LENA the fashion library

LENA is the first online and offline fashion library in the Netherlands, offering a system to borrow clothes and provide an extended wardrobe for every occasion. Their aim is to accelerate the fashion industry towards a circular system.

Producing poor quality clothes, selling them as fast-fashion and having them end-up in landfill is an old way of thinking. LENA believes in a circular approach, which promotes access over ownership and fights using up all our resources and producing textile waste. That’s why they maximize the product lifetime using the Sharing business model. One item serves many different people and it gets actually used, instead of being forgotten in one person’s wardrobe.

Circular business model to decrease CO2 emissions

LENA is active for over 5 years now and has saved around 35.000 pieces of clothing. This translates into about 5500 Olympic swimming pools of water and the CO2 emissions of 65 two-week-holidays to Bali.

During these years, they have experimented with the business model a lot, and after plenty of trial and error, found the good formula. Members of the library can borrow high-quality clothing which is an affordable and practical way to give up fast fashion. For a pay-as-you-borrow system where you can pay by the day, members have access to a large collection of designer clothes from various sustainable brands.

They are ready now for the next step: introducing the model in other areas of the industry, which mainly means involving brands to set up their own rental system. They are currently looking for brands interested to be part of the pilot.

www.lena-library.com