Exclusive: H&M scraps its rental service – 'Demand has been lower than we expected'

It began when we at Impact Loop were looking for clothes for our BUILD event last week. When we swung by H&M's store in Stockholm, we received unexpected news – it's no longer possible to rent clothes there.

We were rather surprised, so we visited H&M's website to double-check. There we encountered a dead link – the page for "Rental" was no longer active.

And indeed it was true: after six years, H&M has quietly discontinued its rental service in all stores worldwide where it had been available, the fashion giant confirms to Impact Loop:

"Customer interest and demand for Rental has been lower than we initially anticipated, and therefore we have made the decision to phase out the rental initiative from all stores where it was previously available during the first quarter of 2025," writes Pima Platin, Press Officer at H&M, in an email to Impact Loop.

Will focus on second-hand

H&M Rental was launched in November 2019 in the flagship store at Sergels Torg in Stockholm. The service, which offered customers the opportunity to rent clothes instead of buying them, has been part of the company's investment in circular economy and sustainability.

The concept worked through personal fashion consultations with an H&M Rental stylist.

The service evolved in late 2023 when H&M for the first time included its design collaboration with French brand Rabanne in the rental collection. It also expanded to more European cities including London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Stockholm.

Instead of rentals, H&M will now focus on its second-hand initiative, Pima Platin explains:

"However, interest in second-hand fashion is growing rapidly, and we will therefore increase our focus on H&M Pre-loved."

In practical terms, this means the fashion giant is selling pre-owned clothes from its own brands and from others. In the same store where Impact Loop looked for rental clothes, this was available as a separate section.

"Taking away many lessons"

Despite the closure, H&M maintains that the rental initiative has been valuable for the company.

"Offering rentals to our customers was truly an exciting journey, and we are taking away many lessons and experiences from it. Some garments were rented more than 100 times, which underscores the sustainability of our design and quality," she writes.

The rental service has been part of H&M's broader strategy for sustainability and circular economy. But since the company recently closed its innovation centre "The Laboratory" and CEO Daniel Ervér removed the sustainability chief from the management team, questions have been raised about what the clothing giant's future sustainability strategy actually looks like.

According to Pima Platin, circular business models remain central to the company's strategy:

"An important part of our work towards becoming more circular is to test, evaluate and learn from different circular business models and strive to increase customer satisfaction based on those learnings, and we always focus on our customers' needs and expectations."

She adds:

"Customer-oriented circular business models are still key to decoupling revenue from resource use and to reducing our dependence on virgin materials."

New factory for polyester recycling

Meanwhile, H&M has invested in impact companies aimed at making the fashion market more sustainable and circular, such as Treetotextile and Syre. Recently, Syre took a step towards its first polyester recycling facility by signing a memorandum of understanding with the Binh Dinh province in Vietnam.