Now you can rent your kids’ clothes from John Lewis
IT CAN be very frustrating. You buy your child a nice new outfit – only for them to grow out of it, seemingly, within weeks.
Well, John Lewis may have a neat solution tailored to fix this age-old problem.
The retailer is offering families the option of renting children’s clothes under a subscription service starting at £18 a month.
The scheme allows parents to rent six or seven items at any one time that can then be swapped for a new design or something bigger.
The returned garments will be cleaned and, if necessary, mended so they can be rented again.
Clothes will be categorised as ‘brand spanking new’, ‘gently worn’ or ‘well-loved’ based on how much they have previously been
‘Green way of dressing’
hired. And significantly, the rental fee for an item will take its condition into account.
There are a series of monthly and quarterly subscription plans available from today, ranging from £18 a month or £50 a quarter for 100 credits; £27 a month or £75 a quarter for 150 credits; and £36 a month or £100 a quarter for 200 credits.
Under the plan, a gingham dress which retails for £19.45 would be available for 13 credits, and baby dino joggers which cost £9.50 to buy could be hired for 7 credits.
An estimated 183million outgrown baby clothes sit forgotten in British wardrobes, according to environmental charity Hubbub.
Meanwhile, shoppers in the UK are said to buy and throw away more clothes than anyone else in Europe, generating massive waste.
Clothing rental is being promoted as a green way of dressing because it replaces the notion that items can be worn a few times and discarded.
Last year, M&S teamed up with online rental store Hirestreet, allowing shoppers to rent outfits for four to 30 days for as little as £13. John Lewis will initially offer 51 items in a partnership with clothing rental business Thelittleloop, which was founded by Charlotte Morley, from the Isle of Man.
Earlier this year, she appeared on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den show.
The entrepreneur was left in tears after convincing Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett to both invest £70,000 for a 12.5 per cent share in the business each.
Glynis Williams, in charge of baby and children’s clothing at John Lewis, said: ‘We’re thrilled to be launching a collection of baby and childrenswear clothing with Thelittleloop, giving customers a more sustainable option to rent high-quality John Lewis clothing through a trusted partnership.’