Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the daily
Speaker 1: oas oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily Ours. Happy Friday.
Speaker 2: It is the twelfth of April.
Speaker 3: I'm Zara, I'm Sam.
Speaker 4: In the age of.
Speaker 2: Fast fashion and on demand expectations of clothing all the time,
Speaker 2: a new trend is emerging, renting. More and more people
Speaker 2: are looking to borrow clothes or rent their own clothes out,
Speaker 2: both for sustainability and financial reasons. In today's deep dive,
Speaker 2: I'm speaking to doctor Lisa Lake. She's the director of
Speaker 2: uts's Center of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to be speaking to her about the way
Speaker 2: her team is working to track the environmental impact of
Speaker 2: borrowing and renting clothes. Before we get to that chat, Sam,
Speaker 2: it's making headlines.
Speaker 3: The Australian Actual Commission has raised concern over an anticipated
Speaker 3: low turnout of voters at tomorrow's by election in the
Speaker 3: Sydney seat of Cook. The seat had been held by
Speaker 3: former Prime Minister Scott Morrison since two thousand and seven
Speaker 3: before he quit politics in February. Early votes are down
Speaker 3: eleven percent from the twenty twenty two federal election. It
Speaker 3: prompted the AEC to remind voters in the seat to
Speaker 3: cast their ballot or risk being fined. Liberal Party candidate
Speaker 3: Simon Kennedy is expected to win Morrison's old seat.
Speaker 2: US President Joe Biden has promised to back Israel if
Speaker 2: Iran launches an attack against the country. Biden said the
Speaker 2: US's commitment to Israel's security against threats from Iran and
Speaker 2: its proxies is quote ironclad, and that his country would
Speaker 2: do all it can to protect Israel's security. It comes
Speaker 2: after Iran accused Israel of striking its embassy in Damascus,
Speaker 2: the capital of Syria, earlier this month. This week, Iran's
Speaker 2: leader Iotola alifhan Manis said when Israel attacked our consulate area,
Speaker 2: it was like they attacked our territory, and added that
Speaker 2: Israel will be punished.
Speaker 3: New Soupales police have made the largest single seizure of
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Speaker 3: and twenty two kilograms of a drug sold under the
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Speaker 3: this week. The drugs were due to be sold on
Speaker 3: the black market for an estimated twelve million bucks. As
Speaker 3: part of the same investigation, police also seized one million
Speaker 3: dollars in cash from a truck in the Wogga region.
Speaker 3: The twenty eight year old driver was arrested.
Speaker 2: And the good news Researchers in Europe are a step
Speaker 2: closer to developing a successful urinary tract infection vaccine. A
Speaker 2: near decade long study at the UK's Royal Berkshire Hospital
Speaker 2: found a new spray based vaccine was able to successfully
Speaker 2: prevent UTIs in more than half of patients for up
Speaker 2: to time nine years. Scientists hope the vaccine could be
Speaker 2: used as a more long lasting alternative to antibiotic UTI treatments.
Speaker 2: Important to note, though, the study is still in its
Speaker 2: initial phases and will present its final findings at.
Speaker 3: The end of the year.
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Speaker 4: Dive, Sam.
Speaker 2: We have just finished what can only be called a
Speaker 2: marathon wedding season. Every single game with Buster, every single
Speaker 2: weekend might not be a wedding, but there's a wedding
Speaker 2: adjacent event. Whether it be a Hen's, a Bucks tea, whatever,
Speaker 2: it is an event that clothing clothing of the highest order.
Speaker 2: And I think that something my friends and I have
Speaker 2: been speaking about a lot is this pressure to have
Speaker 2: outfits for all of these.
Speaker 4: Many, many occasions.
Speaker 2: And that's why I was so interested when I saw
Speaker 2: that UTS had announced new research with The Vault, which
Speaker 2: is a company that does peer to peer renting of clothes.
Speaker 2: I've seen it before, a couple of my friends have
Speaker 2: used it, and so I was really interested to see
Speaker 2: what this research partnership was all about. Because these sorts
Speaker 2: of rental services where you can rent your clothes out
Speaker 2: and rent other people's clothes, they've been cropping up all
Speaker 2: over the place.
Speaker 3: I've seen one in America called rent the run Way,
Speaker 3: which is a really big one, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And there are many and they seem to be
Speaker 2: really growing in popularity. But now in the Vault, we've
Speaker 2: got a company who is actively working with an independent
Speaker 2: University to undergo thorough research on whether or not renting
Speaker 2: clothing is actually going to be better for the environment
Speaker 2: than buying clothing. And I just want to stress that
Speaker 2: because I do you think it's really interesting they have
Speaker 2: commissioned this research and it might come out and suggest
Speaker 2: that it's not more environmentally friendly, which could undermine the
Speaker 2: entire business proposition of the vault.
Speaker 4: I mean, it seems unlikely, but it's possible.
Speaker 2: And so it's a really fascinating case study into these
Speaker 2: kind of new businesses that are being created to solve
Speaker 2: an environmental problem, but we don't necessarily have the data
Speaker 2: to back it up yet. And now this is the
Speaker 2: first time that we're going to and I do just
Speaker 2: want to quickly set the scene for you as to
Speaker 2: why this is an important conversation to be having, because
Speaker 2: I think that there could be people that are listening
Speaker 2: to this, you know, the renting and buying of dresses,
Speaker 2: roll their eyes, say I don't care, doesn't matter to me,
Speaker 2: but it should.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you why tell me so.
Speaker 2: Australia is the world's second largest consumer of textiles WOW,
Speaker 2: and contributes over two hundred thousand tons of clothing to
Speaker 2: landfill each year. So we've got a problem in this
Speaker 2: country when it comes to the volume that we are assuming.
Speaker 3: So how many items of clothing are you talking then?
Speaker 2: So one point five billion new items of clothing are
Speaker 2: bought per year and about one in eight items are.
Speaker 3: Reused, so that means seven of eight are not correct.
Speaker 4: Good maths, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: And more than half of new clothes born in Australia
Speaker 2: are made from synthetic materials, so things like polyester.
Speaker 3: And the impact then is that they can't be reused
Speaker 3: as easily.
Speaker 4: Yes, and that that's worse for the environment.
Speaker 3: So it's in that context, and it's in that landscape
Speaker 3: that these rental companies are unsurprisingly popping up more and more.
Speaker 3: And I think it is going to be really significant
Speaker 3: to see what the research does say about whether renting
Speaker 3: is better or the same as buying new clothes. It
Speaker 3: seems to you know, for my unqualified research, it seems
Speaker 3: to me that the more life you can get out
Speaker 3: of an item, the better for the planet it will be. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but is there much data actually on this topic.
Speaker 2: No, I mean, in terms of this specific idea of rentals,
Speaker 2: there's not a heap of independent data we do know
Speaker 2: that the Vault, So again that business that is partnering
Speaker 2: with UTS, the Vault itself has released some data that's
Speaker 2: not from uts's own research. They haven't begun that yet,
Speaker 2: but from that data, we know that one dress rented
Speaker 2: to thirty nine users instead of thirty eight additional purchases
Speaker 2: of the same garment save the equivalent carbon emissions of
Speaker 2: five hundred and seven trees. So again that's not university
Speaker 2: led research. That is a company saying that that's what
Speaker 2: they've found using a publicly available calculator, but gives you
Speaker 2: a sense of the numbers.
Speaker 4: And the vulgme that we're talking about.
Speaker 2: So now I want to go to the chat that
Speaker 2: I have with Lisa. She's the director of uts's Center
Speaker 2: of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, and we ch
Speaker 2: added a bit about what this partnership is, about why
Speaker 2: it's important, and what they're hoping to find through and
Speaker 2: what it might mean for the industry. I know that
Speaker 2: a lot of my friends will be really interested in
Speaker 2: this chat. So without further ado, here's doctor Lisa. Lisa,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining the Daily As today.
Speaker 2: Now I do want to just start at the beginning.
Speaker 2: You have announced in your research partnership. Can you just
Speaker 2: tell me a bit about it and why it has
Speaker 2: come to be in the first place.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, really, I'm so excited about this partnership. It's
Speaker 1: with a company called the Vault, and they are what
Speaker 1: we call a peer to peer rental company. That basically
Speaker 1: means we've got just regular people who own some gorgeous
Speaker 1: designer gowns that rent them to other people for various
Speaker 1: points of time. This is a real example of a
Speaker 1: circular economy business model where you're sharing the same thing
Speaker 1: over and over with a lot of different users, if
Speaker 1: you will. So what this research is going to do is,
Speaker 1: first of all, take some environmental measurements to say is
Speaker 1: this really a more sustainable business model or not.
Speaker 6: We all assume that it is.
Speaker 1: We all assume that because you're using the same thing
Speaker 1: over and over and it's not going into the landfill
Speaker 1: too soon, we're not all buying a dress for every occasion,
Speaker 1: that there will be a positive environmental benefit. But what
Speaker 1: the Vault is doing by engaging us in this research
Speaker 1: is really just testing that to make sure it's possible.
Speaker 2: And I'm really king to understand you spoke there about
Speaker 2: actually having the evidence the metrics to go by to
Speaker 2: understand whether this is a more sustainable way to go about,
Speaker 2: you know, acquiring new clothing. What are those metrics that
Speaker 2: you're measuring. How do you actually do that analysis?
Speaker 1: Yes, so we have a team of very talented economists
Speaker 1: and they're looking at things like where the garment originated,
Speaker 1: where the material originated, where the various inputs, so the materials,
Speaker 1: the energy, the labor that go into making that garment.
Speaker 1: They're looking at those types of figures to get basically
Speaker 1: like a footprint for that garment, and then also looking
Speaker 1: at what we call the use phace. So when that
Speaker 1: dress is being used and being worn, how far is
Speaker 1: it traveling between each renter, How is it being laundered,
Speaker 1: so is it being hand washed, is it being dry cleaned.
Speaker 6: If it's being dry cleaned, what.
Speaker 1: Chemicals are being used, And then also what are the
Speaker 1: steps that are being taken to maybe even extend the
Speaker 1: life of that dress further through mending and repairs.
Speaker 6: So they're really taking this full.
Speaker 1: Glance at everything that goes into making that dress from
Speaker 1: the beginning through its kind of useful life, if you.
Speaker 2: Will, and are there any initial findings that you can
Speaker 2: point to, like, do we know whether it is a
Speaker 2: good thing?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the Vault has done some initial research using
Speaker 1: a calculator tool that's available for businesses to hire, and
Speaker 1: we do know that the more that you rent a dress,
Speaker 1: absolutely the better impact it has on the environment. So
Speaker 1: I don't know what, you know, what the break even
Speaker 1: point is for exams. Every garment will be a little
Speaker 1: bit different. But when you see some of the dresses
Speaker 1: that are being rented or being rented twenty times, thirty times,
Speaker 1: fifty times, it's undeniable that you're saving carbon and you're
Speaker 1: saving water in those scenarios.
Speaker 2: And are there any example, because we're talking here more
Speaker 2: about high end fashion, but obviously there are some cost
Speaker 2: of living pressures and all of these things. How does
Speaker 2: that balance between I guess the economics of it all
Speaker 2: versus the sustainability, Like, how are you thinking about that?
Speaker 6: That's a really important question.
Speaker 1: The analysis we're doing does incorporate economics as well, so
Speaker 1: it'll be looking at the cost of those garments. And
Speaker 1: one of the things we're hoping comes out of the research,
Speaker 1: but we will have to wait and see, is that
Speaker 1: those garments that are made of a better quality, made
Speaker 1: of stronger materials, made with better quality stitches and buttons,
Speaker 1: and for us that those are going to be able
Speaker 1: to stay in circulation for longer. And in that case
Speaker 1: you may be able to well, you will you are
Speaker 1: able to rent a dress for a lot less than
Speaker 1: buying that same dress. So there's an environmental aspect, absolutely,
Speaker 1: but there's also for somebody who loves fashion or loves dressing,
Speaker 1: there is that kind of avenue for joy of wearing
Speaker 1: a really well made garment that you can access via
Speaker 1: rental rather than ownership.
Speaker 2: I am really curious as part of this research, will
Speaker 2: participants be asked why they have chosen to rent, because
Speaker 2: you know, there are these two very key reasons, and
Speaker 2: I think will be really interesting to understand which one
Speaker 2: is coming out on top. Whether you know, we know
Speaker 2: young people care about the environment, but equally they're most
Speaker 2: affected by this cost of living crisis. So curious to
Speaker 2: understand how that can be monitored.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, we're calling them the borrow yesers who are
Speaker 1: interviewed definitely are being asked about their motivations for why
Speaker 1: they're renting, So it's they'll be asked a range of
Speaker 1: questions from motivations through the experience, and is there kind
Speaker 1: of a like is it a net positive benefit to
Speaker 1: their lives? Is it helping or is it or is
Speaker 1: it not to really understand their motivations.
Speaker 2: Are there any environmental downsides to this peer to peer borrowing?
Speaker 2: Are there any unintended or perhaps unforeseen emissions like even
Speaker 2: you know, the use of the internet. Are there any
Speaker 2: environmental impacts that you weren't expecting to say play out
Speaker 2: in this Well.
Speaker 1: I think we're just at the beginning of our research,
Speaker 1: but what we've seen in research in other rental markets
Speaker 1: is really looking at whether that garment was going to
Speaker 1: be used or not, and is it genuinely replacing a purchase.
Speaker 1: So what we do know from previous research is that
Speaker 1: occasion wear, which is what these dresses are, occasionwear, is
Speaker 1: absolutely a category that you're getting positive environmental impact from
Speaker 1: renting because that's something most of us have done it.
Speaker 6: I'm guilty of it. You have an.
Speaker 2: Event coming out, I have a wedding every weekend.
Speaker 1: Exactly, you don't want to wear the same thing. Who
Speaker 1: wants to wear the same thing? You just don't, So
Speaker 1: you go quickly buy something whatever's in your budget is
Speaker 1: what you're going to buy where once, maybe twice if
Speaker 1: you're lucky, and it might then just sit in your
Speaker 1: closet for a really long time, or you'll donate it.
Speaker 1: So we do know from previous research that occasionwear is
Speaker 1: an amazing place to get positive environmental benefits. I think
Speaker 1: the things that I'm curious to find out with this
Speaker 1: research is the transportation effect, So where the garment is traveling,
Speaker 1: how far are they traveling across Australia. We've got a
Speaker 1: huge country, so like a geographically huge country, so it's
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to see what those environmental measurements
Speaker 1: are for the transportation in particular. Laundering often gets queried
Speaker 1: when people start thinking about this, well, what's the impact
Speaker 1: of the dry cleaning, But whether that's actually different to
Speaker 1: somebody who owns a dress and goes and cleans it
Speaker 1: anyway is probably negligible. But again we're going to be
Speaker 1: looking at those types of measurements.
Speaker 2: And lastly, as an expert in this area, do you
Speaker 2: see this as the future of fashion or is it
Speaker 2: a phase? Do you think that this is something that
Speaker 2: will really take hold in Australia.
Speaker 1: I do think that it is an area for the future.
Speaker 1: I think there's going to be a lot of interesting
Speaker 1: new business models coming out, But I genuinely think rental
Speaker 1: and shared ownership is one hundred percent going to be
Speaker 1: a trend for a really long time, especially because we're
Speaker 1: at this really unique point of the ultra fast fashion
Speaker 1: companies coming up at a time when we know that
Speaker 1: we need to make some significant changes to the white
Speaker 1: closer are made and purchased and worn and all of that.
Speaker 1: So this rental really allows that, like the fun side
Speaker 1: of fashion to be enjoyed still because at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, yes, we all need to wear clothes
Speaker 1: for a whole lot of various reasons, but we also
Speaker 1: love to express ourselves and sharing ownership of garments allows
Speaker 1: us to change our style, to try different things without
Speaker 1: having to own everything. And as you mentioned before, there's
Speaker 1: environmental benefits to those of us borrowing the clothes, you know,
Speaker 1: which might be a huge financial outlay to buy a
Speaker 1: designer dress, but still enjoy it. So I genuinely think so.
Speaker 1: But I think it's also about getting these models right.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for joining us on the daily Oslice.
Speaker 4: I really appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, anytime.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, a really fascinating chat. That's all
Speaker 3: we've got time for on today's edition of The Daily
Speaker 3: os and that's all we have for you this week.
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