Fashion rental is changing the way consumers approach luxury, allowing them to rent and experience expensive designer clothing and accessories at a fraction of the item's price.  

Beyond cost savings, renting offers flexibility, variety, convenience, and experimentation with trends and styles without investing in pieces permanently.

Social media has intensified the pressure to wear something different for every occasion, making outfit repetition in photos increasingly undesirable.

Rental is not automatically sustainable, as cleaning, packaging, delivery, and returns also carry environmental costs.

The sustainability of rental wear depends on whether repeated rentals replace new purchases or simply create another way to consume even more fashion.

Rental platforms are expanding access to designer fashion across categories, from South Asian wedding dresses, festive wear, and jewellery to Western evening gowns and luxury accessories.

Established luxury brands are participating too, with Mulberry and Burberry offering selected bags through third-party rental partnerships, while UK’s Garrard operates its own rental line for diamond jewellery and tiaras.

Peer-to-peer rental is trending too, letting individuals list clothing and accessories from their own wardrobes, earning from items that would otherwise sit unused.

A US consumer survey found the top motivations for rentalwear are weddings and milestone occasions, trips and holidays, and workwear,  more than cost savings or sustainability, suggesting practical access matters more to consumers than environmental concern.

A UK consumer study found that 59% of luxury shoppers had worn clothing once before returning it, making fashion rental a legitimate alternative to this buy-and-return cycle.

Despite its growing popularity, rental still carries a stigma, where some consumers would not disclose that they rent, for fear of being judged on their finances or social status.

Research shows roughly a quarter of rental users rent more often simply because it's easy and cheap, or spend the money saved on other goods, cancelling out the environmental gains of renting.

In winter, the wrong skincare ingredients can do more harm than good, worsening dryness, irritation, and cracking instead of protecting and nourishing your skin.

Lip balms and moisturisers can contain fragrance, flavouring, or irritants that keep skin and lips chapped instead of helping them heal.

“Fragrance-free” on the product label means no perfume or fragrance has been added, while “unscented” products may still contain fragrance to mask the odour of other ingredients, making the two marketing terms non-interchangeable.

Cleansers containing harsh synthetic chemicals strip away the skin's protective oils and weaken its barrier, with hot showers leaving an already dry skin more prone to irritation and flaking.

For chapped lips dermatologists recommend ingredients such as castor seed oil, ceramides, or hemp seed oil and advise avoiding lip balms containing phenol, menthol, camphor, fragrance or flavourings, which can worsen irritation and keep you reapplying a product that may be aggravating the problem.

For well-rounded care, choose moisturisers that combine three types of ingredients: 

Lip balms, creams, and lotions containing humectants without occlusive protection cannot prevent moisture from evaporating, leaving skin dry and requiring frequent reapplication.

Natural ingredients such as lanolin, beeswax, propolis, and tea tree oil are often sought after as alternatives to synthetic ingredients, but they can also trigger allergic reactions in some people.

Small changes to daily habits, such as keeping showers to 5-10 minutes, using lukewarm water, and applying moisturiser to damp skin to lock in moisture can help protect skin from dryness.

Winter brings increased circulation of respiratory viruses, including those behind common colds, influenza (flu), and COVID-19.

Although these illnesses share symptoms, they are caused by different viruses, carry different health risks, and require different preventive measures.

Supplements like vitamin C and zinc strengthen the immune system, but their effectiveness depends on timing, formulation, and dosage.

New COVID-19 variants continue to emerge, but current evidence does not show the latest variants, including TA.1 and ST.1, causing more severe illness than earlier ones.

Flu and COVID-19 vaccines do not guarantee complete protection against infection but reduce the risk of severe illness, while neither vaccine protects against the other infection or the common cold.

A cold builds gradually over days and stays mostly in the nose and throat, with a runny nose and sneezing; flu and COVID hit fast, within hours, leaving you severely unwell with fever, body aches, and exhaustion.

Supplements work best when used correctly:

There's currently no vaccine for the common cold, since it can be caused by 200+ different viruses, while annual vaccination for flu is recommended as influenza virus keeps changing over time.

Most of our immune cells reside in the gut, so eating diverse, nutritious food through winter supports the microbiome and immune system, supporting the body's natural defences against infections.

Common remedies, such as herbal teas, honey, ginger shots, steam baths, warm drinks, and soups, ease symptoms temporarily but do not eliminate the virus.

Antibiotics do not treat viral infections, while simple measures, including frequent handwash, better ventilation to reduce indoor virus concentration, avoidance of close contact with infected people, and timely vaccination can reduce the risk and severity of diseases.