begun to dominate, more conversations are being had about the fashion industry and its role in the climate crisis. After all, the fashion industry accounts for around 10% of all global carbon emissions. As a society we have an addiction to shopping and following trends, we want to be stylish and ‘cool’, and for many people, this means buying clothes week in, week out, that will simply be thrown away at the end of that season or trend cycle.
Many solutions to this issue are being discussed in the fashion-sphere, from buying second-hand to bringing down the fast-fashion industry altogether, but perhaps the most interesting is fashion rental, and it is booming.
2020 saw the biggest rise in fashion rental businesses to date, and it’s safe to assume that this is going to continue in 2021 and beyond. It is not exactly rocket science to figure out what fashion rental is - the platform has clothes, you rent for a specific time period for fraction of the retail price, you send back. Jobs a good un! How these individual platforms run and what they provide differs greatly, offering a wide variety of services and products to you the consumer. It is all about making a circular fashion economy, where we slow down the pace at which we buy clothes and give love to items that may otherwise not have had that attention.
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One form of service is peer-to-peer, where private lenders and renters manage the process themselves, sort of like Depop. By Rotation is one of these ever-growing peer-to-peer platforms and is taking the fashion world by storm. Since launching in October 2019 it has very swiftly become a favourite due to its wide array of products, from high-end to high-street and everything in between.
By Rotation is not the only one pioneering this field at the moment, in fact, the new brands just keep on coming. Hurr Collective was founded in 2018 by Victoria Pew and Matthew Geleta and also falls into the peer-to-peer category, giving people a place to monetise their wardrobes and earn some extra cash. Hurr has also just teamed up with Depop, with the aim to “power the circular economy”.
Rotaro is yet another brand gaining immense popularity at the moment. Based in the UK, Rotaro stocks a whole myriad of desirable designer brands from Reformation to House of Sunny, and they are all at your fingertips, ready to be rented. Backed by a team of industry insiders and co-founded by former WGSN trend forecaster,
Georgie Hyatt and her partner Charlie Knowles, Rotaro was created from the belief that the future of fashion is to buy good basics and rent good fun. The Rotaro Resale section of their website also allows you to outright buy pre-loved designer pieces if that is more up your alley!
“Luxury fashion is now heading towards access rather than ownership. With the climate crisis rising, people are becoming more aware of the detriment the fashion industry has on the environment and curbing over-consumption. They are reconsidering their relationship with fashion and seeking alternative ways to get dressed, namely rental, vintage and ethical fashion brands - Rotaro is here to be part of that journey”
Sustainability is at the heart of all these brands, Rotaro for instance has a scheme set up with Ecologi where for each rental 1 tree is planted. Endless Wardrobe, another highly popular rental website, use 100% recyclable and reusable packaging as well as aiming to work with brands that put sustainability at the forefront of their brand.
The future of fashion is either easy to predict or puzzling, given the world we live in nothing can ever truly be certain. But one thing is for sure, the fashion rental revolution is here and it’s not going anywhere!
