Fashion pioneer Hirestreet launches partnership with global sports brand Decathlon

Fashion rental platform Hirestreet has announced a partnership with outdoor brand Decathlon in the midst of expanding further into sports and active wear.

Hirestreet, run by former Northeast Entrepreneur of the Year Isabella West, was formed in Newcastle four years ago with a mission to reverse the fast fashion trend where customers buy clothes and wear them less before throwing things away.

Decathlon has launched its first UK rental collection through Hirestreet, consisting of exclusively edited ski and outerwear.

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It seeks to take advantage of a return to the slopes for as many people as possible, while also offering a variety of hiking equipment to meet the demands of those who choose to stay overnight.

The Decathlon collection includes 18 different styles of high-performance ski and hiking jackets and pants for women, from sizes six to 16, from 15 to rented for a period of 4 days.

This collection offers a sustainable and affordable alternative to buying new items, making it perfect for those who may not ski often.

Ms West, founder and CEO of Hiretreet, said: The demand for rental fashion is growing rapidly in 2021 and customers are now looking to rent items for more than just formal occasions. For many of us, who ski less often, renting ski clothes makes a lot of sense: they are expensive, bulky to store, and rarely used.

I want to use Hirestreet for ski wear. I am someone who skies very rarely – I went on uni ski trips in the last decade and invested in a bright yellow Top Shop jacket. So I’m really someone who’s going to implement this, who wants to try and go but definitely won’t have all the kits themselves. And I don’t have room to store my skis either.

Decathlon has been a market leader in sportswear for decades and we share the same value of making clothing sustainably – be it sportswear or fashion – accessible to everyone and with the planet in mind. We are proud to partner with Decathlon for their first UK rental collection.

Sharon Poulter, rental manager at Decathlon, added: Renting our textile products was a new venture for us, and it was a pleasure to share with Hirestreet. This is another way in which we make sport more accessible – through convenience, price point and flexibility, while reducing our impact on the planet. Renting a ski outfit is an obvious starting point, but we look forward to expanding our offering in the future to make the activity easier and more sustainable.

Ms West said Hirestreet is now looking to explore more active wear options, which have also recently branched out with maternity wear and bridesmaid dresses.

He said: “Skiwear is an area that we ask a lot from our user base, but we’ve also been looking at other types of sports recently, so we’re also looking at wetsuits.”

This is just the beginning of our activewear edit, and it has truly been led by our customers, by mapping the market and looking at the leading brands.

For us, many of the brands we work with see this as a way to attract new and younger customers, who may not have done the activity before and it is also a great sales conversion tool.

Late last year the Hiretreet group announced it would help Marks and Spencer launch its first clothing rental service, receiving an undisclosed investment from the retail giant.

Since then, the company has attracted a number of startups looking to work with fashion disruptors. Now works with 50 brand partners including M&S, Ghost, French Connection, ASOS, Nobodys Child and more.

Ms West said: We’ve been really working on our brand collaboration. For example, we have entered into new markets, such as maternity with a new brand called Frugi. We’ve launched a small collection on Lipsy aimed at bridesmaids, and we’ve launched with the very sustainability-focused Nobodys Child.

So behind the scenes over the last five weeks we’ve launched with some of the leading brands, which is very exciting and part of a new strategy to become a platform that empowers retailers to kick off their rental journey. Since we launched with M&S, we have had an exciting surge of demand in various retail areas.

Different areas of the fashion industry come to us and see us as the go-to solution for exceptional rentals. I hope over the coming weeks we will see more of it.