November 29, 2023

I learned about clothing rentals a while ago in my senior year of high school. It wasn't a deep dive into it, but I learned the basics of it. What it is, in a nutshell, is that people put up their clothing like they're selling them and people come to rent them for special occasions. I have mixed feelings about this, as people may damage the clothes or not clean them. They may even just take the clothes outright. But I'll be discussing the pros and cons of renting someone else's clothes. 

I'm going to start with the pros. One pro is that renting costs less than actually buying new clothes. Buying new clothes can become costly for anyone. Renting clothes for things like a special event or photoshoot can reduce those costs and give you access to clothes you wouldn't consider buying anyway. I like this idea for photoshoots especially because the outfits are usually made to be "out there" and noticeable. Another major pro is that it slows down the rapid speed of buying things. Things are made so fast with no concern for the quality or the well-being of the environment. Fast fashion is ruining the environment every day and renting clothes can slow down the rapid changes in fashion. Again, it also cuts down on the cost of clothes one probably wouldn't even wear that much to begin with. 

Now for the cons. I think the obvious con is the fact that there are random people wearing one's clothing. That's scary because what if they don't clean it? Or worse, damage it? I think that's why most people don't want to rent their clothes to people. Or even rent someone else's clothes. Another con of renting clothing is that you'd have to give it back to the original owner. For some that may not be an issue, but others may like the item so much they don't want to give it back. I'm pretty sure someone has stolen someone's clothes. It makes me wonder if clothing rental companies have a specific protocol for these types of things. I feel like they have to in order to reimburse the original person. 

I know rented clothing has a future, I just don't know how much of a future though. Because people, like myself, like to buy new things they want at any given time. But will people be willing to give up their clothing to the mercy of strangers on the internet? Only time will tell.