The Rental Revolution With LOANHOOD (Interview)

A true expression of style and creativity, the fashion rental app LOANHOOD incarnates the "Buy less, wear more" philosophy. It reconciles sustainability with fashion, and is a community based platform on which both loaners and borrowers can interact.

We explored the future of rental with Co Founder of the application, Lucy Hall.

We know how devastating the clothing industry is for the planet, the statistics are chilling to say the least. Was there a specific turning point that made you realise this? What exactly was the impetus for LOANHOOD ?

LH: My Co-founder Jade came up with the idea for LOANHOOD whilst studying for her masters in Fashion Futures at the London College of Fashion. Jen and I were looking to use our skills to create a more sustainable fashion ecosystem, having worked in the industry for so long. Jade came to us with her idea and we were floored, we had a real moment. We were clambering to be part of what we know to be the future of fashion.

Gender inclusivity is also the future of fashion and a key topic you have addressed. How did you get this conversation started?

LH: Inclusivity across the spectrum is important to us. We want to make fashion rental accessible to everyone, not just to one generation or gender. We already dress across genders ourselves so it made sense, why narrow our vision for taking fashion rental mainstream to just one gender?

Sustainability encompasses more than just the supply chain. It is also about after care, repairing, and essentially keeping clothes in use for the longest possible time. What have you learnt from your repair workshops?

LH: We are one cog in the circular economy. Repair is another vital part and we are lucky to work closely with The Seam and their amazing team of makers as well as other local independent companies such as Make Town, to offer these services to our community. The workshops have been incredibly popular as a lost skill being brought back with vigour.

What we love to see is when someone finds a pre loved item at one of our clothes swaps and they get the hem raised to make it a mini, or tailored to fit them specifically. The act of repairing and upcycling brings us closer to garments, they make us fall in love with them and encourages us to take better care of them.

We have to move away from the take-make-waste model.

The idea that LOANHOOD is only as strong as its community seems fundamental to your app. We love the concept of bringing together individuals around a shared cause. From a Hula Hooping workout to a DJ workshop, what inspired you to create these pop up events and how do you reconcile these different worlds?

LH: LOANHOOD is for the community. It is yours. Therefore, we are here to make sure you that have the best experience possible and god knows we all need to have FUN right now. These pop ups are all about uniting our community and having a laugh. We also champion other individuals who are involved in improving their community, such as Groove School who ran our DJ workshop, and with charities that run projects focused on nurturing young people's engagement, creativity and invention.

As a tech company it is common to get stuck behind computers, so hosting these IRL events is important as we make sure to hear what our community wants and needs. We are passionate about fashion but also music, art, sex, financial literacy, sustainability… we want to explore all these subjects with our LOANERS.

We're #doinitfortheculture as one of our partners Yasmin Jones-Henry frequently reminds us.

‘If in doubt, rent'. Have you found that people are renting more and more for daily wear, or is it predominantly for one-off, special occasions? And how do you explain this?

LH: We are newly launched so don't have a large amount of data, but with our lower price point and inclusion of high street pieces we hope to see rental moving from traditional designer/occasion categories, to more regular usage. We have all changed since the pandemic and what we consider to be a special occasion has shifted, to us everyday is an occasion, right?

We have been conditioned to want to possess items and the notion of buying something just in case, on a whim, or for ‘later on’, is engrained in our society. At our current pace, do you think it will ever be possible to view belongings as ephemeral, shared, and circular?

LH: We know that behavioural change can take decades, but the sharing economy is seeping into our lives more and more (we see this from the growth of Airbnb, to car sharing). Fashion is so personal and moving into rental as a regular activity will take time, but what we see with Gen Z and the growth of resale is promising. Possession is becoming transient.

And to conclude, what are your plans for 2022 ? Do you have any exciting projects coming up ?

LH: We have just launched our app which is available on both iOS and Android app stores, and this was a huge milestone for us. Therefore 2022 is going to be our year of growth, focused on empowering our community! Keep an eye on our socials for fun IRL events in London and across the nation. It's an incredibly exciting time for us.

Interview by Pooja Lucie Willmann

21/12/21