Borrowing Is the New BuyingIntermediate

Picture the last time you went to a wedding, a formal dinner, or a job interview and needed something more formal than what you usually wear. There is a good chance you bought something new, wore it once, and never touched it again.

You are not alone. Across Europe, about 40 percent of clothing sits completely unworn in people's closets. That number alone suggests something has gone wrong with the way people buy clothes.

Fashion rental means borrowing clothes for a short period and then returning them. It has grown from a small trend into something much more common. The global rental clothing market earned around $6.26 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow in the coming years. There are now platforms where people can rent from large subscription services, and also apps where regular people lend clothes directly from their own wardrobes.

People are attracted to rental fashion for different reasons. For some, it is purely about money. Designer items that cost thousands of dollars suddenly become affordable, which means wearing a Chanel jacket to a dinner party is no longer something only wealthy people can do. One user on By Rotation got back 85 percent of what she originally paid for a dress simply by lending it out several times. Selling it secondhand would never have returned that much.

For others, the appeal is more about convenience and values. Many people are tired of the fast fashion cycle: buy something, wear it once, throw it away. Social media makes this worse by making clothes look outdated very quickly. Renting cuts this cycle short. Instead of buying something for one event and feeling bad about it later, you borrow it, return it, and move on.

The environmentalargument is also part of the conversation, but it deserves a closer look. Supporters of rental fashion say that borrowing one item can reduce water usage by about 24 percent and cut carbon emissions by around 3 percent compared to buying new. However, a study from Finland raised a strong opposingview. Sending clothes back and forth requires transportation, and cleaning them professionally uses a lot of energy. These factors can greatly reduce the environmental benefit, especially for everyday items like jeans that someone might wear for many years.

The honest conclusion is that renting is not always better for the environment. Renting a dress that you would only wear once makes a lot of sense. Renting jeans that would have lasted ten years in your wardrobe makes much less. In the end, wearing clothes you already own remains the most responsible environmental choice for most people.

Technology is making the rental system easier to manage. Platforms use tools to track inventory, send return reminders, and suggest items based on user preferences. Trust is also a challenge, so some platforms interview new users before letting them join, while others use rating systems to limit access to expensive items until a user has built up a reliable history.

Of course, rental is not the right fit for everyone. People who wear the same pieces every day, people who wear rare sizes, or people who simply like knowing exactly what is in their closet may find the whole system more trouble than it is worth. Cleaning requirements, return deadlines, and the occasional damaged item are real problems that simply do not exist when you own your clothes.

Still, the trend is hard to ignore. A generation that already streams its music, rents its cars by the hour, and shares its vacation homes does not feel strongly that a dress needs to be purchased in order to be worn. The wardrobe may simply be the last major category waiting to catch up.

1. Have you ever bought expensive clothes for a special event and then never worn them again?
2. How important is it for you to actually own your clothes instead of renting or borrowing them?
3. Does social media make you want to buy new clothes more often?
4. How much do your clothes change the way you feel or what other people think of you?
5. Would you feel comfortable wearing an expensive outfit that strangers have already rented and worn?
6. What kind of person or lifestyle do you think benefits the most from renting clothes?
7. What cultural habits in Korea might make renting clothes very popular or very unpopular here?
8. Do you think future generations will care less about owning things and prefer renting instead?