A rise in luxury fashion rentals & sustainability

The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted a rise in the rental market and likeminded sustainable practices, as customers now have a new mindset when it comes to luxury fashion.

As we know, the Coronavirus resulted in large gatherings such as weddings, birthdays, family occasions and everything in between being put on hold in order to help manage this outbreak at mass scale. With additional restrictions in place, lockdowns around the world sparked a negative impact on every imaginable level across many businesses, especially when it came to the fashion industry in particular; production ceased, retailers closed, demand plummeted. Infact, the BBC even reported that back in March clothes sales alone dropped by 34% and The Guardian also suggested that there is an estimated €140bn to €160bn gigantic mound of excess stock, accumulated from fast fashion spring/summer collections.

 

Today, as the world starts to open back up again and events resume, many consumers are still faced with the same or similar  financial restraints and have a new outlook when it comes to seasonal trends. If anything, this period of self-reflection prompted a change in how and where people spend their money, but also amped up how consumers engage with fashion overall and the environmental impacts that follow such purchases.

Whether it’s rental, vintage or an investment piece that they'll wear over and over again, consumers today seem more sustainably supportive than ever before. As now their lifestyles have changed, so has their consumption habits. With people waking up to the damaging reality of the impact from fast fashion brands like Boohoo or Pretty Little Thing, in some ways Covid-19 positively changed how we buy, reflect on the things we have, and how little we need. 

We recently published a piece focused on how the fashion industry is doing its part in celebration for Earth Day, highlighting how luxury brands are doing their best to adjust business models, to focus more on quality than quantity when it comes to their production process.

At Amrika, we help support sustainability throughout our daily practice, from eco-friendly and recyclable packaging to minimising waste by selling online. Such planet conscious steps help potentially limit transport emissions and costs at scale while certainly reducing electricity that is used to keep physical shops running.

We’ve also always admired the timeless classics, which have a modern twist so the modern consumers can still get the best out of these beautiful, handcrafted indo-western designs and style them for any occasion whilst feeling empowered by their purchase habits as they benefit artisans all over the world, who embody these same values in order to preserve nature at it’s finest.

From a rental perspective we’ve also partnered with third party suppliers to help us recycle outdated collections and reach a new market at the same time. With this market space alone expected to reach a value of US$ 2.08 Billion by 2025, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.7% during 2020-2025 we hope such suitable models will continue to blossom overtime.

If you would like to learn more about our sustainable practice or have any advice for how we can improve our approach, please reach out to our customer care team today; atyourservice@amrika.co.uk