Rental IS MORE SUSTAINABLE Than Throwing Your Clothes Away
Photo: Naeim Jafari
It makes sense to rent a garment you will only wear once. Less clothing is thrown out, and less textile waste ends up in landfills. Despite the logic, several media outlets including The Guardian and The Fast Company have published articles with headlines suggesting the opposite is true - that rental is less sustainable than just ‘throwing [clothes]’ away!
These articles reference a Finnish study published in the Environmental Research Letters Journal on May 12th 2021. However, as Dr Taylor Brydges from the Institute for Sustainable Futures states, “jeans are not representative of the typical items that are rented.” In reality, rental is most suited to garments that get limited usage, such as ‘special occasion’ wear, ski clothing for a one-off holiday or kidswear for fast-growing humans. Rentals are also typically only available to customers who are located in the same country as the company.
“Rental is generally applied to items that fit the #fewerbetterlonger philosophy - ie. more enduring items of higher quality from desired premium brands - this ensures that items aren’t discarded like fast fashion. ”
Rental isn’t slowing down
An article by Forbes shows that by the year 2023 re-commerce is expected to double in size to $48 billion, meaning that more clothes will be rented. This will provide fashion brands with new business opportunities. Vestiaire Collective is now valued at over $US1 billion after securing €178 million in funding from Kering, Rent The Runway has long been a (rental) unicorn, and Ralph Lauren recently launched a rental service called The Lauren Look. The rental market alone is expected to reach a value of $US2.08 billion by 2025. It’s clear that the opportunity for temporary ownership is driving the post-pandemic economy. Consumers are also increasingly aware of fashion’s environmental concerns but are confused about what to do.
“Many people who enjoy fashion are well-versed in the environmental issues of fashion, but complicated messaging and contradictory advice can cause inaction from consumers, sending them back to their current consumption habits.”
Rental platforms can help facilitate the path to a circular economy
Green+Simple published an article about rental being a sustainable clothing consumption option and sustainable rating app. Good On You positively classifies companies such as A_C Official that offer rental services because of the service’s positive effect. Despite evidence from the Ellen McArthur Foundation that transitioning to a circular economy can reduce 45% of greenhouse gasses from the product industry, the Finnish study reports that there is ‘limited understanding’ of the circular economy. Rental provides the opportunity to keep products circulating in the economy for longer and maintain their value through collaborative business models.
“Fast fashion items would simply not survive rental, falling apart quickly (just as they do in regular single ownership use) - if anything, the rise of rental pushes brands into a more premium segment of clothing - through its focus on higher-quality, more enduring garments rental will help accelerate the disruption of the highly damaging fast fashion industry.”
The environmental footprint of rental depends on many logistical factors
The study calculates the environmental impact of shipping a pair of jeans 14,800 km across the world - this is not a true reflection of rental as orders are shipped within the same country. This does not discount the shipping logistics involved to move the garments around - to make required shipment for rental services as sustainable as possible, the logistics industry is also working hard to develop more sustainable solutions. For example, logistics giant DHL has committed to becoming the first zero-emissions logistics company in the world. When possible, ‘green fleets’ can be used for transportation and postage, swapping to biodegradable packaging options, and many delivery services now offer eco-alternatives using low-emission or electric vehicles.
“At Rntr., we understand that logistics have an environmental effect. That’s why we opt for eco-packaging and we offset all our carbon emissions. As our business grows so will our sustainability initiatives as we work on reducing waste, eliminating unethical products and building a company based on usership.”
The study is only calculates the emissions of front end logistics and not the production emissions that are reduced through rental. A report by the Ellen McArthur foundation explains that “rental models can provide customers with access to a variety of clothes while decreasing the demand for new clothing production.” Therefore, instead of manufacturing 100 ski coats for 100 customers to wear for 1 a one week holiday, 10 ski coats are made and rented between 100 customers - a reduction of 90 garments that will (most likely) end up in landfills.
Are rented clothes more damaging for the environment to clean?
It’s true that laundry has a large, and often overlooked environmental impact. But it’s not all bad news - a cold wash cycle can reduce energy consumption up to 90%. During the laundering process, many factors can affect the Global Warming Potential, including wet/dry cleaning, water usage and temperature. Temperature is not mentioned in the study, nor if other clothes are washed in the same load as the jeans which are also assumed to have just 20 laundry cycles within the lifetime.
Rental companies can take ownership of some of the environmental impacts by choosing green(er) cleaning methods. Laundering, a method favoured by GlamCorner, typically results in fewer chemicals being used than dry cleaning, yet the latter uses less energy and water. To address this and implement more sustainable cleaning methods, more renewable energy, and fewer chemicals can be used. At Rntr., we partner with a dry cleaning company that doesn't use any harmful petrochemicals and uses biodegradable cleaning technology to reduce harm to the garment and the environment.
The rental revolution is just beginning and there are many variables at play
Rental has the potential to initiate a consumption contraction that is necessary to minimise the upfront carbon emissions that come through excess production. The demand for rental is there, and we are working on creating different ways in which we can make the supply better.
“At Rntr., we understand that sustainability and circularity are complex and hard to perfect, but we are constantly iterating and evolving to offer the most sustainable solution possible. We are keeping a close eye on industry movements, investigating deeper, collaborating and taking the necessary steps to ensure our measurements are accurate.”
It’s not the end of shopping
Dr Taylor Brydges explains, “people love clothes and for many, shopping is a pleasurable past-time”, and since the pandemic, e-commerce has grown by 14.8%. Fashion will always be a form of self-expression, and Gen Z consumers value uniqueness, customisation and sustainability when it comes to choosing their outfits. The future of shopping is looking to be less about quantity and more about quality.
Rntr. is a rental platform that is building a business on the principles of sustainability, and environmental awareness. Measuring and monitoring the impact of the rental industry is an ongoing process and a core part of our business.
Rntr. is a plug-in solution that works directly behind fashion brands enabling them to offer rental and subscription services by adding ‘Rent with Rntr’ button on their website. Unlike other rental businesses, our aim is to empower brands with their own rental service to create circular customer experiences and accelerate the overall shift towards a more sustainable fashion industry.
