Streetwear rental pop-up to open at Westfield Stratford

Westfield Stratford City is launching a new concept store, The Drop, which will allow shoppers to rent athleisure fashion, to raise money for Save the Children’s Big Up Uganda initiative.

The rental pop-up will be curated by celebrity stylist Alizé Demange who has hand-picked streetwear items from brands including Nike, Alpha Industries, Champion, G-Star, Liam Hodges, Marques Almeida, Polaroid, Savage Sister, Stone Idlans, St Moritz, and What We Wear.

The announcement comes as new research from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield reveals that almost 60 percent of 16-34 year olds are interested in renting special edition streetwear items, and 2 in 5 Brits have queued outside a store or waited for a drop online when purchasing them, with trainers being the most popular hyped items, followed by outerwear and bags.

On average, 16-34 year olds stated that they would be willing to pay 66 pounds to rent their dream fashion item for a week and their biggest motivation to rent clothing is to save money, although 14 percent say the most important reason is sustainability.

The Drop will be open at Westfield Stratford from December 6 to 16, and follows on from the success of last year’s ‘Style Trial’, the UK’s first-ever rental pop-up launched at Westfield London.

All profits from the pop-up will go towards Save the Children’s Big Up Uganda initiative led by ambassador Adwoa Aboah and her best friend, Felix Cooper. The initiative will help provide children with access to psycho-social support, training teachers and equipping schools, building child-friendly spaces, supporting women and girls and building support networks for families within refugee camps in Uganda.

Westfield Stratford City is anchored by leading UK retailers John Lewis, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer, and is home to over 350 stores, including Arket, Weekday, Uniqlo, Zara, Superdry, Missguided and Lindex. In 2017, the centre attracted more 49,5 million visitors and generated 1.2 billion pounds in retail sales.

Image: courtesy of Westfield Stratford - Marques Almeida puff coat.