Rental platform Onloan pauses operations

Fashion rental subscription service Onloan, which offers monthly membership packages, has announced that it is pausing operations, citing the pandemic, stock issues, difficulties in fundraising and HMRC legislation around leasing.

Onloan co-founder and chief executive Tamsin Chislett and co-founder and creative director Natalie Hasseck, said on the brand’s Instagram: “We have some big news and sadly not the good kind - Onloan is pausing operations. We built a pioneering rental service we are so proud of but the timings of the pandemic plus some nuts HMRC legislation around leasing (we won’t bore you with the details) has made it super tricky for us to fundraise and grow Onloan to the next level.”

Onloan entered the fashion rental market with two monthly membership packages, giving consumers the option to rent two items worth 500 pounds for 69 pounds a month or four items for 99 pounds featuring pieces worth up to 1,000 pounds. They also offer pre-loved favourites from the Onloan wardrobe on its sister platform, Offloan.

The statement continued to add: “Where we nailed the service, the piece of the rental puzzle we have not yet cracked is how to finance the clothes to grow Onloan to the next level. We’re sure you could all see from browsing the site we were too frequently out of stock with our best pieces out on loan all the time.

"Pausing goes against everything we've been taught in hard and fast "start-up school" - but the fashion industry has been dictated by speed for far too long and from our view it's not going well. It's time to take a minute and reflect before moving forward." Onloan also informed followers that February would be the last month that users would be able to rent items and that its entire wardrobe would be available to buy as pre-loved until mid-March from Offloan.

In November 2021, Onloan opened its first ‘Loanerville’ pop-up to showcase its edit of contemporary designers including Mother of Pearl, Shrimps, Joseph, Sea NY and Stine Goya, alongside panel discussions on sustainability and workshops.