Can’t afford a designer outfit for the special occasion? Fashion rental lets you wear high-end styles at an affordable cost – save your time, money, and wardrobe space, while refreshing the closet sustainably and suitably for every event!
Fashion consumption is undergoing a transformative shift, as rental commerce is gaining traction among environmentally conscious consumers, clothing brands, and designers. According to Yahoo Finance, the global online clothing rental market is projected to grow from $1.47 billion in 2025 to $2.27 billion by 2030.
Eventually, fashion rental commerce – a more sustainable fashion alternative to the traditional fashion consumption is not exceptional in experiencing similar growth in the Indian context, driven by increasing consumer interest in sustainable options and matching the desire for newness, particularly for occasion-specific and occasion-centric wear.
According to Vogue India, Sustainable Fashion (SF) is “it’s an umbrella term for clothes that are created and consumed in a way that can be, quite literally, sustained, while protecting both the environment and those producing garments”.
This rapidly evolving rental sector plays a vital role in shaping the future of sustainable fashion (SF) adhering to the 9R (principles) of sustainability – Rethink (conscious consumption), Refuse (avoid fast fashion), Reduce (fewer purchase), Reuse (extend garment life-span), Repair, Refurbished, Remanufacture (maintain quality through transform old designs), Repurpose (co-sharing), and Recycle (unsold or worn-out garments),
Rental commerce directly supports these principles by promoting circularity, cutting textile waste, and reducing carbon and water footprints. By shifting from ownership to collaborative consumption, it tackles overproduction while offering affordable, trendy, and high-end fashion for every shopper. This synergy makes rental models a powerful enabler for sustainable fashion.
In India, fashion rental platforms such as Date the Ramp, Rent an Attire, Stage3, and Flyrobe gives temporarily access to high value, occasion-specific and occasion-centric wear to the fashion-conscious consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials who prioritize affordability, accessibility, and seek novelty in fashion items and designer wear without spending high prices, Thus, rental commerce serve the purpose and make the business model more lucrative for brands and consumers.
However, it faces hurdles, such as consumer concern over hygiene, social approval, and customization, indicating it’s still in its nascent stages. Still, it holds a prospective option for brands and consumers.
The Nature of Rental Commerce in Sustainable Fashion
Rental commerce is revolutionizing sustainable fashion through three key models.
Subscription Models: Platforms like Date the Ramp (India) enable consumers to pay recurring fees for rotating wardrobe access, providing cost-effective variety while reducing overconsumption.
Peer-to-Peer Rentals: Flyrobe (India) enables users to rent directly from each other, maximizing garment utilization and strengthening community-driven sustainability.
Niche Focus: Specialization in segments like Indian Designer and Luxury (Date the Ramp), or Weddingwear to Partywear (Rent an Attire, Flyrobe), ensures curated quality and extends high-value clothing lifecycles.
These models collectively combat fast fashion waste by keeping garments in circulation longer, proving that accessibility and eco-consciousness can coexist.
How Consumers Get Leverage from Rental Commerce
Economic Viability – Consumers save costs on high-value, rarely worn items (e.g., designer wear), making designer fashion accessible at lower costs.
Occasion-centric Wear – Consumers may reduce single-use purchases for any special event.
Options without Overload – Rental wear offers endless variety without wardrobe saturation.
Hybrid Experiences – Pop-up try-on studios build trust and help first-time users through tactile experiences
How Brands Get Leverage from Rental Commerce
Behavioural Shift – The current behavioural shift of consumers may significantly benefit rental platforms, as young Indians, highly influenced by social media, seek frequent wardrobe refreshes without overspending on fashion merchandise.
Localized Inventory – Through rental platform designers can rely on various events by curating region-specific styles (e.g., lehengas for Diwali, sarees for Puja) to attract culturally aligned consumers.
Global Reach: Rental expands market access without inventory overload – designers or brands gain nationwide visibility sustainably
ESG Compliance & Contribution to ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)
Rental reduces landfill waste by extending garment reuse to save the environment. Moreover, it may socially contribute to empowering artisans (e.g., The Loom Art supports weavers). Brands like H&M and Zara now pilot rental programs to meet ESG goals.
Challenges & Way Ahead
Despite the rewarding outlook of fashion rental, it is also subject to facing obstacles, primarily, hygiene, social acceptance, and fit issues related directly to consumer and social perception.
Rental services can address hygiene concerns by implementing transparent communication of the sanitization processes for every garment before renting to the customer. Brands such as Date the Ramp follow an intensive cleaning process, including spot stain removal, wet and dry cleaning, and other specialized cleaning methods.
To combat social stigma, brands must rebrand rental as not “Second Hand” but an exclusive, sustainable, and smart choice to a rotating luxury closet for a broader market adoption.
In terms of tackling the fit and customization of the product, Indian fashion rental offers a risk-free trial period before finalizing the order. However, any alteration is not allowed to preserve the originality of the fashion item. Indian fashion rental may opt for augmented reality try-on and utilize algorithms to analyze customer data (past rentals, body measurements, and shape) and suggest a probable recommended size.
However, despite the future opportunities in rental commerce, brands have yet to address the following questions to establish a broader market in the long run.
- How can rental fashion address deeply rooted consumer concerns around hygiene and social acceptance to gain broader adoption?
- Can advanced technologies (like AI-driven fit recommendations, AR try-ons, or automated sanitization tracking) enhance user confidence and operational efficiencies in the rental model for scaling sustainably?
Rental fashion commerce in India navigates significant social, cultural, and operational hurdles, yet it is aligning with sustainability, promising a fruitful future for the consumers, designers, and rental brands. With growing Gen Z’ adoption and increasing investors’ confidence, the rental commerce sector is poised for gradual yet impactful growth, transforming how Indians access luxury fashion in a more convenient way.