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Sophie Benson
The global clothing rental market - which has blossomed as the antithesis of synthetic, disposable fast fashion - is expected to grow by up to USD 3 billion between 2021 and 2026, and is estimated to represent 10% of luxury brand revenues by 2030. Of course, rental isn’t a novel concept - people have long rented products like suits and cars, but a new era of rental, driven by both environmental and financial factors, is seeing the service spread to a host of new product categories, from bikes to power banks.
A 2023 study commissioned by the IPA found that 5% of 34-55 year-olds and 11% of 18-34 year-olds intend to rent items ‘considerably more’ in 2023, so while it’s still early days for uptake, the figures speak for themselves when it comes to the benefits. By providing outdoor gear rental, French sporting goods company Decathlon was able to increase its margins 2.4 times after just one season, as well as generating a 50% drop in CO2 emissions and a 10 times reduction in water, according to an internal analysis.
Here, we explore five companies at the helm of the rental revolution.
Decathlon achieved a 50% reduction of CO2 by renting outdoor gear
The average child wears 280 items of clothing before their second birthday
tonnes of furniture is thrown away in the US each year
Loanhood was founded by three fashion industry insiders who wanted to bring the practice of borrowing clothes to a wider fashion audience. Launched in 2022, the UK-based platform focuses on promoting emerging and independent fashion brands, providing them with a ready-in-waiting audience of Loanhood app users.
Users can rent a GBP 198 (USD 249) gown for GBP 30 (USD 37) or a one-of-a-kind GBP 1000 (USD 1257) suit for just GBP 150 (USD 188). According to fellow fashion rental platform Rent the Runway, 98% of subscribers rent from brands they have never purchased from before, so it’s clear a lower price point puts previously unaffordable pieces within reach of fashion renters. In Loanhood’s case, it also provides a regular income for new designers, and creates more revenue from one item than a one-off sale would be able to generate.
The environmental savings vary depending on the garment. Renting jeans - generally worn on high rotation - doesn’t yield environmental savings compared to when they are purchased. However, renting cocktail dresses, skirts, and sweaters - worn less frequently - can yield “significant” reductions. Compared to purchasing one new garment, a rental can decrease water usage by 24%, energy usage by 6%, and carbon emissions by 3%.
French brand Petit Bateau was founded in 1893, so it has plenty of experience in kidswear. The market is a lucrative but wasteful one, with children making their way through ten different clothing sizes by the time they turn three, and wearing an average of 280 items of clothing before their second birthday. Each has a lifespan of around two or three months and only 15% of what is worn is donated or recycled after wear.
To combat this waste, Petit Bateau launched a rental service in its home market in 2022. A box of rented items costs between EUR 52 (USD 57) and EUR 89 (USD 97), each themed according to usage. Customers can choose between categories such as infancy, bedtime, and nursery, but can also add or swap pieces to suit their needs or style. The service was rolled out in France in November before expanding into Japan (the brand's second biggest market) and Italy in December 2022.
Whether it's splashing in puddles or spilling spaghetti, children are known to put their clothes to the test, so to withstand more than one user, kidswear must be durable. If a Petit Bateau product cannot survive for five lifecycles, it doesn’t go to market. Designs are subject to up to 240 successive washes, abrasion and pilling tests, colour fastness checks, and other such durability assessments. Its iconic t-shirt, for instance, is submitted to no fewer than 27 stress tests. The brand promises to evaluate all of its products and share the results by 2025.
The rise of so-called ‘fast furniture’ - cheap, synthetic, trendy pieces of lower quality - means furniture turnover is higher than ever, and it’s creating a waste nightmare. 42% of the UK’s ‘bulky waste’ is furniture, amounting to around 672,000 tonnes being thrown out every year. In the US, that figure reaches nine million tonnes.
Homebound offers the affordability of fast furniture without the waste. Users can rent side tables from GBP 3 (USD 3.70) per month, bookcases from GBP 18 (USD 22.55) per month, sofas from GBP 49 (USD 61) per month, and beds from GBP 26 (USD 32) per month. Picking out pieces is similar to shopping online, but the user pays a monthly fee and chooses how long they wish to keep the item. At the end of the rental contract, the furniture can be returned or swapped for something else, or the contract can be extended. Homebound does any necessary cleaning and repairs once it receives the furniture, then relists it for further rental from new users. Items which have been previously used and restored are added to the pre-loved section, a cheaper option for those on a budget.
In 2022, Homebound partnered with residential interiors service company Loft. By using the service, investors and developers can furnish single homes or entire developments, refresh interiors for new tenants, or stage showhomes in a more circular manner.
Clothes aren’t the only necessity for children. Prams, cots, mattresses, car seats, highchairs, carriers, bottles, toys... it all adds up. And the sheer bulk of it can make travelling expensive and stressful. Babonbo aims to ease the stress and promote a circular economy by offering on-location rental ‘baby gear’ to travellers.
Available in over 266 locations globally, including Milan, Istanbul, Berlin, Bangkok, Dubai, Los Angeles, London, Seoul, and Athens, parents and carers can arrange to collect their chosen items upon arriving at their destination, so there’s no need to bring everything along with them. Collection points include airports, hotels, and points of interest. Delivery is also available for an added fee. As a peer-to-peer platform, prices vary according to what a provider wishes to charge. All providers, and the products they rent out, are subject to an approval process before being listed on the site.
The peer-to-peer model also means that individuals can make extra money - up to EUR 1500 (USD 1635) per month, according to Babonbo - while maximising the use of their baby products and extending their lifespan. According to a 2021 paper which compared pram ownership to rental, the lifecycle environmental impacts of renting prams are 29-46% lower than the practice of purchasing then disposing of one. By finding someone else to use a purchased pram for three further years, pram owners can reduce their environmental impacts by 50%.
With 334 million registered users, Chinese power bank rental company Energy Monster has more than double the number of registered users than Uber has worldwide. Much like renting a shared bike or scooter, to rent a power bank a user scans a QR code to release it from a hub (usually located in areas like shops, airports, train stations, and malls) then returns it to another hub once they're finished using it. Between 30 minutes and an hour of charging costs approximately 1-4 Yuan (USD 0.14-0.58).
Energy Monster has a 34.4% market share in a country which is particularly receptive to the sharing economy. Alongside more standard rental services such as bicycles, clothing, and scooters, China has seen the launch of services like umbrella and basketball rentals. Not all endeavours are a success (the umbrellas disappeared from streets not long after launching), but power bank rental is booming and as of December 2022, Energy Monster had "6.7 million power banks in 997,000 POIs across more than 1,800 counties and county-level districts in China."
In countries including the UK and the US, disposable power banks are sold for approximately GBP 2 (USD 2.50), providing just an extra few percent of battery life before being thrown in the bin. A circular, rental option which makes fewer resources available to more people is certainly preferable to a disposable option which is simply a stop on the route to e-waste.
