Rent to stay stylish. In general, we rent houses, vehicles, tools, high-tech equipment. More rarely, you can also rent disguises, costumes or wedding dresses. The principle of renting being based on the episodic need for a good that one has no interest in or cannot afford to buy. A Lille woman decided to do the opposite and apply this principle to something essential: everyday clothes. His approach is all the more original as it involves second-hand clothes.
Like many stories of entrepreneurs, that of Justine Thiriez started from an observation that she made at a stage in her life. For her, it was her first pregnancy when she was still the director of a web agency: “I bought a lot of things in stores that did not respect children or the planet. When I stopped, I realized that I had a problem with consumption and overflowing cupboards. By wanting to turn to eco-responsible productions, I hallucinated about the prices of the clothes, ”she recalls. With her executive salary, Justine had the means for her ambitions, but she wondered how less well-off people could manage to dress sustainably.
“I wanted to create a real shared locker room”
Hence the idea of second-hand, but not in the form of a vintage shop like we see springing up on every street corner: “I wanted to create a real shared wardrobe to push the reuse of clothes as much as possible” , continues Justine Thiriez. Slowmod is a shop located rue Pierre-Mauroy, in Lille, where you can buy vintage clothes in a classic way. You can also exchange certain pieces that you no longer wear for the equivalent. And from September, it will be possible to rent clothes. “We are going to launch this option for this fall, because, typically, sweaters or coats are expensive pieces, which we keep in good condition but which we can get tired of. There, we will pay a monthly subscription which will allow us to change the model of coat when we want, ”explains the entrepreneur.
There will be several subscription formulas: coats therefore, but also small tops, bottoms or mixes. The advantage is not to armor its cupboards and to be able to change when it suits us. Slowmod estimates that vintage clothes can be rented between six and eight times before experiencing yet another life. Then, either they are repaired and put back in the circuit, or they are “upcycled”, or they are recycled by a specialized company. Unlike fast fashion, circularity is the rule here, a good way to reduce the size of your wardrobe by increasing the size of your wallet.