The French buy 60% more clothes than fifteen years ago and keep them for half as long, according to the Ecological Transition Agency, which coordinates the European Week for Waste Reduction, devoted this year to textiles. Whereas “fast fashion” has a deleterious social and environmental impact, initiatives are taking the opposite view of this fashion based on overconsumption.
This is the case of the Toulouse start-up Menone, created by two former students of the Ville Rose business school. Laurianne Aune and Maxence Lenoir have decided to launch a rather high-end clothing rental service dedicated to men. “A lot of the time, some clothes stay in the back of the closet. There, it’s a way to pool it, to also be able to wear a good quality piece if you don’t necessarily have the means to buy it or if you don’t have a store that sells it next to your home. self. And this gives the possibility of limiting its impact on the environment”, explain the two entrepreneurs who offer several solutions to their customers.
The latter can rent a jacket, jeans or even an alpaca sweater from trendy brands for a month for an amount equivalent to around 10% of its price in store. If they get tired of the trendy shirt that ultimately doesn’t match their style, they can return it after thirty days. It will then be washed by a laundry that respects ecological standards and rented again. A guarantee of hygiene for those who are fussy about cleanliness.
Being able to afford a garment in installments
If, on the other hand, they feel that it suits them, they can continue to rent it from month to month. And after seven months, it will be theirs. A way to pay in seven installments for a garment that you would not have had the desire or the possibility of paying for in one go.
Being able to test without having to buy a garment is what appealed to Corentin Fuchs, one of the young start-up’s clients. “Five-six years ago, I was buying everything. I had an ecological awareness and it started to bother me to put 10 euros in poor quality t-shirts that didn’t last long. This system allows me to have quality clothes that I couldn’t afford all at once”, assures this Strasbourg resident.
While a major inexpensive textile brand has just launched into clothing rental, the co-founders of Menone hope to meet the needs of young urbanites looking for brands. To go to the end of the environmental approach, once the clothes can no longer be rented on their site because they are too worn, they enter the second-hand circuit.