A few weeks ago, Carly Suarez needed a dress for a wedding quickly, and the 30-year-old said, "I tried going shopping at the mall, but I noticed that the dresses I came across were either casual or expensive, so I decided to rent one from a dress rental store, which I had never tried before." After a positive first experience, Suarez said she would definitely do it again, as clothing rental has become more popular over the past decade with the rise of the sharing economy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic was not kind to these types of retail, but with the lifting of pandemic restrictions, some Canadian rental companies have seen increased traffic.

While experts believe there are still more opportunities in the space, they warn that growth may be slow because Canadians are changing their shopping habits and priorities in a high-inflation and high-interest rate environment. There are also other challenges, including attracting more people to the idea of clothing sharing as a concept, people's mindsets about the type of clothing suitable for re-wearing, environmentally conscious consumers questioning how environmentally friendly fashion rental is, and inventory logistics. Daniel Drak, an assistant professor at Parsons School of Design, said: "We have been adapted to buying something, wearing it, and throwing it away. Changing that to appreciate the opportunity of renting takes a long time."

One of the most prominent clothing rental companies, if not the most, is the US-based company Rent the Runway, founded in 2009, which quickly achieved great success with women who wanted access to designer clothes but did not want to spend a lot of money on them. In Canada, the rush of new clothing rental companies started appearing in the years before the pandemic, offering everything from special occasion dresses to workwear to maternity clothes to everyday clothing. However, like many small business retail companies, the past two years have been challenging, as all Canadian companies like Rent Frock Repeat, workwear rental company Dresst, and Montreal Station Service have all ceased operations over the past two years. Also, Julie Kalinowski, CEO of The Fitzroy based in Toronto, said it’s a “challenging” market, offering affordable special occasion dress rental services. According to Drak, the modern generation will be the one really driving the industry forward due to their enthusiasm for resale, whether for economic reasons, to reduce clothing waste, or to find unique pieces. Drak also said it is time for established and emerging Canadian clothing rental companies to leverage this popularity and make resale a part of their business model, something some have already begun doing.

The global resale clothing market was valued at 14 billion US dollars last year, according to Statista, and is expected to grow to 51 billion US dollars by 2026.