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19 Rental Platforms To Borrow From For Party Season

12 months ago

A Chanel co-ord at a fraction of the retail price? Don't mind if we do...

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19 Rental Platforms To Borrow From For Party Season

Wondering how you can reduce your carbon footprint in fashion – but stay stylish? Read on for the luxury rental platforms taking vintage shopping to new heights.

The Country & Town House Responsible Buyers’ Guide

Fast fashion is playing a seminal role in destroying our planet, polluting our oceans and generating a staggering 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year (more than all international flights). The sartorial shame is real. While reconciling luxury fashion with sustainability is a tough gig in itself, the dizzying rise of rental and resale sites, paired with a fine vintage renaissance is certainly a step in the right direction.

With social media placing an expiry date on luxury pieces and the likes of Airbnb, Netflix and Uber opening the sharing and subscription economy floodgates, British consumers have never been more open to leasing high end fashion. As long as dry cleaning and delivery impact is scrutinised, rental fashion reduces waste, improves the life-span of clothing and reduces custodians’ fabric footprint with a more circular economy. If a monthly cocktail of Simone Rocha dresses, Fendi ski suits and Carven coats sounds appealing, consider signing on to one of the rental services below. Just steer clear of the red wine…

Brilliant Rental Platforms To Try In 2023

thelittleloop

Offers: Kidswear

Best For: Kidswear Subscriptions

Created with the goal of helping parents keep up with their rapidly growing children, thelittleloop is somewhat of a household name when it comes to rental kidswear. The brand famously appeared on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneur Deborah Meaden invested in the company, and the platform has only grown since. thelittleloop is home to a huge range of kidswear brands, from John Lewis to Rachel Riley, and prices reflect the condition of each item (when they can no longer be passed on they are are broken down and recycled in the UK). You can opt for a monthly subscription plan starting at £18, which enables you to rent roughly six or seven products at a time with unlimited swaps.

thelittleloop.com

Bundlee

Offers: Kidswear

Best For: Rotating Kids’ Wardrobes

Parents have a whole other sustainability dilemma to deal with: growing children. That’s why Eve Kekeh founded Bundlee, a kidswear clothing rental platform which allows mums and dads to sign up to a subscription platform. Choose the plan that fits your family, and conscious clothes for little ones will be delivered to your door when you need them. When your child outgrows an item, simply swap it for the next size up; the smaller size will then be cleaned and passed on to another family. All clothes are made in the UK from soft Oeko-Tex cotton, and in the personalised subscription you can choose premium pieces to rent from brands like MORI and Little Riley Studio.

bundlee.co.uk

BagButler

Offers: Accessories

Best For: Designer Bag Rental

Want to get your hands on the latest luxury bags and accessories for a fraction of the price? London-based rental service BagButler lets you do just that, giving shoppers the opportunity to rent classic bags from heritage brands from just £160. Ideal if you want to chase the latest trends without breaking the bank – or giving in to wasteful shopping habits – BagButler is ready to welcome you to the rental revolution.

bagbutler.co.uk

Anya Hindmarch Rental

Offers: Accessories

Best For: Quirky Bags With Lots Of Character

British accessories brand Anya Hindmarch has just launched its very own rental platform, with a curated selection of hero designs, new pieces and archived favourites from past seasons. The service, which encourages users to rent their bag of choice for the night, also offers the chance to buy each rented item secondhand afterwards – for a fraction of the usual retail price.

reanyahindmarch.com

Harrods x My Wardrobe HQ

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Occasionwear

One of the world’s most famous luxury department stores, Harrods, is launching its own fashion rental service. Running in partnership with My Wardrobe HQ – the company that supplied Carrie Johnson’s wedding dress – the range will focus on ‘elevated event-wear’, including statement pieces by designers like Huishan Zhang, Rotate, Roksanda and Zimmermann. You’ll be able to rent items for between four and 14 days.

harrods.com

Woman in designer clothing stood outside on phone

Reselfridges

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Numerous Designer Options

Selfridges continues to lead from the front when it comes to disrupting traditional retail. As well as working with The Restory (for repairing your old Chanel) and Hurr Collective (for dress rental), they’ve now launched a pre-loved fashion section both in store in The Corner Shop and online. Soon, you’ll be able to sell your vintage pieces with them too.

selfridges.com

Fenwick x Front Row London

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: In-Person Shopping

British department store Fenwick has teamed up with Front Row London to launch an exclusive rental service in its Bond Street and Newcastle stores. Available from June 2022, the collaboration brings designers from the runway straight to stores, with a curated edit of styles from established and up-and-coming designers.

fenwick.co.uk

SKIIM Paris

Offers: Clothing

Best For: Quality Clothing

SKIIM Paris is known for their attention to craftsmanship and zero waste, producing high-end womenswear that is both contemporary and made to last. But what some people may not realise is that SKIIM Paris also offers a rental service, Rent The Look, which allows users access to pieces from the brand’s archives. Designer delivered right to your door.

skiim-paris.com

Endless Wardrobe | Alexa Chung Kimono Dress

Endless Wardrobe

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Rental & Shopping

The first ‘three-way shop’ platform (rent, buy new and purchase pre-loved), Endless Wardrobe is on a mission to transform the way we consume fashion into a more sustainable and circular concept. Founded by two friends, Hannah and Rosie – who have spent many years sharing clothes – the platform features a range of coveted brands, from Free People to Alexa Chung, Whistles and De La Vali (where you can rent a luxe mini dress for four days for around £45), with the aim of making designer and luxury fashion more affordable, and more importantly, eco-friendly.

endlesswardrobe.com

Two women sat together on green and gold background

The Devout

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Affordable Subcriptions

Rental subscription service The Devout offers its customers rental options starting at £40 and subscription tiers starting at £39 a month, which includes access to big name brands like House of Sunny and Whistles. The platform also has the option to try a monthly 10-item package for £99 a month (10 rental items a month for under £100? Yes, please.), allowing users to find the outfit of their dreams at a more affordable price. Items are shipped via carbon neutral couriers, and packaging is made used compostable materials and water-based ink.

thedevout.com

Girl Meets Dress

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Pay-As-You-Go Memberships

With a pay-as-you-go or membership option, Girl Meets Dress is Europe’s leading fashion rental site on a mission to build a ‘wardrobe in the cloud’. Founding the company in 2009, Anna Bance pins the new borrowing norm on the rise of the experience economy where trips are prioritised over expensive designer dresses, along with an increasing consumer conscience and responsible shopping mentality. Ideal for occasion wear from weddings to the races, shoppers can order dresses as far in advance as they wish – there is no limit.

girlmeetsdress.com

Front Row

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Designer Labels

Shika Bodani launched Front Row, London’s first luxury designer rental service, in 2016, spotting a gap in the market for a high-end fashion wardrobe on rotation. Bodani saw the fashion influencer culture as key to peddling the sartorial shift and endeavoured to bring America’s rental success stories to the UK, enabling clients instant access to the hottest designers and trends for a fraction of the retail price.

The platform now offers a shared ownership model for luxury bags, where groups of people can own one piece together by investing a 20 percent share. Find out how it works here.

frontrow.uk.com

Rent the Runway

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Designer Partnerships

Lauded for leading the charge on the rental fashion movement, Rent the Runway was founded in 2009 by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss in the US and began by offering women low rental fees for designer dresses. The company recently graduated to two ‘membership’ models, now with over 550 designer partners offering pieces for a plethora of occasions and even exclusive capsule collections for Rent the Runway.

renttherunway.com

By Rotation

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Luxury Occasionwear

Eshita Kabra-Davies founded this fashion rental app following a trip to her native home, Rajasthan in India, where the devastating impact of textile waste became more evident than ever. Making luxury items more affordable, accessible and naturally kinder to the planet, the platform is ideal for when you’re in need of a one-off occasion dress, or that designer bag you’ve always wanted (but aren’t quite ready to splash out on). The brand has also partnered with boutique hotel collection Page 8 to offer hotel guests a unique rental concierge service this summer, where a series of luxury pre-loved items will be available to rent (delivered to the room in under 90 minutes or less) – so you can be sure to pack light.

byrotation.com

Rotaro

Offers: Clothing

Best For: Designer Collaborations

Luxury rental platform Rotaro routinely teams with big names and brands to offer customers a curated selection of rentable clothing items and accessories. Previous collaborators include RIXO, Rejina Pyo, Alexa Chung and Max Mara, and new names are added to its impressive roster regularly.

rotaro.co.uk

My Wardrobe HQ

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Secondhand Shopping Options

Launched in 2019, this fashion-pack favourite quickly amassed an impressive catalogue of top designer brands, from heavyweights like Chanel, Gucci and Prada to newer labels like RIXO, Dodo Bar Or and GANNI. Members can enjoy an extended rental period – up to 14 days – and, if they find themselves falling for the piece, buy it outright. Surely the chicest way to ‘try before you buy’.

mywardrobehq.com

The Prince and Princess of Wales and Rami Malek at The Earthshot Prize

HURR Collective

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Event-Specific Clothing Edits

HURR Collective is becoming a bit of a household name when it comes to renting a super luxe wardrobe for a fraction of the price. On its website, you’ll find peer-to-peer listings as well as items directly from brands and department stores, and even fun seasonal edits if you’re in need of some inspiration.

The rental platform has even kitted out the royals for public events; the Princess of Wales was spotted in in a green Solace London gown that she rented from HURR for the Earthshot Prize 2022 awards ceremony in Boston. You can rent the exact dress she wore here (it’s currently available in sizes UK 4 to 16).

hurrcollective.com

Image: BBC/The Earthshot Prize/Pip Cowley (Photographer: Pip Cowley / Image copyright: The Earthshot)

Rites

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Designer Edits

The ultimate try-before-you-buy, Rites doubles up as a rental and resale platform from which you can borrow and buy from your favourite designer labels for a fraction of the original cost. From Gucci and Prada to Ganni and Rejina Pyo, there’s plenty of options to choose from to give your wardrobe a small facelift.

rites.co

For The Creators

Offers: Clothes & Accessories

Best For: Maternity Clothing

Set up by first-time mum Lyndsay Mason in 2020, For The Creators is a rental platform specialising in beautiful, well-made clothing for those at every stage of pregnancy (an the moments that follow). Keen to avoid the traps of sending maternity clothes to landfill not long after buying them, Lyndsay wanted to create a service that could help women look and feel great while offering up a more circular option for this area of the fashion industry. You can use FTC for one-off rentals or sign up to the subscription service for a monthly plan that includes access to the entire collection for 40 percent off.

forthecreators.co

Featured image: By Rotation