When Carrie Symonds married Boris Johnson in May 2021, she didn’t just start a marriage, she kicked off a trend.
Instead of buying an expensive wedding frock, she waltzed down the aisle in a rented gown by designer Christos Costarellos.
The dress would have cost £2,830 new, but Carrie paid just £45 to hire it for the day from MyWardrobe HQ.
She went on to rent a black Karen Millen dress for the Queen’s funeral for just £7.
Fashion-conscious celebs Holly Willoughby and Stacey Dooley have also rented clothes – a trend recently jumped on by John Lewis. The retail giant has teamed up with online specialist Hurr to allow customers to rent designer items for up to 20 days.
And it could be a canny move as the clothing rental market is expected to be worth a whopping £2.3billion by 2029.
Enterprising fashionistas are also hiring out their own clothes using apps like By Rotation, which offer peer-to-peer renting. But why stop at clothes?
AllotMe pairs up time-poor garden owners with green-fingered flat dwellers, with plots ranging from around £5 to £50 a month, depending on the size.
You can also make extra money by renting out your driveway and even your car on sites like YourParkingSpace and Karshare.
Electronic sales and rental company MusicMagpie commissioned a Rental Revolution Report in 2021 and found that 53% of people said they no longer felt the need to own things.
Group commercial officer Jon Miller says: “Attitudes towards renting products and services have seen a shift in recent years.
“One in three people say they are now more likely to rent things instead of buying them.
“The key reasons are the environmental benefits, access to new products when they want, and the ability to use higher quality items than they could usually afford.”
Here, we speak to people who have found that anything – from children’s clothes to kitchen equipment – is rentable.
I need an accountant!
Earns £5k a month
Fashion lover Paula Pimlott decided to rent out some of her high-end clothing on the By Rotation app in April – and now rakes in around £5,000 a month.
The full-time mum, 35, said:”It just seemed such an easy and flexible way to earn money while looking after my two-year-old son, James.
“I’m a size 12-14 and I soon saw a gap in the market for rental clothes in those sizes. The biggest choice seemed to be in sizes 8-10.
“I now invest in clothes and accessories that I think will do well. I prefer darker colours but I’ve bought a few bright pink dresses as they are popular.
“A Vampire’s Wife dress that I bought for £900 has been rented out twice at £200 a time and I already have two more bookings for it so it will soon pay for itself.
“I’ve been resisting calling what I do a business, because it was supposed to be a sideline I could do from my kitchen table in Kendal, Cumbria. But I’m making £4,000 every month – sometimes more – and soon I will need an accountant!”
Paula’s renting model, where she offers items for three to four days, is a huge success. She charges around £30 for something that would cost £150 and £240 for something people would buy for £1,500.
Paula said: “I rent mainly dresses and bags. At the moment, my collection consists of approximately 100 items and By Rotation charges a 15% service fee. I do also hire clothes from others and enjoy renting
from other lenders on the app.
“So far it has only been clothes and bags, but I plan to hire tablescapes for special occasions.”
Paula's rental tips
- Take good photographs of the item to post online and show it off.
- Package the item well. Use layers of tissue so it looks as nice as possible when renters receive it.
- Photograph the item every time you send it out for rental, so there is no dispute if it comes back damaged.
- Don’t rent out anything that has sentimental value.
- Rent clothes made from good, hard-wearing fabrics that clean well. I find that cotton and synthetics are best.
- Avoid listing fabrics like silks and tulle that can catch on things. Dresses with embellishment can be easily damaged and sequins can fall off.
- Don’t forget the costs involved. I spend a lot on dry cleaning, postage and packaging.
I've worn £10k of dresses
Spends £200 a month
Exam tutor and children’s coach Danielle Baron is often invited to formal dos and rents outfits rather than buying.
The 38-year-old reckons that so far, she has worn £10,000 of dresses this year alone.
The divorced mum of two said: “I started renting this year when I was invited to a lot of formal events through work or through friends
“I’ve rented about 10 dresses so far, usually for £195 a time. To buy them, I’d be looking at £1,000 per dress.
“I prefer to hire dresses where I can try them on. So lluckily, there is a great boutique near me in Surrey – Having a Ball in Kingston upon Thames.
“I even wore one of my rental dresses to visit the Queen’s lying-in-state at Westminster Hall. It was a spontaneous decision after a fancy dinner in London. I was wearing a black lace dress and heels.
“It was 11pm when I started queueing in my dress and thin pink jacket. Kind fellow queuers fed me chocolate and grapes and one even lent me a warm gilet.
“After 11 hours in the queue in my heels, I finally arrived to pay my respects to the Queen.
“I did get some funny looks… I think people thought I dressed up for the occasion!”
Kit's sew in demand
Earns £100 a month
Business consultant Emma Wallace decided to start renting out her digital sewing machine when she was between jobs.
It has since added £800 to her annual income and been such a success that she now rents out a number of other items, such as her husband Ted’s piano and her Kitchenaid mixer.
Emma, 33, said: “I heard about the rental site Fat Llama and listed two things initially – my sewing machine and Ted’s piano.
“I get about £40 a weekend for the piano and once rented it for a month for £100. I gave Ted the £300 piano for Christmas – it’s definitely paid for itself a couple of times over.
“My Janome digital sewing machine is popular too at £10 a day. I also rent out other smaller items including our Weber portable barbecue (£6 a day) and camping stove (£5 a day).
“I’ve also listed my Kitchenaid mixer (£8 a day). People might want to try before they buy as they cost around £400.”
Emma, from south-east London, added: “Nothing has been damaged yet, but someone did mix up my sewing machine – which they’d rented for a workshop – and returned the wrong one. Fat Llama, which gets 25% of your fee, helped me to track it down.
“I’ve just started renting clothes too as I’ve got a few things I don’t wear often, like the £395 Louboutin heels I wore for my wedding five years ago. I charged £60 for three days.”
I've saved a fortune
Saved £60 a month
Photographer Hannah Vine rents clothes for her three children instead of buying them.
The 38-year-old reckons she has saved a fortune on stuff for Teddy, six, Posie, five, and two-year-old Dusty.
And it means she can dress the children in “cute, organic clothes” that she adores. Hannah began renting two years ago after seeing an advert for The Little Loop.
She said: “They had some of my favourite brands like Kite that my children could wear for a fraction of the price.
“I thought, ‘Where’s the catch?’ But there wasn’t one.
“I reckon I’d have to spend £150 a month to buy the brands I’d like. Instead,I pay £60 a month for the three kids using 300 credits to choose outfits I can keep for a season or swap when I want. At any one time, I probably have 20 things.
“When they grow out of clothes, you just send them back and choose something else.
“If you choose wisely, your credits go further. New clothes cost more credits while ‘gently used’ ones cost less. They are usually still immaculate.
“What I really like is that you are not penalised for accidents. A zip broke on one dress Posie was wearing and there have been food or oil stains on others. If I owned them, I’d be stuck with the stains.”
Renting has also made Hannah look around her home on Barry Island, South Wales, and think about what else she could rent out.
She said: “Last Christmas, we let a local grocer use our garage to store hampers in return for a hamper. There might be more things like we can do.”
