The pitfalls of rental fashion

Findings in a recent high-profile report suggest that renting clothes in “less green than throwing them away”, based in the environmental impacts of transportation and dry cleaning Despite as previously mentioned, many fashion rental platforms claim the impact of transportation is minimal or can be offset The study published by the Finnish scientific journal Environmental Research Letters, assessed the environmental impact of five different ways of owning and disposing of clothes, including renting, resale and recycling

Although the study assumes a renter would drive 2km to collect jeans (rented item), a model not currently used by most rental companies, it has raised questions about the CO2 emissions created when sending clothes back and forth, as well as from all the dry cleaning involved (a factor not considered by the research)

Transportation was the biggest area of scrutiny in the study, which said that given the “use of rental services is likely to increase customers mobility, and if that happens on a large scale”, then the renting of clothes is likely to have greater global warming potential than resale or recycling

The study’s assumptions around transportation, based on a Finish business do not reflect the reality of the rental market in the UK, according to Chislett (CEO and co-founder of fashion rental platform Onloan) The study was modelled on each rented item being collected by a car journey Though companies such as Onloan use carbon neutral DPD vans, while My Wardrobe HQ uses cycle couriers and electric vans

Rent the Runway argues it’s part of the solution but recognises there is still work to be done-which is why they are continuing to improve their business model For example, integrating resale on its site

In response to the concerns around dry cleaning, Onloan and My Wardrobe HQ say they use wet cleaning and liquid CO2 cleaning, specifically to avoid the environmental impact of dry cleaning

For CO2 emissions involved with renting to be offset, extending the life of clothes by an extra nine months reduces its carbon, water and waste footprints each by around 20-30%, and cuts the cost in resources used to supply, launder and dispose of clothing by 20%, according to the Global Fashion Agenda and Boston Consulting Group report

While keeping clothes in circulation is not in itself enough, part of the problem is that most of the clothing for rent isn’t made of sustainable materials and hasn’t been produced ethically either There are questions about what happens to rental clothing at the end of its life; rental integration into a circular system of regenerative agriculture and soil-to-soil clothing production and equity for farmers could be one way around this

“Rental is not synonymous with sustainable, "comments Maxine Bedat, director of the New Standard Institute “If the fashion industry does not address the disposability of trends and the pushing of a disposable relationship with clothing, we will remain on a disastrous path ”

What should be most important for rental companies moving forward is to continue to encourage users to wear the same garments more times, to increase the longevity of their wardrobe

So even if rental clothing is transported bin electric vans and cleaned at low impact, these garments will still travel more and be more frequently washed than anything customers privately own Rental as a devise to slow down consumption is a good solution but the research from the Finnish report highlights its bounds (especially when it comes to carbon emissions) Of course, it's important to note that wearing what is already in one’s wardrobe is ultimately the most sustainable choice