This episode originally aired in August, 2020.

Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall. 

In the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in fashion companies that offer to rent their clothes. These services have been touted as the perfect solution for environmentally-conscious fashionistas. But — are they really?

We had Luci Jones and Fatima Husain from our Possibly Team look into this. Welcome, Luci and Fatima! 

Luci Jones: Hi, Megan! 

Fatima Husain: Hello!

Megan Hall: So what exactly is rental fashion?

Luci Jones: To get some details, I spoke with Lynda Grose, the Chair of the Fashion Design program at the California College of the Arts. She defines it this way:

Lynda Grose: Rental fashion is taking garments, renting them, and then returning them so that then someone else could also rent them and return them, like a library system.

Megan Hall: So, what problem is rental fashion trying to solve? 

Luci Jones: Well, Lynda says, these days, most of us have closets with a super-fast metabolism, which means we often buy more clothing than we need and then get rid of our clothes before they wear out.      

Fatima Husain: American shoppers now consume 5 times more clothing than they did 40 years ago, even though the population has only gone up by 45%. We’re churning through clothes at an unprecedented rate.

Megan Hall: How does this approach to selling and buying clothing contribute to climate change?

Fatima Husain: According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which advocates for a less wasteful fashion industry, textile production makes up about 3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.

Megan Hall: Is rental fashion better? 

Luci Jones: Well, the idea is that rental fashion keeps existing clothes circulating for longer periods of time, so fewer materials are used to make new clothes, leading to fewer greenhouse gas emissions. 

Fatima Husain: But, it’s not clear that these companies ACTUALLY use less energy —

Megan Hall: Why not?

Luci Jones: Lauren Fay, founder of The New Fashion Initiative, says many of these companies aren’t transparent about their environmental impact. 

Lauren Fay: One of the Wild West elements of sustainable fashion is that there are claims that are being made that people are not necessarily being, you know, asked to elaborate on. 

Fatima Husain: So, we don’t have a lot of data to back up this idea that their practices reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But, here are some things to consider:

Luci Jones: These companies might be reusing clothing, but they’re also delivering those clothes back and forth, over and over again, which creates a lot of carbon emissions. 

Fatima Husain: Not only that, but in between each delivery, clothes have to be dry cleaned regardless of whether they’ve been worn or not, which requires a lot of energy and can produce hazardous waste.

Megan Hall: So, if I want to be less wasteful about the way I shop for clothes, should I try rental fashion or not?

Luci Jones: Well before you buy any clothes, Lauren says that you should do a little research. 

Lauren Fay: Dig into the individual brands and try to see what you can find out. And really, be a little bit skeptical.

Fatima Husain: See if the company uses recyclable packaging material and has warehouses close to where you live. You might also want to see if they do wet cleaning instead of dry cleaning.

Luci Jones: Ultimately though, she says it’s less about the service you use and it’s more about changing the way you consume clothing.

Lauren Fay: I used to throw around the word “need” a lot with clothing, and it’s actually like, do I really? You know, so for purchases, this is what I still do now- I wait 24 hours before actually buying things.

Fatima Husain: And she says, what’s even more sustainable is not buying new clothes at all. 

Luci Jones: So, the next time you need a fresh look, consider swapping with friends, repairing the clothes you already have — or even re-purposing them!

Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Luci and Fatima! That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to ThePublicsRadio.org/Possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. 

Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and the Public’s Radio.

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