FASHION RENTAL > FAST FASHION
Buying too much is destroying the planet. Fast fashion is a term used by retailers for designs that come from the catwalk to capture current fashion trends quickly. The collections are based on recent fashion trends that are presented at Fashion Week. However there's a huge concern with it. The problem is the clothes waste it produces. When textile clothing ends up in landfills the chemicals on the clothes it can cause environmental damage by leaching the chemicals into the ground.
A way to avoid this is the new idea of fashion rental. Fashion rental is on the rise. 'Where once someone may only have hired a tuxedo or formal wear for a special occasion, today companies are renting customers' everyday clothing, handbags, even trainers for one-off fees or via low-cost subscription.'
Many businesses are offering great brands and styles available for loan, which is a more sustainable way to shop.
“The benefits of renting fashion are wide-ranging,” says Samantha Dover, senior retail analyst at research firm Mintel. “Not only can renting clothes be a more environmentally friendly alternative to buying into fast-moving fashion trends, but consumers can also save space in their homes. Fashion rentals can fulfill temporary fashion, such as clothing for women during pregnancy, while some fashion rental companies are tapping into demand for more niche and everyday fashion products such as streetwear.”
There is evidence suggesting that people are already shopping less often. The percentage of those buying clothes every two to three months declined between 2017 and 2018.
In the US, Rent the Runway led the way in fashion rental. It offers users unlimited rentals for a regular monthly subscription of $159. But the UK has been slower to catch on to the rental trend. However, there have been several services emerge in recent years. 'Girl Meets Dress' is one of those with a monthly fee of £99, for which subscribers can have unlimited dress hires. Wear the Walk, My Wardrobe HQ and Front Row rent out high end and designer labels for a monthly subscription, plus a rental fee for each item, typically between 10% and 15% of the retail price.
Consumers are being to understand the effect that fast fashion has on the environment and want to stop buying as much as they used to. People want less in their wardrobe.
“The increase in fashion rental should drive the production of clothes that are more durable, which is good in terms of sustainability,” says Heather Poore, Hubbub’s creative director. “But the rental model is new and still being tested. A lot of the focus is on high-end items. The real strength of it will become evident when the big, everyday brands start to trial it. Plus, you have to balance the potential mass scale of rental with sustainable ways to get clothes to people. Online deliveries already have a big environmental impact.”
In my own opinion I have come to realize the effects that fast fashion has on the environment but as a student with little income, the price of clothes from places like PLT and Zara is a bigger influence on me. I do try to shop sustainably and nowadays I buy a lot less than I used to. With denim, I no longer buy it if it hasn't been made in a sustainable way, I look for the 'join life' logo in Zara and choose to buy more expensive jeans from the likes of Levi from their new sustainable collections. I think that rental fashion is really interesting as so many people my age only wear clothes once because they think they could never go out in the same looks. This would help with that fact in the way that people can rent clothes and return them instead of letting them build up in the back of their wardrobe.
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