Sustainable Wardrobes for Kids: Embracing the Rental Revolution
In the future, parents will rent rather than buy various items for their children. This shift is driven by the development of new rental services designed to save parents time, money, and closet space. The accumulation of outgrown items in our children’s closets, which occupy space and lose value, is a common concern.
As parents, we often feel that our closets can never be spacious enough.
Currently, forward-thinking companies are collaborating with early adopters to create convenient and affordable solutions. These initiatives aim to encourage parents to alter their consumption habits, addressing one of today’s major issues: the overconsumption and underutilisation of children’s products.
As an early adopter and long-time sustainability advocate, I have been renting everyday clothing items for my two young daughters since the summer of 2023, both in Estonia, my home country, and in London, where I currently reside. For me, the benefits of renting are clear, especially when it comes to managing outgrown items without worrying about storage, donation, or sale, thereby saving time and space.
This shift in consumption habits, especially after becoming a parent, highlights the importance of reevaluating the necessity of purchasing new children’s clothes and the potential benefits of renting an entire wardrobe for our kids. Although not everything is rentable yet, the future seems promising in this regard.
With these challenges in mind, my co-founder Kristiina and I founded The Rewear Company, embodying a fresh approach to children’s consumption of clothes. A marketplace that stands out from other rental services by catering to the community needs. We address the garments that children outgrow but are still in good condition, promoting a shift away from disposable clothing. We’ve launched the pilot platform and listed 5000+ good-quality products on behalf of our users to date.
Because there are a lot of good-quality clothes that children outgrow, taking space and losing value in our closets.
I also believe that offering time and cost-saving benefits, alongside the environmental benefits, is the key to growing the rental market, offering parents a practical alternative to buying. Our standard pricing model includes a monthly rental fee that is, on average, 15% of the RRP and a symbolic service fee that covers garment insurance, shipping, and cleaning. For example, renting four dresses for two months can result in significant savings compared to buying new:
*Dress A (very good), 4.50€ / mo, RRP 31.99€
*Dress B (very good), 2.50€/mo, RRP 17.99€
*Dress C (new), 4.60€/mo, RRP 48€
*Dress D (very good), 2.90€/mo, RRP 19.99€
*Service fee 4.90€/mo
Total cost (2 months) is 38.80€ (RRP 118€) — saving you 67% (79.20€).
The savings grow when renting more items or when swapping more often. Additionally, we offer 50% off from rental fees when subscribing to rent kids outerwear for 6 months.
“Such an incredible idea how to save money and our planet at the same time. Everything was so much easier than I thought!” Heelia Sillamaa.
The Little Loop children’s clothes rental service in the UK also offers a time and money-saving benefit if your rent a brand new item for up to 6 months. My current experience with their service has resulted in approximately a 40% saving over six months period when renting 5 garments a month and swapping 2 items after 4 months of usage.
Renting children’s clothes can also offer families an effective way to save money, emphasising a shift towards more financially savvy and sustainable consumption.
For those yet unfamiliar, I’m a mother of two wonderful daughters and an Estonian entrepreneur living in the UK. I launched my first business when I was 17 years old, and for more than 10 years, I have been passionately working towards a sustainable fashion industry. Thus, the quest for a greener future in fashion has become my personal and professional mission. As another year passes, my commitment to providing a sustainable solution for children’s clothing remains strong.
The vision is not just about building a rental service but delving more deeply into the issues of the children’s clothing industry and innovating. We understand that parents have the least time to deal with outgrown clothes. We also understand that quality children’s products are very expensive, and we, as parents, don’t really want to give away our valuable stuff for free, nor should we. We believe we’ve cracked the formula for building the first successful rental business in partnership with the community. Today, we have proven that the parents’ community loves our concept, and it’s time to take the business to the next level. Please follow our journey, try rental in 2024, and stay tuned for more updates!
“The Rewear Company is solution for many problems in this world.
I had great experience trying out the rental service.” Birgit.
Written by Ines Karu-Salo, a mother of 2, impact entrepreneur and researcher, co-founder and co-CEO of The Rewear Company.
