What?
Re-use of products through rental services such as subscription services and leasing. Rental services as a concept is part of the sharing economy societal paradigm.
Why?
Rental service models can minimise use of resources by potentially extending the product lifespan.
Challenges
- Products should be designed for extensive use, which can be a design challenge.
- Users may not want to pay for used products.
Examples
- Rental services can offer complete solutions, like the sub-scription based baby clothing company Vigga, now part of Circos.
- Rental services may provide single items such as designer bags from rentabag.dk,
- Belgian company, Mud Jeans leases jeans made of organic and recycled cotton for a monthly fee.
Further Reading
Fletcher & Grose (2012). Fashion & Sustainability: Design for Change. Laurence King Publishing, London.
Petersen & Riisberg (2017). Cultivating User-ship? Developing a circular system for the acquisition and use of baby clothing. Fashion Practice 9(2), pp. 214-234.
Schor & Fitzmaurice (2015). Collaborating and connecting: the emergence of the sharing economy. In: Reisch & Thøgersen (eds.). Handbook of Research on Sustainable Consumption, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 410-425.