Rental dresses:Is it a sustainable practice?

Renting clothes is convenient:but only to us or also to the environment?Here are the pros and cons of fashion renting.

• Between now and 2030, the rental clothing market, which was worth 1.2 billion dollars in 2021, is expected to grow by 8.5 percent.
• But is renting a suit really better for the environment?To answer this question we need to analyze how the garments are shipped and returned, the packaging method and the laundry process.
• If it is true that the emissions necessary to produce that particular item will be split between multiple people and uses, it is equally true that if the same item has to travel back and forth several times, it must be washed and sanitized after each use

In London it happens more and more often:on the The price tag is expressed in two figures, one usually corresponding to half or a third of the highest one.This is not an indication of a discount, but rather of how much does it cost to rent that item, usually for a period of three days.In Italy the clothing rental service has not yet really taken off, but there are more and more companies that are exploring this territory relating to textile.The purpose is good:rather than buying a dress or accessories which probably we'll only put once, perhaps on the occasion of a marriage, your own or someone else's, you rent it by paying the shopkeeper a lower amount than what would have been paid to complete the purchase.

Before the pandemic the trend of fashion rental it seemed destined to take off:business analysts had predicted record growth for this type of service:Almost $2 billion by 2023, a growth of 10.6 percent annual predicted by Allied Market Research which never reached these volumes but in 2021 stopped at 1.12 billion dollars according to Grand View Research report.However, the same company today reports that an expansion is underway and that, from now to 2030, this market will grow by 8.5 percent.Factors that give rise to hope are technological advances, Internet penetration and the growing popularity of online shopping portals.

Renting clothes instead of buying them:does the environment really thank you?

We have talked several times about what problem this represents overproduction in the textile sector and of #100 wear rule, or the calculation to do before buying something new:Will I be able to wear it at least 100 times?Try to calculate the “cost per wear” that is, the cost of a dress or accessory divided by the times in which it is actually used is useful to understand first of all whether that item is worth the expense, but also to give us an idea of ​​theimpact that our purchase will have on the environment.Regardless of how much we paid for something, weighing how much we really need and how much its production impacts the planet is a mental action that we must get used to doing.The rental of clothes could therefore represent the perfect solution for all those who just can't help but wear the latest trend or the seasonal it bag of this or that brand, but they don't want to invest so much money in it or buy something that they know will be short-lived.

A study of Lut University However, it raised doubts regarding the sustainability of clothing rental:if it is true that the necessary emissions to produce that particular item they will be divided between several people and uses, it is still true that if the same item must travel back and forth several times this is an aspect that must be considered.Not only that:the clothes fit clearly washed and sanitized after each use, with all that entails in terms of wear of the fibers and the possible release of microplastics into the sea.This doesn't mean that clothing rental isn't sustainable tout court, but that distinctions need to be made and that, as always, to make the most ecological choice it is necessary to inform oneself well about the services offered by the company.What choices were made in terms of mobility and delivery?You rely on a partner who is committed to combating emissions or someone who can count on one electric fleet?

Logistics and packaging 

How is the warehouse organised? Is the packaging reusable? They seem like nonsense, but added up for each trip they have a non-negligible impact, also because it is estimated that for each outfit the uses fluctuate between 50 and 75 uses, although it depends a lot on the fabric.“Silk garments are much more delicate and have a much shorter life than a cotton or jersey dress, a fabric that ensures the longest life ever” explains Veronica Carozzi, store manager Dress You Can, an Italian company that deals with clothing rental.“Another very important aspect is that of the laundry:the conditions in which a dress is returned depends on the respect the customer has for it, sometimes they can also be very stained on the bottom part, which touches the floor.Some of the items that are part of our offer belong to private individuals who give them to us on rental account, which is why it is important to rely on a laundry that knows how to handle pieces even of a certain value".

The type of washing is very important, there is a big difference between dry and wet

The issue of washing is important not only to preserve the quality of the garment, but it is extremely important if you want to look at the sustainability of the entire operation:The dry cleaning, for example, is particularly harmful to the environment.To remove stains from clothes and remove unwanted odors, such as smoke or sweat, in this type of cleaning the tetrachlorethylene, a solvent that is not a panacea either for the environment or for the people who work in contact with it (so much so that it has been classified as a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer).

The wet cleaning, created thanks to computerized washing machines that are able to dose both the spin force and the quantity of water, does not damage clothes and it's good, but it takes longer and costs more, so not everyone prefers it.Other alternatives are represented by less toxic silicone-based solvents, or fromliquid carbon dioxide.All these things pollute less than dry cleaning, but they pollute, and do not protect the fibers from wear or from dispersing microplastics in the case of synthetic fabrics.

You can make your rental green

In summary rental is a valid and green alternative to the extent that it is not abused and we try to rely on companies that are committed to minimize the logistics impact, packaging and laundry.If there was a physical collection point in our city, an even better alternative could be to go and pick up and bring back what we need by bike, on foot or by public transport.“Most of the time the garments are collected directly from the showroom” continues Veronica.“While if there is a shipment to be made in Milan we use bikers, in the case of customers located in other regions of Italy we instead rely on classic national couriers”.

Customers who are increasingly increasing and who are quite varied both in terms of age group and social background or ethnicity:“We are contacted both by sixteen-year-old girls who have to go to a party, and by sixty-year-olds invited to weddings, we do a lot of eighteenth parties.The price of the dresses varies from a minimum of 54 euros to a maximum of 154 for normal dresses and between 154 and 690 euros for wedding dresses, the rental always lasts four days".