Rental vs Ownership

“Buy Less, Wear More”

– Rent the Runway

A new pathway has begun for the fashion industry, if you haven’t already heard about it then it’s clothing rental. My initial thought of this is that it’s great only based from the fact that there is such a massive ongoing issue happening around us concerning the amount of clothing which goes to landfill each year, as stated on an article on The Telegraph “Around 300,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in household bins every year with around 80 per cent of this incinerated and 20 per cent sent to landfill.” Seeing the statistics puts it all into perspective of just how many clothes get thrown away without any thought. But apparently the process of renting clothing is going to take over fast fashion within the next 10 years, but obviously this is all down to us to make it happen.

I find this a very 50 / 50 topic as I love going out and trying clothes on, having a whole day of fun to build up some new outfits, although I do often get bored of the clothes I have after around 2 months of having it depending on what it is, but then I try to sell it on platforms like Depop rather than chucking it away if it’s still in good condition. Although I guess renting clothes for say a couple of weeks or a month could work for me because when I get to the stage of being ‘bored’ of the garment I could simply just send it back to be cleaned for the next person. Of course this process comes with a monthly fee, which I just don’t think I would be willing to get tied into, especially if I don’t actually want anything new for a long period of time it would feel a waste of money. So, personally I wouldn’t invest into renting clothing due to not wanting to have a payment being taken every month and not actually owning it as it wouldn’t feel as if it’s mine to wear.

I feel as if this process of renting clothes may only work successfully for specific reasons whether it be to rent a dress for a wedding or party, for women throughout their pregnancy stages due to only needing maternity clothing for a certain length of time and this would save them from just throwing them away. Overall, I don’t see it taking over fast fashion as it’s so convenient for load of people and more availability of items.

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