This Children’s Clothing Rental Platform Is Helping Parents Save on Costs, Time, and Waste
By Jharna Pariani
The speed at which children grow up can almost seem like they are defying the laws of time. Before you know it, they begin crawling, walking, talking, and soon enough, they are ready to go off to kindergarten. But in the midst of these early growth milestones, kids also tend to outgrow a lot of things — especially clothes.
To put it into perspective, consider the fact that there are typically seven size ranges (going from 0 to 24 months) for baby clothing before they even reach the age of two. Make that eight size ranges if you count preemies (prematurely-born babies).
While there's no denying that clothes are essential, it can seem expensive and wasteful every time parents find themselves repeatedly shopping for more within a short span of just a few weeks.
Fortunately, there is a company that is fully aware of these concerns and wants to help green-minded parents cut down on clothing costs and reduce waste while they’re at it.
Manymoons is a certified B Corp circular children’s fashion platform that encourages parents to rent, use, and return their used purchases to power their circular model that keeps wearable items in rotation (and recycles or composts the unwearable ones to avoid landfilling). Manymoons also allows you to purchase new or pre-loved products and get a 20% Give Back Credit when you return at any time - your reward for being a part of their circular model.
Renting the quickly redundant
When it comes to adopting a sustainable approach, any service that can help disconnect from the relentless proliferation of fashion consumption, temper resource depletion, and reduce its associated effects on the environment — all while still meeting an individual's needs — is a great way to go about doing business. Renting clothes is one of the key ways in which this can be achieved.
Renting helps consumers step away from traditional clothing ownership models and adopt a more practical shift to leasing instead. In doing so, the consumer gets their needs met for the necessary period of time, buying into the utility of the product rather than the product itself.
Considering how often kids need to size up their wardrobes, children’s clothing rentals are a great solution to meet a parent’s needs while mitigating rising childcare costs. And, they play an important role in helping reduce fashion’s growing waste crisis.
In fact, most new parents have inadvertently “leased” children’s clothing at some point in their lives. Many of us have been on the receiving end of hand-me-downs from a family member or friend. But unlike those hand-me-downs you felt obligated to make your child wear to appease the relatives who sent it, Manymoons offers a versatile range of children’s clothing that will make sure your little one looks adorable and presentable.
Their rental model makes all-natural, sustainably and ethically made clothing affordable to more families. Sustainable children's clothing can be more expensive, leading people to rely on fast fashion for their kids' wardrobe. But we love to see that Manymoons is helping make natural and responsible kids clothes more accessible.
With pre-loved rentals starting as low as $2.99 a month for baby rompers and going up to $20.99 for kid’s outerwear, parents also have the option to lease “new” clothes for a higher monthly rental fee. This distinction may simply boil down to individual budgets and personal preferences, since Manymoons makes sure that every pre-loved item passes a “like-new” quality test after being laundered using detergents that are approved for infant use and have A-ratings from the Environmental Working Group.
What's unique aboutt Manymoons’ service is that it’s not a flat subscription. You choose what items you want to rent and for how long (with a 2 month minimum), so you’re literally paying only for exactly what you want for exactly how long you need it. All of your rented items are kept organized in your virtual “closet” where you can keep track of what you’ve rented and renewal dates. And you never have to worry about paying rental fees more than the product value. Once you’ve rented an item for 6 months, you own it ! Although most parents choose to rent garments for 3-4 months. And since returns are core to Manymoons's operations, you get access to free shipping return labels easily.
Returned, recirculated, and regenerated
Outgrown children’s clothes are usually either discarded or donated, and in the case of the latter, many of them end up in landfills or environments of communities in other countries — largely in the Global South.
Manymoons wants to shift the status quo on fashion’s problematic take-make-waste cycle by incentivizing its customers to participate in their circular model. They reward returns with a Lifetime Credit worth 20% of the original purchase price.
Items returned in a wearable condition are meticulously cleaned (and mended if required) until they look and feel as good as new. Affirming that “secondhand doesn’t mean second best”, these pre-loved items are prepared to be shared again with another family that will cherish it and eventually return it to repeat the cycle.
In case you’re wondering whether you can return clothes that get damaged or have a stain that can’t be removed (because kids will be kids), the answer is still a resounding yes! No matter the mess caused, Manymoons will still honor its Lifetime Credit policy.
How is that possible, you ask? Since they consciously source clothing with 100% natural mono materials (in other words: made up of a single material or fiber), even if items returned are beyond repair, the clothes can be returned back to the earth with a little help from their composting partner, Neighborhood Compost in northern New Jersey, where their clothing composting program provides a rich source of carbon to balance out the nitrogen-rich food scraps in their compost materials, that in turn supports the generation of nutrient-rich soil.
Additionally, Manymoons makes it a point to avoid carrying any styles with embellishments like sequins and rhinestones that could potentially interfere with the composting process and fabric breakdown.
Green-minded parents can rest assured knowing that Manymoons products are made of mono-materials, such as wool, linen, and cotton, while partnering with brands who carry clothing certifications like GOTS, which verifies organic claims. and OEKO-TEX, which tests for hazardous chemicals. Apart from their eco-credentials, their partners also pay living wages, ensure environmental impact accuracy and traceability, and uplift their local communities.
Discover a range of adorable children’s clothing styles on Manymoons and help play a part in continuing the fashion loop.
About the Author:
Jharna Pariani is a fashion writer and creative strategist whose work is rooted in honesty and deep observation of the world around her. When she isn’t busy penning down her thoughts, she moonlights as a video editor creating fashion and food reels on Instagram for several brands and influencers.
