Swedish fashion giant H&M announced that its store in Sergels Torg will offer the possibility to rent selected party dresses and skirts from its 2012-2019 Conscious Exclusive collection. The service is for members of its loyalty programme and the rental space offers unique pieces from the collection, designed with more sustainable materials at the forefront of H&M’s sustainability.
Members can book a time slot at the rental space, where a stylist treats them to a personalised experience and helps them choose the pieces they can rent for a week. Rental costs around 350 Swedish Krona (SEK) per piece and is limited to three items.
To further inspire its customers to reuse and recycle, H&M will also offer repair services with an atelier where customers can get their fashion favourites mended or upgraded. The newly refurbished store opens in November with a curated assortment, a beauty bar and café-concept.
Mintel comment:
“H&M is seeking to take a lead among the major international fashion chains when it comes to sustainability, in an effort to get back on the front foot, having been out-manoeuvred and out-performed in recent years by more nimble online only brands like Zalando, ASOS and boohoo and low-cost rivals like Primark. H&M has said that by 2030 it wants to be using only 100% sustainable fabrics and its Take Care initiative aims to change consumer attitudes towards buying low-priced throwaway fashion.
It has been trialling the sale of second-hand and vintage garments on the sites of its & Other Stories brand in partnership with the Swedish second-hand platform Sellpy, in which H&M took a majority stake in October 2019. Along with offering repair services, rental of garments is the other major strand to its sustainability strategy.
This is a flagship store in Stockholm and customers who are members of H&M’s customer loyalty programme can rent selected party dresses and skirts, all made from sustainable materials. If they want, they can book a time with a stylist. Rentals are for a week and up to three pieces can be rented at a time, for a fee of 350 Swedish Krona (around £28/US$37) per piece.
Research for Mintel report Fashion & Sustainability – UK, August 2019 found that 13% of clothing buyers had rented an item in the past 12 months, with a further 20% saying they had not but would be interested in doing so. For further information on the sector see Clothing Retailing – Europe, October 2019.”
