Renting garments for occasional wear are ideal for both consumers and the environment, and rental service providers need to effectively manage a product’s lifetime extension, concludes new research from the University of Tokyo.
- The study showed that a specific combination of consumer segments, product characteristics, and service types that construct a sustainable clothing rental service—formal dress, dress shirt, and maternity wear—were the garment types that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 21–75% depending on consumer behaviour and service implementation.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS of the consumer characteristics by their desired garment type for rentals suggested that specific consumer characteristics exist in renting each garment type.
- Respondents interested in renting sportswear deem functionality to be important, and those interested in renting knit wears/sweaters deem design to be unimportant while durability is important.
- Skirt was a garment type with no statistically significant attribute. Additionally, the respondents who had no interest in renting any clothing were characterised by deeming many of the attributes unimportant. They may have low interest in clothing in general.
- The clothing types that were desirable and undesirable for rentals showed a clear split in preferences. Coats, suits, dresses, and jackets were frequently selected as desirable rentals.
- There was a clear disapproval of renting T-shirts/tops.
- The three most frequently chosen garment types that were disapproved for rental after T-shirts/tops were sportswear, leggings/jeans, and short pants.
- The garment types desired for rental represent a group of garments that are less frequently worn throughout the year, and the undesired ones are basic items that are in closer contact with the skin, which is consistent with previous findings.
- Consumer perceptions of garment types desired for rental were further quantitatively examined in terms of several variables such as expected purchase price, lifetime, and desired rental period. Variables such as useful lifetime and expected rental cost varied statistically among the garment types. The expected rental costs were lower than the expected purchase price, which shows the economic advantage consumers expect from rental services.
- With respect to product characteristics, ‘high-priced’, ‘occasional use’, and ‘seasonal use’ were the three most frequently selected product characteristics showing a greater propensity to be rented.
- In terms of service types, ‘free laundry” and ‘size that fits’ were the two most frequently selected service types for all product characteristics. The least selected service type was ‘long rental period’ for most of the product characteristics.
- Renting garments that are used occasionally is less likely to require a new garment and that short-term use and payment systems are preferred.
When the GHG EMISSIONS of purchased and rented garments were compared, the GHG emissions per piece were greater for rented garments than for purchased garments for all garment types except knit wear/sweaters, and ten garment types had smaller GHG emissions per wear when rented over purchased.
- The GHG emissions per piece of rented garment were greater than those of purchased garments because of repeated laundry from intensifying its use and delivery service.
- Knit wear/sweaters had a greater GHG emissions per piece because the lifetime wear when rented was less than half of that when purchased.
- For garments with a fewer lifetime wear when rented than when purchased, such as coats, the increase in GHG emissions when rented was limited. When the unit is expressed in terms of per wear, the influence of the lifetime wears becomes apparent.
- The largest GHG emission reduction between purchase and rental was observed with formal dress, where the rental case resulted in an 84.2% lower value than that of purchase. The main reason for this is the tremendous increase in the average lifetime wear (12 times when purchased versus 117 times when rented).
- The lifetime wear of purchased and rented sportswear was 227 and 297 times, respectively, resulting in a 10.8% reduction in GHG emissions from purchased to rented.
- The three garments that resulted in greater GHG emissions per wear when rented than when purchased were seasonal garments like jackets, knitwear/sweaters, and coats. Among them, knitwear/sweaters and coats had much smaller lifetime wear when rented, resulting in a significant increase in GHG emissions.
- The reason for the small amount of lifetime wear was partly due to the two year parameter settings for the lifetime, which means that winter garments were rented for approximately six months.
- Jackets were worn for three seasons in a year, and the lifetime wear of the rented case was eight times greater than that of the purchased case; however, the GHG emissions of rental were greater than those of the purchased case. This difference arises from industrial laundry and transportation, which augment the GHG emissions from rental garments.
- The three garments that presented lower GHG emissions than those purchased, even with service consequences, were formal dresses, dress shirts, and maternity wear – they have the greatest potential to fulfill consumer needs and remain environmentally advantageous when rented.
THE TEAM: The study was conducted by Eri Amasawa from University of Tokyo’s Department of Chemical System Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering and Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology; Koji Kimita from the Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Tatsuki Yoshida and Masahiko Hirao also from the University’s Department of Chemical System Engineering.
