Faced with the dilemma of wanting a new outfit but not necessarily needing one? To avoid buying items that you're unlikely to rewear many times, rental clothes are well worth trying.
Credit: Prostock-studio, Pixel-Shot – Shutterstock
When you rent clothes, you get the chance to wear the right outfit for the right occasion, and then send it back when you no longer need it. It's ideal for events like balls, graduations and fancy nights out when you'd like a new dress or suit, but don't expect to wear it much (if ever) again.
While slow fashion (where you only buy what you need, when you need it) is key to helping the planet, you may find there are times when you want to wear a new outfit as a one-off. When this is the case, you can avoid the risk of wasting clothes by renting, rather than buying, them.
It's possible to rent designer clothes for as little as 3% of their RRP, making it a great way to save money if you're usually an avid shopper. Plus, you can even make money by lending out your own clothes to others. To help you get started, see below for a list of where to rent and lend clothes.
Got any questions about the process of renting clothes? Head to the bottom of this page for nine important things to know about rental clothing.
Top websites for renting clothes
These are the 13 best websites to use to rent a dress, a suit, designer shoes, handbags and more:
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ROTARO
Best for: Designer womenswear available to rent at a fraction of the RRP.
If you're hoping to rent designer clothes at affordable prices, it's definitely worth visiting ROTARO.
They rent out clothes for a fraction of their full RRP. As an example, we've seen a Matériel Tbilisi jumpsuit available to rent for £25 for four days – a very small percentage of its RRP of £600!
As well as the rental service on their site, ROTARO also has a resale section that sells pre-loved clothes. The clothes here are still generally from quite expensive brands, so you'll likely be able to find cheaper items elsewhere.
But having said that, the clothes should still have good reductions compared to their full price when new, so ROTARO's resale service could still be worth a try.
As a company, they make an effort to be sustainable. Along with using cleaning methods that have a minimal environmental effort, they also partner with DPD for carbon-neutral deliveries and use boxes made from recycled material.
On top of this, they say they plant a tree via Ecologi for each rental. For gift cards, they plant two trees, and for every new brand they partner with, they plant a thicket. At Save the Student, we also plant trees via Ecologi, so we were very happy to hear this.
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Swished
Best for: Renting and lending high-street womenswear clothes.
Whether you're looking to rent or lend clothes, Swished is a great site to try.
When lending clothes, some clothes rental sites (like By Rotation and MY WARDROBE HQ) might only accept clothes from quite expensive brands. However, a selling point of Swished is that they'll let you rent and lend out clothes from high-street brands.
In particular, for anyone looking to rent a dress at an affordable price, you'll find a huge range of choices on Swished. They have womenswear clothes available to rent from a wide selection of brands, such as ASOS, Boohoo, Ted Baker and Chi Chi London.
Or, if you're looking to make money by lending clothes via Swished, it's really easy to do.
Simply take a photo of your item of clothing, then either DM them on Instagram or send them an email (you can find the contact details here).
They will list your items and handle the enquiries for you. And, when somebody chooses to rent your clothing, Swished will let you know where to send it. They will then pay you your earnings minus a fee via PayPal or directly to your bank account.
For more info, including the specific fees to expect, visit their website via the button below.
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The Devout
Best for: Rental subscription service for men's and women's fashion.
When looking for a clothes rental subscription, it can be difficult to find one for men and women that's cheap, but The Devout is up there as one of the most affordable.
They have a few subscription plans available:
- £39 per month – Three rented items each month
- £59 per month – Five rented items each month
- £99 per month – 10 rented items each month.
Planning to get a suit or a dress for a specific occasion (such as graduation or a formal ball)? You might find that the outfit itself costs more than the minimum subscription of £39.
If this is the case, it would work out as cost-effective to subscribe to The Devout for a month to rent the outfit. Then, after the event, you can send back the clothes and cancel your membership to avoid paying for the subscription for longer than you need.
The Devout isn't the only clothes subscription service to rent out suits – see the next one on this list for an alternative option.
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Moss Box
Best for: Suits and smart menswear that you can rent via a subscription service.
Hoping to rent a suit? Try Moss Bros.
As well as their suits-for-hire service, they also offer Moss Box, a subscription service for men's clothes rental.
Moss Box costs £65 per month, and you start by picking out six or more items to add to your 'virtual wardrobe'. Then, in your first box, you'll receive two of the items in your wardrobe.
When you're ready for something new, you can return your items to them using the pre-paid bags included in your box. You'll need to let Moss Bros. know to expect your return and then they'll be able to send a new box out to you.
As a general rule, you won't choose which two items from your virtual wardrobe are sent to you. Of course, this isn't ideal if you've got your eye on two specific items, but there is the option to pay more to make sure you receive your favourite pieces.
If there are certain items that you're keen to rent (such as a matching suit jacket and trousers), you can pay £9 extra to select a particular item from your wardrobe. It will then be shipped out to you within the next business day.
At the time of writing, there's a 30-day free trial. This would be perfect if you just need to rent a suit for one month.
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HURR
Best for: Renting high-end designer womenswear clothes.
There's a huge range of designer womenswear available to rent from HURR. At the time of writing, you can rent dresses, clothes for skiing holidays, coats, bags and more.
As the brands on HURR are generally pretty high-end, the rental prices are a bit higher compared to some of the other sites on this list. But, compared to the RRP of the items, there are still some good offers.
For example, we've seen an Alexander McQueen dress available to rent for £74.40 for four days – around 3% of its retail price of £2,200!
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Hirestreet
Best for: High-street fashion available to rent at low prices.
If you're looking for low-cost rental clothes for women, Hirestreet could be a good choice. On there, you can often find items from popular high-street brands like Zara, available to rent for as little as £5 for four days.
One perk of Hirestreet, which not all clothes rental services offer, is that you can get rental credit for one unworn item per order. So, if you rent a few items and don't wear them all, you can get the money back in credit for one of them to spend on a future rental. You can find more info here.
Although there are some good prices, on the whole, Hirestreet's rental clothes might not have the biggest reductions in cost compared to the RRP. So, if you're looking at the upper end of their price range, you might find better deals elsewhere.
For example, we've seen a Ghost dress that had an RRP of £345, available to hire for four days for £54 (around 16% of the RRP). Considering some of the sites on this list rent out clothes for as little as 3% or 4% of their RRP, you should be able to find clothes of a similar value elsewhere that are cheaper to hire.
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Selfridges Rental
Best for: Renting luxury men's and womenswear clothes.
Whether you're hoping to rent women's or men's designer clothes, have a look at Selfridges Rental.
They have a great selection of luxury fashion brands to choose fromincluding Tom Ford, Comme Des Garcons, Burberry and Victoria Beckham.
You can often find clothes available to rent for around 10% (or sometimes less) of the retail price. To give you an idea of prices, we've seen a Givenchy hoody that has a retail price of £725, available to rent for £60.52 (around 8% of the retail price) for four days.
Keen to start renting designer clothes from Selfridges? Click the button to get started.
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By Rotation
Best for: Renting and lending mid- or up-market womenswear clothes.
By Rotation works in a similar way to Swished, letting users lend as well as rent clothes via their app.
The main difference between the two sites is that By Rotation doesn't allow any high-street labels (unless you have clothes from an exclusive collaboration like H&M x Isabel Marant).
So, if you like the idea of a peer-to-peer clothes rental service but are looking for mid- or up-market clothes, it's definitely worth looking into By Rotation.
In terms of price, it's ultimately up to the person lending out the clothes how much they decide to charge, but By Rotation recommends to lenders that 5% of the RRP is a fair daily price. Both lenders and renters will need to pay fees (more info here).
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MY WARDROBE HQ
Best for: Buying, renting or lending out clothes, bags and shoes.
MY WARDROBE HQ has a huge selection of clothes and accessories, giving you the chance to rent or buy.
They also let you list items from your own wardrobe for others to lend but, like By Rotation, don't allow high-street brands.
A big selling point of MY WARDROBE HQ is that, unlike a lot of clothes rental services, they give you the chance to rent designer shoes. For example, if you fancy wearing Christian Louboutin shoes for a special occasion, we've seen a pair available to rent for £48 for four days (8% of the RRP of £585).
As a general rule, they recommend the clothes owners list their items at 10% of the RRP for past-season items. For current season clothes, they recommend listing them for more around the 10% – 30% mark.
As MY WARDROBE HQ handles the whole rental process, they charge quite a high commission (40% at the time of writing). If you're thinking about lending out clothes, compare the full fees of each site that allows peer-to-peer rentals and see which one works best for you.
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Endless Wardrobe
Best for: Finding womenswear clothes that you can rent, buy new or buy nearly new.
There are three ways to order clothing from Endless wardrobe: you can either rent clothes, buy new pieces of clothing or buy ones that are nearly new.
At Endless Wardrobe, you can find womenswear clothes that are ideal for nights outs, formal events and workwear. Among the brands they stock, you can find clothes from brands including Whistles and Free People.
The clothes on this site are generally available to rent for around 15% of their RRP.
Although this isn't quite as much of a reduction as you might see on some other sites, Endless Wardrobe is still worth a visit in case you find any items here that aren't available to rent elsewhere.
Plus, you might also be able to save money on clothes if you're interested in buying new or nearly new ones. For example, we've seen a leather A-line skirt from Whistles with an RRP of £170 that can be bought new for £149, or bought nearly new for £115. To rent, it costs £29 for four days.
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Onloan
Best for: A monthly subscription service for men's and women's clothes that is an alternative to The Devout.
Onloan works in a similar way to The Devout: you choose a monthly subscription service and then receive a certain number of rented clothes each month.
However, it's a bit more pricey than The Devout (hence why we've put it further down on this list).
These are Onloan's subscription options:
- £69 per month – Two rented items each month, worth around £500 combined
- £99 per month – Four rented items each month, worth around £1,000 combined.
If this is within your budget, have a look at how the rental clothes at Onloan compare to the ones at The Devout.
And, as with The Devout or Moss Box, keep in mind that you have the option to cancel your subscription after one month if you're renting clothes for a particular event.
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COCOON
Best for: Renting designer bags with a subscription service.
Dreaming of a designer handbag, but don't want to pay the full cost? Have a look at COCOON, a bag subscription service.
They rent out high-end designer bags from brands such as Chanel, Prada, Christian Dior, Chloé, Louis Vuitton and more. But, as you'd expect, it's still not exactly cheap to rent them so only use this service if you can comfortably afford it.
Their membership plans are:
- £99 per month for any bag from their Premium or Deluxe collections (with the chance to swap two bags per month)
- £79 per month for any bag from their Premium collections (with the chance to swap one bag per month)
- £19 per year for a Flexi membership (you'll need to buy bag passes* each time you want to rent a bag, so it's more suited to people who don't plan to rent many bags throughout the year).
* The bag passes cost £35 per week for a Premium bag or £40 per week for a Deluxe bag.
Have a look at COCOON's website for more info and to see which bags are included in each collection.
You can usually rent bags for up to three months, but the most in-demand bags (like Chanel and Dior ones, for instance) can be harder to get, and might only be available for one month.
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Girl Meets Dress
Best for: Renting dresses.
Girl Meets Dress lets you rent clothes in one of two ways: either by renting individual pieces on a 'pay as you go' system, or by paying £99 per month to rent three dresses at any one time. If you're considering the monthly membership, have a read of the T&Cs as some conditions apply.
As the name suggests, the site is aimed at people who are hoping to rent a dress. Although, if you'd prefer, there's the option to buy clothes from there as well.
However, it's important to be wary of some of the prices on this site. While there are some good deals on there, we've previously seen a dress that was actually cheaper to buy in the sale on the brand's own website than it was to rent for two nights from Girl Meets Dress.
It's a good idea to check before renting from any site (not just Girl Meets Dress) how much the item costs to rent or buy elsewhere. And this is especially the case if you're thinking about splashing out on a monthly subscription.
To spot the best deals, look out for the RRP price of clothes as well as their rental cost – this should indicate which pieces are the best value for money to rent.
Key things to know before you rent clothing
Before you rent clothes, these are the nine essential things to know:
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There can be added fees when renting clothes
Sometimes when scrolling through clothes rental sites, it's not immediately clear how much it actually costs to rent clothes once fees have been added.
Often, the best way to know for sure how much you need to pay to rent an item is by going through to the checkout stage. At this point, any additional fees such as accidental damage insurance and delivery costs should be added to the total price.
It's also important to read the site's Terms of Service before renting in case there are any more potential fees that you hadn't been anticipating.
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Rented clothes need to be returned on time
Credit: Chutima Chaochaiya – Shutterstock
Leading on from the point about fees, it's essential that you return your items on time to avoid getting charged late fees.
It should be very clear how and when you need to return the items, so make sure you stick to this. If you're at all unsure, contact the clothes rental service for confirmation.
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You don't usually need to clean rented clothing
Generally, when you rent clothes, you shouldn't need to clean them yourself. Dry cleaning should be handled by the rental service or by the individual who has lent the clothes out to you.
In fact, some clothing rental sites explicitly ask you not to wash the clothes yourself. Again, for confirmation, it's a good idea to double-check with the company you're renting clothing through.
The clothes should have been cleaned before they're sent to you, but if you're not happy with the condition of them, contact the lender/rental service about this.
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Check the retail price before you rent clothes
As we mentioned earlier with Girl Meets Dress, it is possible that an item is available to buy elsewhere for less than it costs to rent (particularly if it's in the sale).
Before renting clothes, do a bit of shopping around to see if you really are getting a good deal.
Keep in mind that renting is a great way to avoid wasting new clothes if you're not expecting to rewear them much. But, if you think you'll get better value for money by buying them, this is still worth considering – you have the option to sell the clothes later.
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You can sometimes buy clothes after renting them
When renting clothes, there's inevitably going to be a risk that you fall so in love with them that you don't want to give them back. Luckily, there is sometimes the option to buy items after renting them.
It won't always be the case, but there's never any harm in enquiring with the clothes rental service or the person who owns the clothes whether they'd be willing to sell them. If they are, you can arrange payment with them and the piece will be yours to keep!
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Clothing rental services often sell discounted clothes
While renting clothes definitely has its perks, there might be times when you want to buy ones to keep instead.
Some clothes rental services like MY WARDROBE HQ, Endless Wardrobe, ROTARO and Girl Meets Dress sell clothes, as well as lend them out. On sites like these, you can often find clothes that are on sale for less than their RRP.
However, if you're struggling to find sustainable brands on these sites, they're far from your only options. Check out these eco-friendly fashion stores for more ideas.
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You can request specific delivery dates
Deciding on the right delivery dates is very important when you rent clothes.
If you're renting an item for four or five days for a specific occasion, it could help to arrange for it to arrive a couple of days before the event. There's a chance that it won't fit or look quite as you were hoping it would, in which case you should have (just about) enough time to find a replacement outfit.
On times when your rental dates begin or end on a Sunday/Bank Holiday, delivery and returns might work slightly differently than usual.
For example, it may be that the items are delivered a couple of days earlier, or that you need to return the items slightly early to guarantee they'll arrive on time. If you're unsure about this, check with the clothes rental company for confirmation.
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You might need to pay a deposit to rent clothes or accessories
You might have noticed that some of the clothes and accessories available to rent from sites like COCOON, Selfridges and HURR are extremely valuable. For the highest-price items, you might be asked to pay a deposit when renting them.
It should be fully refundable as long as you return the item in good condition, but it's important to factor it into the upfront cost of renting.
Of course, you should always make an effort to look after the rental clothes and try not to damage or lose them. But, accidents do happen, so it's important to be aware that you could potentially lose the deposit money if anything happens to the clothes.
If you don't feel like you could afford to lose the deposit money, this indicates it would be too much of a risk to rent this item.
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Not all clothes are available for rental
A wide range of clothes and accessories are available to rent. However, as a general rule, you won't be able to rent intimate items of clothing such as underwear and swimwear.
When buying items like these, to avoid fast fashion, you could try shopping from an eco-conscious store. In fact, there's a brilliant swimwear shop that's made it to our list of the best sustainable fashion brands.
Renting clothes is just one way to avoid waste and live more sustainably. For more ideas, head over to our guide on the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
