For decades, Americans have had an insatiable appetite for new clothing, spurred on by the fast-fashion industry, which cranked out cheap, disposable garments that helped global clothing production double from 50 billion items a year in 2000 to more than 100 billion today. (There are only 7.8 billion humans on the planet.) The environmental toll of this is steep: Apparel producers consume 108 million tons of nonrenewable resources every year and emit 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases, more than all international flights and maritime shipping trips combined. Meanwhile, a truckload of clothes is either sent to the landfill or incinerated every second.
But the tide is turning: Between 2017 and 2019, the number of items in American women’s closets dropped for the first time, from 164 to 136—a trend that’s been aided by several startups transforming the way clothing is bought and sold. Some of these companies, such as CaaStle, are creating clothing rental services that satisfy people’s desire to be in style without having to shop. Others, like ThredUp and Trove, are building resale marketplaces that extend the life of everyday clothes. All of them are challenging the preconception—among shoppers and clothing brands alike—that newer is better.
CaaStle
“Clothing rentals have gone from something a couple of startups were doing to something being adopted by old-school retailers,” says CaaStle founder and CEO Christine Hunsicker. She would know: In 2012, she launched Gwynnie Bee, a subscription service that now offers clothing rentals from more than 150 labels in sizes 0 to 32. But Hunsicker saw even more opportunity in helping retailers and clothing brands create their own rental services. Her two-year-old CaaStle logistics platform integrates with companies’ inventory systems and manages the entire rental process on their behalf, from warehousing and cleaning garments to gathering feedback from customers about how an item fits.
Hunsicker’s pitch is simple: “We help brands strengthen their relationship with the customer,” she says. While most people typically buy only a handful of things from a label each year, CaaStle has found that, through rental, they’ll wear up to 100 items from a brand—and are more inclined to remain loyal when they do make purchases. As CaaStle signs on customers, it’s bringing the rental ethos to new demographics. In the past year, it partnered with American Eagle to power the first rental service aimed at Gen Z, Scotch & Soda to launch the first men’s rental service, Bloomingdale’s for the first rental service from a department store, and Banana Republic. (CaaStle also launched Haverdash, its own multibrand rental service for women and the most affordable one on the market, at $59 a month.) “It’s not about moving the customer away from retail and into rental. It’s about integrating the offerings,” says Hunsicker, who is beginning to experiment with physical spaces: CaaStle-powered pop-ups will open next year in select Express stores.
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