Reuse, rental or repair – the environmental benefits of circulating clothes

Reusing and repairing clothes delivers clear environmental benefits, while rental services are less certain, according to an IVL study into the environmental impacts of online services for reusing, renting and repairing clothes in Sweden.

The environmental benefits of rental services depend more on the design and use of the service – e.g., how much the rented garments are used and replace new purchases, and how efficiently packaging is used, says Matilda Lidfeldt, textile and life cycle expert at IVL.

Three case studies based on life cycle assessment – each with a fictitious user – analyzed the climate impact, as well as the impact on water availability and on the use of primary energy. The environmental impact of the service itself, such as transport and packaging, was examined and compared to the purchase of new clothes.

The results show that both reuse and repair yield clear environmental benefits. By reusing clothes instead of buying new ones, the climate impact can be reduced by about 80 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents over a year. This corresponds to about 25 percent of an average Swede's annual clothing-related climate impact. Repair reduces the climate impact by about half as much.

Promoting the reuse and repair of clothes through online services is an effective way of making the textile industry more sustainable. By offering easily accessible and environmentally sound alternatives to new consumption, these digital solutions help to reduce the industry's carbon footprint, says Matilda Lidfeldt.

The environmental benefits of rental services are harder to assess. The potential gains from avoiding new clothing purchases are largely offset by the impacts of the services themselves, in particular from the production of the packaging in which the clothes are transported and the waste management of this packaging.

Thus, the study emphasizes the importance of rental services complementing, rather than replacing, more effective circular strategies such as reuse and repair, says Matilda Lidfeldt.

Read more in report: Environmental impact of circular e-businesses in the clothing sector External link, opens in new window.

In case of questions, contact:
Matilda Lidfeldt, matilda.lidfeldt@ivl.se, tel. +46 (0)10-788 67 91

The study was developed within the interdisciplinary research project Sustainable Clothing of the Future, which is a collaboration between IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Profu, the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås and Lund University. Read more about the project here: Sustainable clothing futures.