H & M plans to test clothing rental service for environmental purposes

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It can be hard to wean oneself off of fast fashion for many reasons, including lower prices, more options, and store ubiquity, so H&M, one of the world's clothing giants, is trying out new strategies for smarter shopping.

As of yesterday, consumers could rent garments for 350 kronor (US$36.65) a week in a refurbished flagship store on Sergels Torg in central Stockholm.

H&M follows its competitors Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters, who both launched similar services earlier this year to tap into a market that reached $ 1 billion in 2018. Websites such as Vinted and Hurr Collective are expanding in Europe, offering consumers a way to sell or rent used clothes.

The Swedish company will first be testing out the initiative in its flagship store in Stockholm to members of its loyalty programme, according to Business of Fashion.

After a trial period of three months, H&M will assess the success of the rental service before it is further expanded.

H&M has chose to test out the booming clothing rental market, allowing access to select shoppers.

The Swedish retailer is now testing out a clothing rental service at its flagship store in Stockholm. "I can't see that the kind of labor cost involved in a rental model at those price points really makes sense".

A recent United Nations report found that the fashion industry has been having detrimental effects on climate change for years, accounting for higher levels of global carbon emissions than all worldwide flights and shipping combined.

H&M plans on getting its greenhouse gas emissions to go negative by 2040.