More people are advocating for fashion rental and for good reasons too. If you love fashion like me and unless you are a celebrity like Kim Kardashian or Kylie Jenner, your dream closet is often, always out of your reach. There’s always that dress, that jumpsuit, or that bag that we drool over and long for. This is one of the many reasons fashion rental is such an exciting concept to me.
In the post where i narrated my journey to starting TUTNOD as a fashion rental, I described how I went through a phase of accumulating so much yet, wanting more. I accumulated so much, I considered moving to a bigger house just because I needed a bigger closet space. Thankfully, I finally got to a point when I paused and ask myself “how sustainable is this?”
Having an overflowing closet with items that had been worn once or never been worn at all really made me think and realize firsthand how much money I was literally wasting and the damage my accumulation was causing the environment. But it also led me to building this platform because I know I am not alone. And we all need a means to give value and meaning to our closet. Renting is the way forward.
Renting gives us access to more options and choices in style and fashion and at a fraction of their retail price. Many of us “uhh” and “ahh” at those gorgeous dresses we see on runways at fashion shows. I would literally sit down for hours browsing online stores of my favourite designers; wishing I could wear them all. But with the price tags they command, some of us can only dream.
Well, not anymore. Not when you can rent these items at only a fraction of their prices. Renting provide you with access to those runway styles. And at the price you pay for rentals, you too can strut your “runway” without breaking the bank.
Let’s talk about trends. We don’t all follow trends, but if you do, how easy is it to keep up with trends? Trends move at an alarmingly fast rate and keeping up is just wasteful and frankly, near impossible. But not when you are renting. With rentals, the ease of adapting to changing trends becomes a reality. Platforms such as TUTNOD, Rent the Runway, Villageluxe, and Rent My Wardrobe keeps you abreast with the latest trends. These platforms keep a keen eye on the runways and refresh their collections so that you too can keep up with the trends.
If you are an influencer or a celebrity, you must be a brave heart to re-rock an item on social media. We know trolls never take a day off and will call you out. Which is rather unfortunate and irresponsible to expect someone to not wear an item of clothing more than once and shame them when they do. Like seriously, who are these people?
But it’s what social media has reduced people to. If you have an active social media account, you are probably spending a sizeable chunk of change on items you are likely to wear once. Renting is your solution and brings with it an array of styles and options to choose from. Best of all, you are not burdened with what to do with the item after use. Just wear, snap, post and return!
Renting allows us to be adventurous with our style. There are many styles I wouldn’t invest in because, well, they are way too adventurous for me. Although there have been times when I talked myself into buying some styles; confident that I’ll wear it and kill it. But most of these items have ended up at the back of my closet, never to see the light of day. Oh, the guilt!
Well, thanks to rentals, those styles I found way too adventurous will finally get a change at being worn by someone who identifies more with those styles and I no longer have to live with the guilt.
But hey, this doesn’t mean we cannot be adventurous with our style. In fact, renting gives us more room to be adventurous with style, colour, silhouette, etc. Because instead of buying and investing in these more adventurous pieces, we can rent them with absolutely no commitment attached. You only wear and return. How awesome is that?
Personally, the most important advantage of renting to me is the sustainable approach it brings to fashion. Fast pace fashion is possible because of low priced items made from material that harm our environment; forced or child labour who work under deplorable conditions to keep manufacturing prices low; low quality items which do not survive more than a one-time wear or pressure from social media that cause us to buy and wear items once. Fast fashion manufacturer produce these low priced items for a mass market, most of which end up in landfills. All these and the way we consume fashion have detrimental impacts on our environment and planet. And we really must care.
Renting provides a viable solution to some of these problems. Renting moves us away from buying fast fashion items to buying items which are made of more durable and safer materials, are made from best quality materials, can withstand frequent use and are long lasting. Luxury brands are also made under working conditions which are not exploiting but supporting. These important factors considered together, do not burden the environment as much as fast pace fashion does.
The advantages of renting are numerous. To each person, one reason may outweigh the other, but whatever reason you choose to rent rather than buy, one thing is always sure, you made the right choice.
