March 24 2019

Rent Clothes to End Disposable Fashion

Armoire Conscious Consumption, Everything, Reasons to Rent 1

Stop Buying “Fast Fashion”

Rent clothes and wear more high quality fabrics. Stop buying disposable clothing. The human cost of making disposable fashion at ever lower cost and higher volume is staggering. A quick google search of the garment industry and “fast fashion” will send you down a rabbit hole of deplorable labor conditions resulting in injury and sometimes death. Bangladesh is the second largest global producer of garments after China. While China’s garment factory workers make $250-$300/month, in Bangladesh they make only $95/month. Importantly of the over 4 million people employed in the garment industry in Bangladesh, most are women. If this isn’t enough to make you stop buying disposable clothing, stop and think about the impact on the environment.

We are all aware that polyester is the preferred material of “fast fashion” due to its low cost, versatility and wrinkle-free properties. Did you also know each time polyester items are washed, plastic microfibers shed from these items and enter into the water supply. These fibers then end up harming marine life and in the fish we eat. Throwing away your disposable clothing isn’t a better option. Since polyester is a petroleum-based fiber, it takes more than 200 years to decompose in landfills. Textile dyeing is also the second largest polluter of clean water globally.

Quality Over Quanity

Instead of buying “fast fashion” that gets thrown out in under a year, rent high quality items instead. While quality clothing is more expensive due to materials and labor cost, disposable fashion isn’t the answer for spending less on clothing. We all have different clothing needs for work and weekend, but rent instead to get both breadth and quality. Before the growth of “fast fashion” consumers didn’t purchase items to wear once and toss out. It’s estimated that consumers are buying 60% more clothing than they did in 2000 and also disposing most of these items within a year. Brands that make these low quality items also spend millions on advertising that promise new styles at extremely low prices.

Ignore the ads promising Buy 1 Get 1 Free, Free with Purchase and 90% OFF. Disposable clothing shouldn’t be a thing you support. Renting is a better way to support quality manufacturing and still get great style on a budget. The cost of renting is significantly less than purchasing high quality items and about the same as buying “fast fashion” without the closet pollution.

Buy Less and Wear More

Most of us have too much stuff, including clothing. Take a look at your closet. I’m sure it’s filled with high quality items you haven’t worn in months, maybe years. Most of us keep items in our closet way past the expiration date. How many times have you looked at something and said “this is too good to giveaway and I might wear it again” and then donated it a year or two later? Feel good about wearing high quality ruffled silk tops, cashmere animal print sweaters, wool floral blazers, bright pattern dress or pink sequin joggers. Don’t buy them, just rent them. Wear them once or twice, but send them back for someone else to rent. Don’t send more items to a dumpster or the back of your closet to be given away at a future date.

Nine more reasons you should rent clothes here.

TRY IT NOW

1 Comment

Rent Brass Clothing - The Curated Column from Armoire
March 29, 2019 @ 7:48 am

[…] they joined forces to create a new fashion brand for women. They wanted an alternative to fast fashion but also couldn’t afford designer labels. When designing clothing, they stick with five […]