CAN SUSTAINABILITY & PROFITABILITY CO-EXIST IN FASHION

As we all know, as soon as it became ‘cool’ to be sustainable, brands jumped on the sustainability bandwagon, often ‘greenwashing’ their campaigns or true sustainability efforts.

Why the greenwashing you may ask… it isn’t always profitable to be sustainable, or make large company changes such as where your garments are made, or who makes them for that matter. Put simply, larger corporations who have structured their business around unsustainable and unethical practices have made a lot of money through this exploitation. Change often comes slowly and at an initial price to business, which is often one of the key reasons businesses won’t change.

Most large corporations will be looking for any and every way to cut costs whether it’s less quality fabrics, cheap labour or harmful processes. So the golden question remains, can sustainability and profitability co-exist in fashion?

Rntr. is challenging this narrative by showing brands how sustainable fashion CAN be profitable if we rethink the way in which we share and give access to fashion. Overproducing trend-focused designs can be mitigated by offering rental of those more ‘occasion wear’ pieces so that the life cycle of each garment is extended and everyday/staple pieces can be rented over and over again so the brand is actually gaining re-peat renters rather than one time sales.

With Rntr. brands not only get to access our rental software and facilitation, but it also teaches them about the garments, the wear of them and their ultimate lifecycle, which we hope in turn changes the way in which brands think about producing clothing.

The challenge for the fashion world and many purpose-driven brands is to find a balance between sustainability AND profitability long-term, and we hope Rntr. is a large part of that solution. We believe a circular economy AND the concept of rental offers brands those profit margins without sacrificing the planet (or the consumers wallet).

Want to learn more about signing up to Rntr. as a brand? Head here. Looking for the perfect rental for your next wardrobe refresh, event, or hectic-life week? Rent here.