Can a rental model help fix fashion's sustainability problem?

Bringing together leading experts across Fashion, Design, Business and Sustainability, this world-first research collaboration is led by the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion + Textiles (CoE), a partnership between UTS and TAFE NSW.

The study will assess the environmental impact of The Volte’s peer-to-peer clothing rental model and its role in promoting and encouraging sustainable consumer behaviour in fashion. 

Associate Professor Timo Rissanen in the School of Design, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at UTS, said, “Fashion rental has a vital role in transitions to sustainability in fashion, and The Volte is leading the way in this critically important work.

“While every garment has carbon emissions attached to it, the more you utilise an individual garment that figure goes down, and the unit of measure we are researching is impact per wear.

“We’re looking at the intensity of use and some of the dresses on The Volte are being worn more than 30 times, than if they’re just languishing in someone’s wardrobe.

“Because these dresses are high quality and on the more formal end, there is already a big investment in the quality of fabric and construction of the garment, which often doesn’t get used to its full advantage when worn a handful of times by just one person.”

The Volte is the world’s largest peer-to-peer fashion rental site. It does not stock fast-fashion, but specialises in occasion wear with an emphasis on the high-utilisation of quality fashion. 

Studies to date show that increasing the number of times we wear a single piece of clothing is the single best thing consumers can do, in terms of reducing environmental impact. 

Bernadette Olivier, CEO and co-founder of The Volte, said, “As a result we use fewer resources on the manufacturing side and reduce the number of garments that are disposed of each year.

“We are thrilled to be working with UTS on this research project as from day one we spoke the same language. The UTS team had a clear understanding of the change in consumer behaviour The Volte is driving.  

“We know Australian consumers are embracing peer-to-peer rental so to be able to quantify and qualify the sustainable impact fashion rental is having on the environment is an exciting prospect and we look forward to reading the final report.”

UTS Centre of Excellence Director Dr Lisa Lake said, “The Volte is positioned at the forefront of Australia’s circular fashion economy and pushing the boundaries and challenging of what fashion consumption looks like.

“We'll be measuring the impact, and at what point in rental versus ownership we see the big sustainability benefits of keeping dresses in circulation.

“There’s no need to take away the fun and beauty of fashion – we’re looking to prove that renting takes away the guilt and shame that can often come when you talk about sustainability in fashion.”

The quantitative analysis measurements include:

• What materials were used in producing the garment
• Where the garment was produced
• Where the rentals are coming and going
• How the dresses are laundered because – there's a big difference between dry cleaning, machine washing and hand washing, and certain dresses have different requirements so it's looking at that level of detail

Associate Professor Timo Rissanen’s interdisciplinary research team includes Associate Professor Maruf Chowdhury from UTS Business School and Dr Taylor Brydges from the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF).

Learn more about the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion + Textiles