The promise was so compelling: by renting designer clothing instead of buying new, fashion lovers could enjoy variety without contributing to landfills. Platforms like Rent the Runway and Nuuly exploded in popularity, buoyed by studies showing that renting reduces an item’s carbon footprint by 30%. But three years into the rental boom, a more complicated truth has emerged—one that challenges the very premise of sustainable fashion.
The cracks began showing when Rent the Runway’s 2023 sustainability report revealed an inconvenient truth: their carbon emissions had actually increased by 18% year-over-year. The culprit? A combination of dry cleaning chemicals, packaging waste, and the constant cross-country shipping required to keep inventory circulating. Suddenly, the environmental math didn’t seem so straightforward.
“Rental only works when items are rented many times over,” explains Dr. Lucy Norris, a textile waste researcher at London College of Fashion. “But our data shows the average rental garment gets just 8-10 wears before being retired due to staining or wear—nowhere near enough to offset its production impact.” This creates a perverse incentive where rental companies must constantly refresh their inventory, leading to overproduction masked as sustainability.
The psychological factor may be even more damaging. Behavioral studies indicate that rental customers often treat clothing more carelessly than owned items, knowing they won’t bear long-term consequences for stains or damage. A 2024 ThredUp survey found that rental users were 60% more likely to discard clothing after single-use than traditional shoppers—the exact opposite of the intended effect.
Perhaps most troubling is how rental has been co-opted by fast fashion brands. Shein’s recent foray into rental has been particularly controversial. “They’re producing even more cheaply made garments, banking on the fact that no single user will wear them enough to notice the poor quality,” says sustainable fashion advocate Aja Barber. “It’s greenwashing on an industrial scale.”
But there are glimmers of hope. Smaller, localized rental services like By Rotation (which operates peer-to-peer rather than corporate inventory) show significantly better sustainability metrics. Some high-end designers have introduced take-back programs where rented pieces are eventually disassembled and recycled. And a new wave of cleaning technology, including CO2-based processes that use 80% less water, could mitigate rental’s environmental toll.
The solution may lie in rethinking the model entirely. “Instead of mass rental, we need a hybrid approach,” suggests Norris. “Buy fewer high-quality pieces, rent for true special occasions, and support brands designing for circularity from the outset.” Brands like Eileen Fisher and Patagonia now offer repair services and secondhand sales alongside rentals, creating closed-loop systems.
As consumers grow savvier about sustainability claims, the fashion industry faces a reckoning. Rental isn’t inherently bad—but like any tool, its impact depends entirely on implementation. The path forward requires radical transparency, better technology, and most importantly, a shift in mindset from endless novelty to thoughtful consumption. The planet can’t afford half-measures disguised as revolution.
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