NOwner: Swapping And Renting Clothing Gains Popularity
A new industry based on a burgeoning trend is gathering steam within the United States, as Millennials — Americans born between 1980 and 2000 — have fallen in love with not owning certain items.
The idea of “NOwnership,” or “no ownership” is based on the concept of sharing or renting clothing, not owning a house, a car, electronics, or small appliances — and has been building an impact for the past five years. As roughly 77 million Millennials fight those dreaded student loan debts, the lack of stable employment, and the 21st Century Great Recession, this group of consumers are posing a disruptive force to traditional retailers.
Companies such as Zipcar, Car2Go, the taxi service Uber, and the home rental site Airbnb have created to facilitate this growing need.
According to a 2014 Nielsen research report, roughly about 85 percent of people aged 18 to 34 buy, own, and keep their smartphones. These “NOwners,” as Deep Focus chief marketing officer Jamie Gutfreund calls them, are even encouraging the fashion world to jump into the fray. Privately-held companies such as Kidizen and Yerdle enable customers to swap, buy, or resell items like used clothes and household goods.
This trend of buying re-used goods, according to Deep Focus, hints at the growing environmental awareness held by Millennials who believe that sharing and re-using items and clothes are a way to reduce carbon emissions and landfill waste. “Instead of paying for something and getting rid of it with no value when you are done — swap and resale gives Millennials the ability to extend the value,” Gutfreund said. “It’s efficient and it’s green.”
Stores such as Crossroads in New York receive funding from private equity firms like Bain Capital Ventures because such places know that every major industry is likely to experience similar disruption from the sharing economy. The aforementioned Kidizen, a “kidstuff” company founded by two mothers with retail and marketing experience, is already experiencing a boon of success within the marketplace. Growing 40 to 50 percent a month, Kidizen members post photos, blog about their families, and even send notes and candy inside of shipments to the next family to receive items. Yerdle, who encourages people to give us what’s “theirs” for the greater community, estimates that American closets and garages contain $100 billion in unused clothes, tools and other items. With more than 300,000 members, Yerdle’s ultimate goal is to get people to “buy 25 percent fewer new items.”
Since the “NOwners” trend has become a buzzword, established retailers have begun to notice and shift its culture to acquiesce the Millennial community. Patagonia has offered free repairs since the 1970s, but now, it also launched a program to accept trade-in clothing that’s in good condition. Other businesses such as Rent the Runway and ThredUp focus on the shared economy, and allows users to rent couture clothing or resale fashion items. The former has already raised $116 million, is worth $600 million, and has almost 5 million members.
As this continues to grow into a major and revolutionary trend, do you see yourself becoming a “NOwner”…? Or does having something that belongs wholly to you trump renting and reselling items? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
On the following pages, we have for you the best places in NYC to sell your wares and clothing items for the summer.
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