Thanks to rising awareness about sustainability, the apparel rental market is set to see a growth of 101.2 per cent to US $ 9.9 billion between 2022 and 2026. Forecasting this, GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Global Apparel Rental Market and Forecasts to 2026’ has revealed that between 2016 and 2022, the rental apparel market grew by 89.3 per cent to US $ 4.9 billion.
GlobalData is a leading data and analytics company.
The report says that as consumers strive to reduce their fashion consumption to become more sustainable, they are becoming increasingly involved in the circular economy. More are turning to rental operators like Rent the Runway and Hirestreet, rather than purchasing brand new items that they will only wear once, with 8.6 per cent of UK clothing shoppers renting apparel for Christmas 2022.
Pippa Stephens, Apparel Analyst at GlobalData says, “Though rental suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic as events were cancelled, consumers had little reason to rent occasionwear. The boom in weddings and other formal occasions in 2022 hugely boosted demand, with spend rebounding above pre-pandemic levels.”
More brands and retailers are also getting involved, including H&M, which introduced rental to its London flagship, and Flannels, which launched its own rental platform in November 2022.
The report also highlights that the emergence of new rental platforms like By Rotation and Nuuly since 2019 has driven the apparel rental market’s growth over the past few years, alongside the fact that many operators have started to introduce other product segments which are worn infrequently or have a short life span, such as skiwear or childrenswear.
However, this segment will be limited by hygiene and fit concerns, as well as rental’s focus on occasionwear and formalwear, which have both fallen out of favour among consumers because of the casualisation trend. It is also often difficult for operators to become profitable due to high delivery, maintenance and cleaning costs, meaning it is likely that some players will struggle to survive.
