Online fashion rental market to grow over 10 percent annually

The online fashion rental market is expected to grow more than 10 percent year-on-year until 2027, fueled by ever sustainability-conscious consumers, declining spending power and continuing supply chain disruption.

The online garment rental market is predicted to develop as the e-commerce sector expands, notably in Asia Pacific, indicates a recent report by Coherent Market Insights.

Other market experts expect the global online clothing rental market to reach a value of 2.08 billion dollars by 2025, after surpassing the 1.26 billion dollars mark in 2019.

The unstoppable e-commerce’s expansion, rising urban population with higher fashion consciousness, the desire to wear designer apparel without actually owning them so to keep up with rapidly changing fashion trend and the increasing awareness regarding sustainable clothing and positive environmental effects of sharing and reusing apparel are the key drivers for this market’s bonanza.

Market fragmentation and lack of societal acceptance or consumers’ knowledge might hinder the online fashion rental ascend. In India, for example, businesses like Clothing Rental are looking for creative solutions such as providing the same product in many sizes so that customers can select the best fit without having to guess their actual size.

Facing a highly fragmented market (mainly due to the presence of many un-organised producers supplying non-branded and low-cost products), key players in the space are focusing on new launches and alliances. For example, in August 2020, Selfridges entered the apparel rental market, offering designer items for rent in order to appeal to younger, environmentally conscious shoppers. The company teamed up with HURR, an online fashion rental marketplace, to provide 100 items from about 40 different fashion brands for up to 20 days. Sacha Newall, CEO and co-founder of the UK’s first fashion rental marketplace, My Wardrobe HQ, explained in an interview with ‘The Guardian’ how they saw a 50 percent increase in stock listed by brands and private lenders last year, coinciding with people having time to reflect and review their own wardrobes during months’ worth of lockdowns.