A study shows that renting clothing produces more emissions than just throwing them away

From the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions, the model of renting clothing, with the idea that it reduces manufacturing of new clothes and extends the life of older clothes, is not a sustainable practice.  A Finnish study reported on www.fastcompany.com, "calculate the greenhouse gas emissions connected to five different ways of owning and disposing of clothing, including resale, recycling, and renting."*  As part of the study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, "they calculated the “global warming potential,” which refers to how greenhouse gases are emitted throughout the lifecycle of the jeans"*  They discovered that "Renting generated the highest amount of emissions because of all the transportation involved; indeed, the study found that it’s actually better, from a climate perspective, to simply buy the jeans, wear them, and throw them away."*  Their conclusion and recommendation was "that the most sustainable way to consume fashion is to buy fewer items and wear them as long as possible. If there’s more life in the clothes, you should resell them."*

*Elizabeth Segran, July 1, 2021, "Renting clothing is worse for the planet than just throwing it away, study shows," www.fastcompany.com

​original article can be found here