Renting An Outfit: What's On The Market?

Renting clothes is exactly what it suggests, you rent an item of clothing and send it back by the return date. This type of service is a great way to reduce the amount of clothes people buy and only end up wearing once. Special occasion garments for events such as weddings, balls and parties are the perfect opportunity to try out renting! You get to wear a new outfit without it being left in your wardrobe for years! Today, there are a plethora of services that offer rentable clothing available for a few days or weeks. This post shares just some that are available in the UK.

HURR COLLECTIVE

RENT

With this service, you have the option of renting or lending clothes to other people. Hurr's website shares the simple steps in renting a garment. First, you browse the garments available and select what you wish to rent. After selecting your choice of clothing, picking a delivery date is the next step, which they advice to do a couple days before your event. As well as this, you will be asked how many days you wish to rent the garment for. When it's time to send back your item, you're required to send in its original packaging, if possible.

LEND

As well as a renting service, Hurr Collective offer an option to lend your own clothes to customers. Steps include uploading images of the clothes you wish to lend, set a service price and finally the location of the garment. Customers will have to request to hire your items, which you will then have the option to accept or decline. Following approval, the postage address of the customer will be sent to your email. Once the service has successfully been completed, the money will be sent to your bank account. Simple as!

HIRESTREET

Hirestreet are a "fashion rental platform committed to making style and sustainability accessible for all women." To make it easier for you to find a garment in your size and one that will be delivered within the time you required, Hirestreet have introduced an area to select size and delivery date, presented on the first page of their website. Thus, avoiding the chance of you searching through hundreds of items and finding that perfect dress before it happens to be unavailable (insert sad face). Using this tool is a simpler and effective way to ensure you get an outfit in your size and one that will arrive by your desired date.

This platform offers a range of fashion pieces, from highstreet to designer pieces. Hirestreet want to offer everyone the chance to wear high-end, designer clothing without spending the high prices. This is one of the many reasons renting a garment is a good practice to try out! You get to wear a fancy designer dress without the high price, but are also helping the environment by returning the garment once you're done wearing it, minimising the risk of the item being left in your wardrobe and later thrown in landfill.

ENDLESS WARDROBE

With Endless Wardrobe, you get three options to choose from when shopping on their website. Whether you want to buy something new, buy pre-loved or rent a garment, you can choose the preferred option for you. The first option is pretty simple. If you find an item you want to keep forever, then place it in your basket and buy! The buy nearly-new option are pre-rented items that have previously been cared for by the team at Endless Wardrobe. These items are typically discounted by 20% from the original price, allowing you to consciously make decisions when investing in a brand piece. And finally, if you are only wanting to borrow a garment, you have the option of doing so for 4, 10 or 16 days. Concerned about damaging your rented garment? Well fear not as all rentals are covered for damages (yep, even those red wine stains).

That's not all, if you fall in love with your rented garment, you have the option to keep it! Simply select 'buy this rental' and it's yours forever, after checkout of course. If you have a change of heart and don't actually end up wearing the rented garment, you are entitled to a full refund upon return.

BY ROTATION

There's an app for pretty much everything in todays world of technology, so its no surprise that the next rental service is a mobile app by By Rotation. This service is the UK's leading peer-to-peer fashion rental app who offer luxury designer clothes and accessories from top brands in the UK. The app is free to download and all you need to do is create an account, where you will then discover your new favourite lenders around you, taking a peek at what they have available to rent in their wardrobes.

If you are looking to lend your clothes to other app users, this can be done in three simple steps. Firstly, you will list an item on the app. Once you get a request from another user who is interested in renting your item, you have the option of accepting or declining the offer. If its a go ahead, simply send the item and you will receive the money within 5-7 days after the rental period is complete.

There are many options to try if you are looking to venture into the renting market and hopefully one of the services in this post has appealed to you. Could this be the future of how we wear clothes?

Sabrina Cowper | Reform Your Fashion