How sustainable are dress hire businesses?
Following are some notes I made in preparation for my interview with Keely Johnson from the ABC for her podcast on the popularity of dress hire businesses. You can listen to the podcast here Although it contains a few of my thoughts on dress hire businesses, I thought you might be interested in my further views on the topic.
When did you get into the fashion industry?
I helped people to style themselves to pursue employment opportunities in London in 2008 and then I established my business in Melbourne in early 2012, but I’ve always been fascinated by what people wear and what it says about them.
Have you noticed dress-hire businesses popping up around the place?
I notice them mostly online, so I know it’s a growing field; that and clothes swap events.
Why do you think they are so popular?
On the surface people will say they want a new outfit without giving it much thought. But scratch the surface and there’s a more interesting reason for this… clothes represent our frame of mind and they tell our stories.
So if we need fancy clothing for an event (things we wouldn’t otherwise wear), we need to take stock of how we are we feeling or how we want to feel at the event: aspirational, attractive, attention seeking, demure, powerful etc… and design our outfit accordingly.
Intuitive dressing is using clothes to support our emotional wellbeing and whatever it is we need to achieve for the day. If we’re in tune with our body and mind, we know what we need to feel right, and will reach for an outfit based on that. But we cannot sustainably buy outfits on whims. So if we don’t have a particular signature style, hiring could be the answer.
Once you can easily identify the kinds of clothes you love, you will not tire of them quickly. You will keep them for longer because they will continue to spark joy for you. You’ll become less reliant on the short lived adrenaline rush from buying something new, instead achieving a greater satisfaction from wearing things you truly love.
What are the benefits of hiring? Is it Cheaper or More sustainable?
I don’t think it’s about saving money really. I think most people will already have something in their wardrobes they can wear to their fancy event. In my opinion it’s more about having something new or different to wear. Dress-hire businesses offer new options.
Here’s something I read once, that I believe to be true:
The biggest high you’ll have from a new piece of clothing is the moment before you buy it. That’s useful to remember if you’re tempted to buy a new piece! This is where dress-hire businesses can be useful.
Are more people conscious of clothing waste these days?
Definitely people are more aware of clothing waste now! Clients will often cite it as a reason for coming to see me for a colour analysis or style consultation. People want to buy well and not wastefully. When I began my business, this was not the case; clients were more interested in aesthetics.
Now people frequently say they want to minimise their wardrobe, or to buy better things but less of them; particularly younger people who are done with experimenting with fast fashion and want to begin to build a sustainable wardrobe of things they will love.
How big a problem is it?
Clothing waste is a massive problem. Once we used to think we could take clothing we no longer wanted to op shops (charity shops) but these are completely overwhelmed. Their volunteers spend time culling the rubbish; and it very often is rubbish as fast fashion is not built to last and is often inappropriate for resale. So the overconsumption of fast fashion is even ruining the experience of op shopping!
Beyond that, textile waste in Australia is mostly shipped offshore to other countries, often the struggling African nations, where it becomes toxic mountains. Due to the excess, they clog up waterways when monsoon rain hits and if they’re burned to reduce the size, the fumes are toxic because the clothes are mostly polyester (plastic). The residue will be an issue for generations.
In Australia, 85% of our new textiles end up in landfill every year and we throw out 6,000 kilos of fashion waste every 10 minutes. To make matters worse, most modern clothing is made from petrochemical derivatives, in other words, polyester, nylon and acrylic. And they require more energy-intensive processing that natural fibres (cotton, silk, wool, linen, cashmere).
When washed, a polyester garment will shed thousands of microfibres that eventually make their way into oceans. Microfibres constitute 85% of plastic pollution along shorelines. In addition to that, it’s a threat to aquatic life, and eventually to those of us who eat seafood.
As an ethical fashion advocate, do you think hiring is a good thing / part of the solution?
I think hiring clothes for special events is one part of the solution but of course they need to be laundered between hires, and that may be more frequent than the garment actually needs. If the garment is polyester, micro plastics are escaping into our waterways more often.
I’d like to see other solutions in the mix:
closer attention paid by the wearer to what works for them
a greater appreciation of / respect for how a garment is made
better regulation of imported and local fashion that is manufactured in ways that are detrimental to the environment
Have you noticed the cost-of-living crisis is also affecting people splurging on fancy / designer clothes?
People will always love clothes but the clients I encounter are interested in becoming more strategic about what they buy. Designer clothes are not always the best option; sometimes locally made items will serve them better, (but people need to know they’re available and where to get them).
Consignment stores are also fabulous and then so is a wardrobe consultation. I love showing people how to wear the clothes they already have in ways they’d never thought about. With new eyes, I can find outfits and new combinations that the owner may never have thought of.