Designer A-Z 
Will The Fashion Rental Market Ever Recover From Covid-19?
Written by EMILY CHAN Vogue have published an article about the impact on retail that the coronavirus pandemic is having and whether the Fashion Rental Market will ever recover from Covid-19?
At Girl Meets Dress we are doing all we can to ensure the service caters to customer’s altered plans, whether postponing wedding dates, delaying birthday plans or destination holidays – all the open orders have been given the option to simply move date – creating a flexible hassle free edit for customers rather than asking them to place new orders again once this period of lockdown and uncertainty eases.
We have also initiated new services such as drive through collections. This ensures social distancing remains in place and customers can collect and drop off orders to our London showroom without having to leave their car.
We will continue to provide service updates and customer service team is working hard to ensure all our orders are managed in the easiest way for clients. Stay in touch showroom@girlmeetsdress.com
Read the article below or visit Vogue >
“With weddings on hold and summer holidays a distant dream, clothing rental has fallen dramatically since the pandemic began. But will coronavirus change our long-term attitude towards sharing clothes? Here’s what we know so far.
Before the pandemic struck, renting clothes was seen as the ultimate solution to the damaging buy-once wear-once culture so many of us had become trapped in. Instead of purchasing a new dress for a wedding or holiday, you could borrow one instead (thereby preventing it from ending up in landfill once you no longer had use for it). The clothing rental market was also starting to change the high street. H&M and Ganni were among the first retailers to begin trialling a rental model back in 2019, while several new platforms including Hurr Collective and My Wardrobe HQ have launched pop-ups in department stores over the past year.Â
Read more:Â How Will Covid-19 Permanently Affect Our Shopping Habits?Â
But now that weddings have been put on hold and holidays seem like a distant dream, the future of rental — which was projected to be worth $2.5 billion (ÂŁ2 billion) by 2023 — looks far from certain. In the US, Rent the Runway, the poster child for the fashion rental model, has already announced lay-offs, temporary pay cuts and furloughed staff in response to the pandemic. “Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, RTR’s sales have dropped significantly,” the company said in a statement on Twitter. “We therefore have had to make difficult decisions to sustain the business by cutting costs across the board.”Â
No events? No rentingÂ
Rent the Runway is by no means the only rental company facing challenges as a result of the pandemic. Other platforms, including UK-based, peer-to-peer site Hurr Collective, have also seen a dramatic fall in the number of people renting. “The demand side has definitely been impacted for the simple reason of people not having events to go to,” co-founder and CEO Victoria Prew tells Vogue.Â
While some sites have encouraged people to continue renting items for all those Zoom meetings we’ve been having, it’s a difficult sell considering the price point. It costs up to ÂŁ170 to rent a Ganni dress for one week for example, and ÂŁ72 to rent four items a month from Rent the Runway. “A lot of the items are still fairly expensive even though you rent them, but the idea would be you’re going to a wedding or event,” says Chana Baram, senior retail analyst at market research firm Mintel. “Why would anyone be renting clothes right now?”Â
Tackling hygiene concernsÂ
Hygiene is also another major concern during the current pandemic. Clear health and safety guidelines are essential, particularly when it comes to peer-to-peer platforms such as Hurr, where lenders send clothes directly to renters. “It’s a requirement for any item that’s listed on Hurr to be dry cleaned professionally by the lender,” Prew explains, adding that Hurr directly manages the dry cleaning for items rented through its concierge service. “We are doing everything that we can [from a health and safety perspective] in tandem with government guidelines.”Â
While it is not currently known what temperature kills coronavirus, the CDC says that flu viruses are killed by temperatures above 167 degrees; it recommends clothes are laundered at the highest-appropriate temperature setting.Â
Despite the strict protocols in place, customers may still be put off by the thought of sharing clothes with somebody else at the moment — a worry that rental sites will also have to address beyond the pandemic. “The hygiene factor will really need to be looked into,” Baram comments. “There needs to be very clear signage on websites to explain why this is not an issue.”Â
The long-term future of rentalÂ
While rental has been hit hard during international lockdowns, there are already positive signs that the sector is recovering. YCloset in China has seen the numbers of people renting increase since lockdown measures were eased at the end of March. “With the gradual return to work, [renting] is also gradually picking up,” says founder and executive director Mengyuan Liu.Â
Some rental companies may also look at shifting their current models following the pandemic. YCloset, which is backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba, added resale to its services in September 2019, for example. “At present, the secondhand luxury trade is developing rapidly,” Liu comments. Resale saw a huge uptick following the 2008 recession, as shoppers who were short on cash looked for more value for money — and the same is predicted amid the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.Â
The stripped-back lifestyle we’ve all become accustomed to since the pandemic began is likely to have a long-term effect on our shopping habits. Sustainability is expected to remain a huge concern — meaning the rental model, as an alternative to buying new clothes outright, is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. “My personal view is that people are going to be more conscious than ever about their fashion footprint,” Prew adds. “I’m hopeful rental will do well [after] this.”
