fashion rental economy

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a business model and economic system in which clothing is accessed through subscription services, peer-to-peer platforms, or event-based rental rather than purchased and owned, enabling consumers to wear a greater variety of garments while reducing the total number of items produced and the amount of textile waste generated; fashion rental platforms such as Rent the Runway, By Rotation, and Hurr Collective allow subscribers to access designer and luxury garments for special occasions or everyday wear at a fraction of the purchase price, increasing the utilisation rate of each garment; the rental model is considered a potential pathway toward reducing the environmental footprint of fashion by sharing the use of individual garments among multiple users, though its net environmental benefit depends on whether it genuinely displaces new purchases or simply adds rental consumption on top of existing buying behaviour