Some of Burberry’s most iconic pieces, like the brand’s trench coats, are now available as clothing rentals. — AFP pic
NEW YORK, Dec 10 — The British luxury fashion house is continuing its efforts to make fashion more circular by adding clothing rentals to its services, in partnership with the My Wardrobe HQ platform. While helping to mitigate fashion’s impact on the planet, this initiative also allows access to the brand’s must-have pieces at a lower cost.
Whether it’s buying second-hand, recycling, repairing, upcycling or clothing rental, all these alternatives to traditional fashion could help significantly reduce the fashion industry’s environmental footprint. And this is a matter of urgency, according to a McKinsey report, produced in partnership with the Global Fashion Agenda, and released last year, which estimates the emissions from this rapidly changing sector to reach 2.7 billion tonnes per year by 2030. Many fashion companies are now tackling the problem head on, offering new approaches to the way we consume fashion.
One such company is Burberry, which is now branching out into clothing rental, a fast-growing market worldwide. The luxury fashion house has partnered with the My Wardrobe HQ platform to offer some of its most iconic pieces, including the famous trench coat, for rent for a minimum of four days, and up to 14 consecutive days. And, if your rental item is just too good to give up, it’s also possible to buy a given product used, at a more affordable price than buying it new.
The service is relatively simple to use. Just go to the Burberry collection page on the My Wardrobe HQ website, and choose the piece(s) you want to wear daily, for a night out, or a special event. The choice is quite comprehensive, from scarves to trench coats, T-shirts, dresses, pants and sneakers to several handbags. There’s enough to build a complete Burberry outfit, in fact. Once you’ve made your selection, all you have to do is select the duration of the rental (4, 7, 10 or 14 days) and proceed to the checkout, unless you prefer to buy your item(s) directly second-hand.
For example, one of the brand’s iconic trench coats, which retails at GBP1,750 new, can be rented for GBP29 a day (so GBP115 for four days), or bought second-hand for GBP875. And the service seems to be popular, since some pieces are already unavailable only a few hours after the service launched. Note too that 40 per cent of each transaction will be donated to the Smart Works charity, which works to help get women back into the job market. — ETX Studio