In a week when our ambiguous attitudes to sustainable fashion have been at the forefront (news that the Government has rejected a series of proposals designed to reduce fashion’s impact on the planet were met with dismay, and stats show that 70% of us want our MPs to take climate change more seriously, on the flip side Misguided were advertising a £1 bikini during Love Island ad breaks), we want to know about anyone who can help us consume fashion in a more responsible way – ideally without compromising on quality, style or our bank balances.
My Wardrobe HQ might have the answer. Essentially a private members’ club for the fashion world, the service offers you a personal styling service and the opportunity to rent clothes from designers and a raft of A-listers for a fraction of the original price.
Customers sign up to a subscription service for £9.99 a month, which also includes home visits from a stylist who will help you pick out items to rent or buy from their stock for upcoming events – so definitely one to think about if you’re running the gauntlet of 19 wedding invitations and a bunch of work events. You then pay for each item you buy or rent, but the prices are a fraction of what you’d pay to purchase the items new, and come along with that warm fuzzy feeling you get from knowing your new-season wardrobe is coming from a more sustainable source.
And if you’re sitting on a wardrobe of amazing clothes you don’t wear any more, but aren’t sure what to do with, members can also apply to sell their pre-loved clothes on the site, although all new stock goes through a vetting process.
Celebrities including Poppy Delevingne – who has personally added 20 items to her wardrobe to the site, Arizona Muse and Roxie Nafousi are already getting on board. Equally, designers are signing up in droves to be part of the service, with Henry Holland, Alice Temperley and Vivenne Westwood among names already signed up. Westwood is even looking at designing an exclusive collection for the site.
The site’s co-founder Sacha Newall explains why rental services like My Wardrobe HQ look set to be the future of the fashion industry. “We’ve been very conscious along the way about the rental market and how good this is right now for keeping the fashion industry sustainable. “The stats are plain to see. For example, 15 billion coat hangers are produced each year. Most end up on landfill sites…this must change and fast. These numbers are extraordinary and people don’t realise the battles and the severity of them in the fashion industry.”
My Wardrobe HQ launches in full in October, but are already taking membership requests.