High Street retailer M&S has expanded its partnership with a pioneering Newcastle clothing rental company.
Hirestreet, which is run by former Young Business Person of the Year Isabella West, last year secured investment from M&S’s Founders Factory, which invests in start-ups and emerging businesses, particularly in the technology sector.
In the firm’s most significant deal to date, M&S used Hirestreet’s Zoa technology to trial the rental of clothing for customers who want to both spend less on clothing and reduce waste.
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It proved to be such a success that Hirestreet has now launched a second collection, in the biggest ever retailer collaboration for the Haylofts based accessible fashion rental platform.
Rosie Hartman, strategy lead, Hirestreet said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with M&S, with the launch of the Spring collection, making this our largest ever retailer collaboration. With a reputation for stylish and quality clothing, M&S items have proved popular from the moment they launched on Hirestreet.”
Founder Ms West launched Hirestreet in a bid to to reverse the fast fashion trend, which sees millions of items of clothing bought each year, worn a handful of times and then sent to landfill.
Starting off with a handful of her own dresses, Ms West has grown the company to rent thousands of dresses every week – and diversification has seen the company add more than just occasionwear to its website.
In January, Decathlon launched its first UK rental collection, consisting of an exclusive ski-wear and outerwear edit, and other brand partners have also come on board, including Ghost, French Connection, ASOS, Nobody’s Child and others.
Since M&S launched its first collection through Hirestreet last November 98% of customers indicated they would rent M&S clothing again from the platform, 95% of Hirestreet customers said they were impressed with the quality of their M&S products and nearly 90% would look to purchase from M&S in the near future.
The new Spring collection is made up of 40 new season womenswear pieces from M&S’s in-house brands Autograph and Per Una, as well as for the first time M&S Collection, all available to rent from £10 for four days. Starting with 16 looks this week, new styles will be added throughout the season.
The M&S team has worked with Hirestreet to test and learn clothing rental behaviours. Although the fashion rental economy is typically associated with formal dressing, 53% of Hirestreet customers rent M&S products for casual social events. To date, M&S has proved to be the most popular brand for a ‘bundle’, which allows customers to select three different outfits for a 30-day rental period for £50.
Ms Hartman said: ”Clothing rental is often associated with special occasions, but the popularity of M&S clothes, many of which are versatile for any occasion, demonstrates how the future of fashion rental is changing – today rental fashion is more than just providing temporary access to designer items. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at M&S to curate the perfect collection for the new season and can’t wait to hear the response from our customers.”
Richard Price, MD of clothing and home, Marks & Spencer added: “At M&S our focus is ensuring our product is more relevant, more often for our customers’ lives – that’s not just what we offer but how. We know customers are increasingly interested in the circular economy and rental which is why we started our exciting partnership with Hirestreet last year. The feedback so far has been great with Hirestreet users discovering the everyday style & value of our clothing on the platform. We’re continuing to test & learn this Spring/Summer with a new collection which is perfect for a range of occasions – including the holidays and special events we know consumers are really looking forward to.”
