European legislation increasingly adds more plans to the Green Pact, many of the measures modified directly to the production and consumption of fashion. For its part, national regulations follow international steps with laws that ensure that from the first quarter of 2023 everything that is made must have a second life.
They are changes aimed at complying with the ceiling that the European Commission has set for 2030, ensuring that all textile products in the EU are “long-lasting, recyclable and were manufactured as far as possible with recycled fibers, without hazardous substances and produced respecting social rights and the environment”, according to the EC itself.
But as these seven years go by and the other environmental responsibility laws continue to press, consumer demands also change, “increasingly they opt for companies that work with their products with greater care,” explains Paloma G. López, president of the Association Spanish for Sustainability, Innovation and Circularity in Fashion.
This causes the birth of forms of consumption responsible with the environmental impact, and totally innovative in the digital world. Symbia is a platform that is responsible for putting individuals in contact to rent clothes from the largest wardrobe in the world: everyone’s. That is, the application is responsible for sharing user profiles to borrow and lend to other event clothing.
The ‘start up’ has emerged as a proposal to curb the consumption of ‘fast fashion’ and as a commitment to the circular economy to “be part of the change in the paradigm of fierce consumption that currently exists”, says the brand. “We trust that renting is the solution to the unsustainability that textile consumption currently entails,” she adds.
In addition, it seeks to offer the most comfortable user experience possible, from the collection and delivery service to the ‘eco-friendly’ dry cleaning, “an artisan workshop that shares our values and is committed to an environmentally responsible business model environment using products that respect both the garments and the environment”, says the new company.
In fact, this new consumer trend has been joined by brands such as Adolfo Domínguez, who instead of leaving the rental of their collections in the hands of individuals, it is the firm itself that provides this service through the Borow platform, although with only 11 garments at the moment.
“When they are rented, we guarantee that they will be used”
However, why rent a garment instead of buying it second-hand? From Symbia they explain that “the rental of products for special occasions that we usually use or two, offers a greater advantage than the sale of second hand, since, when rented, we guarantee that they will be used. While the sale, even second-hand, can continue to perpetuate this consumption model while the owners make their garments profitable.”
Associations such as the one chaired by Paloma G. Lopez support initiatives like this, since, he explains, “the issue is really reducing consumption and reducing production. It is the objective that we pursue as sustainable fashion: produce less, produce better and give a wider use to the garments.”
With regard to these innovations, Spain is on the heels of other European countries, G. López reveals that “in Europe it has been developing for many years, in fact there are ‘jeans libraries’ – establishments in which they borrow denim garments for a certain period of time a specific time and rental projects, especially children’s clothing.”
