Gone are the days when renting was limited to DVDs, cars or property - renting clothes is now a thing and many are jumping on this new wave and making a lot of money out of it.
One of those is Terri Mangan, 37, from London, who was actually ahead of the game as she started renting her own clothes out to strangers a few years ago as a side hustle alongside her day job in events management.
Last year she joined the clothes rental app Swished and made £18,000 over the last 12 months - making an average of £1,500 every month.
Terri told the Mirror: "I’ve always worked hard; it’s just me and my son, so I’ve had to make sure I’ve been able to support us both financially.
“I’ve been renting clothes on various platforms for a few years, I started by renting out my own clothes and it’s grown from there."
Terri explained how the idea of renting clothes makes you think of designer brands, but says this is not really the case as her side hustle has grown through renting out her partywear clothes.
After clocking onto which brands were popular and doing well, Terri then bought the same item in a few different sizes and listed them all for rent which helped grow her business.
She now rents items every week through the Swished app.
She said: “I find glamorous party labels like Needle & Thread and Nadine Merabi are popular and I mainly focus on these.
"I personally really like these brands and I only ever list things that I would wear myself.
"I have items being rented each week through Swished, and order quantities more than quadrupled over Christmas!"
Some pieces are rented for as little as £5 for the day but others can be much more with some clothing items going for a few hundred quid depending on the brand.
People also don't just rent them for one evening - Terri usually rents clothes to others for between four, which is the minimum amount of time you can rent an item, to 18 days - sometimes for even longer if a customer request it.
Terri explained that it was a relatively straightforward process to rent out her stuff and that her side hustle "easily fits" into her life as she is frequently at the Post Office for her events management business so posting the clothes people have rented is "no problem".
To set up an item to rent, all you need to do is download the app, upload the item with a few images - Swished says it is better if you are wearing the item - answer a few questions, and set the rental price - this price also includes the shipping costs.
Terri told the Mirror that she uses the cash she makes to pay for her son's private school fees and for holidays as she wants to give her son what she didn't have.
She added: "I always wanted him to have a better education than I did and I’m really proud I’m able to provide that for him.
"I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I stop to take in what I’ve been able to give him."
Like with most platforms, Swished takes a cut of the listed rental price to cover the platform costs, advertising costs, payment processor fees and insurance for the item.
With Swished this is 10% plus 50p of the listed rental price and you will get your full payment at the end of each rental - the app's payment provider Stripe also charges 1.5% plus 20p for processing the payment.
There are other costs sellers, including Terri, have to contribute when using Swished as the owners of the items have to clean them - this can take out a chunk of what you make depending on the state the item comes back in.
If you fancy using Swished to find yourself a frock for your next event you should be aware that if you do not return the item you will be charged 200% of the item's recommended retail price (RRP).
Terri says that she "really enjoys" renting her clothes and will likely continue to use the platform going forward.
She said: “It’s lovely to know that the people hiring them are going to feel beautiful when they wear them.
It’s also nice knowing that people are able to wear an item that they may not ordinarily be able to afford, but renting it for a period of time, as opposed to buying it, makes it doable for them.”
