January 4th, 2023, Clifton Mark
There are plenty of reasons not to buy new clothes. They cost money and wardrobe space may be scarce. Many consumers are also worried about the environmental impact of the fashion industry, while others just dislike shopping. Yet even if people may not want to buy new clothes, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to wear new clothes.
Clothing rental and subscription services provide consumers with new looks without requiring them to purchase the garments. The most well-known clothing rental business is probably the US-based Rent the Runway, founded in 2009, and this business model is growing with M&S recently offering capsule wardrobes to subscribers via UK brand, Hirestreet. But how many Britons are interested in renting their clothes? How many are even aware of these services?
A recent survey on YouGov Omnibus asked 2006 Britons whether they’re aware of clothes rental services, whether they’d use one and why they would be interested.
A majority (58%) of Britons have at least heard of clothing rental services and of those who’ve heard of them 6% have already used one and another 9% intend to do so in the future. Men are three times more likely to have used them before (9%) than women (3%) - perhaps related to the existing wedding hire business. However more women (37%) than men (30%) who haven’t used them are interested in doing so in the future.
That said, the data shows that the majority of Britons are not interested in renting their clothes. Whether they’d heard of such services prior to the survey or not, 66% say they wouldn’t want to use them in the future. This indicates that, at the present moment, most consumers believe that renting clothes is not for them. However, YouGov asked those who are interested in clothing rental when they would use them.
Those who are interested cite several different reasons for renting clothes. The most common is to save money, at 51%, followed by reducing environmental impact at 41%. However, large portions of consumers also cite expanding their fashion choices (23%) and saving wardrobe space (20%). This was especially true of women, of whom 28% would rent clothes to expand their fashion selection and 25% to save wardrobe space compared to 15% and 12% of men, respectively.
While many Britons do not think they’ll use clothing rental services, a significant portion are interested for a variety of reasons. Coupled with relatively low awareness, this suggests significant room for growth in this business model.
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YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. This study was conducted online on 28-29 November, 2022 with a nationally representative sample of 2006 adults in Great Britain (aged 18+), using a questionnaire designed by YouGov. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.
Photo by David Lezcano on Unsplash