Autumn-Winter, Spring-Summer, ‘tween-season transitional pieces, capsule collections… Is your thirst for fast fashion contributing to climate change? It’s time to take a good hard look at your wardrobe

Could it be time to build a ‘wardrobe in the cloud’?

With fresh warnings being issued over climate change, fashion is just one industry being called upon to make changes and reduce over-consumerism.

Given that 50% of fast fashion pieces are discarded within a year, it’s time to look again at the dress rental market. Girl Meets Dress, a leading online rental service, is promoting a more sustainable way of shopping, and fashionistas are responding.

Due to growing demand, Girl Meets Dress has launched a new Infinite membership, where customers can hire unlimited dresses each month for a flat fee payment of £99. You can choose from 4,000 dresses by more than 200 designer brands, including Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham, Self Portrait, Amanda Wakeley, Ganni, Beulah London and Hervé Leger.

‘There is nothing ethical about fast fashion,’ says Girl Meets Dress founder Anna Bance. ‘The topic of fashion sustainability is increasingly in the headlines. People are becoming more ethically aware of their environmental footprint and with the help of reports from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, hiring is being encouraged by designer Stella McCartney.’

Shoppers are under increasing pressure to close the loop on over-consumerism, and dress rental is a great way to do that (photo: Girl Meets Dress)

Shoppers are under increasing pressure to close the loop on over-consumerism, cutting down on buying any item we’re unlikely to wear more than 30 times, and recycling unwanted textiles.

In light of fresh warnings over the ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’ we could see if we fail to stop the world’s temperature from rising by any more than 1.5°C , we are all being urged to do more.

‘One billion items of clothing are produced every year, and one truck worth of textiles is discarded every second,’ continues Bance. ‘The trend for fast fashion over the past few years has been fuelled by mass market retailers’ abilities to manufacture and retail in very short time cycles.

Women now buy four times as much clothing as 30 years ago and the average woman has 22 garments in her wardrobe that she has never worn

‘Similarly, celebrities are promoting ever more products and consumers have ended up buying at such a rapid rate that women now buy four times as much clothing as 30 years ago. The average woman has 22 garments in her wardrobe that she has never worn.

‘Our customers are responsible shoppers and under pressure to close this loop on over-consumption,’ continues Bance. ‘Cutting down on buying and instead hiring any item we won’t wear more than a few times.’

Girl Meets Dress has stylists on hand to make dress suggestions for events, help with sizing and fit, and send lists of available dresses for a particular event date. Or they can make a showroom appointment to try on the dresses. All dress hires are then free and you can hire three at a time, swapping them as many times as you like throughout the month. Delivery and returns are also free and they even take care of the dry cleaning for you.

And if you fall in love with the dress? The company is also moving into traditional retail with a new Keep it Forever model that sells pieces at a discounted price.

Find out more at girlmeetsdress.com