- By Team High St. Hire
Tell us about HighSt Hire and why your business values sustainability.
We are an Australian based designer hire platform, dedicated to revolutionising the means by which clothing is consumed and embraced. We’re all about access-over-ownership and say a big no to disposable fashion.
When establishing High St. Hire we were aware of the reputable harm that the fashion industry imposed environmentally, ethically and socially. In building our fashion exchange model, we were determined to provide a platform that would minimise the significant footprint of fashion yet still allow beautifully crafted clothing to be shared and enjoyed.
With approximately 85% of Australians disposing textiles to landfills every year, this inspired us to create a hire exchange model that would allow our community to embrace their own personal style with little impact.
Through collaborative consumption we hope this will reduce the demand for fast fashion and shift consumers towards quality not quantity.
How has your brand become more sustainable?
As a hire fashion business, we endeavour to promote sustainability through the re-using of clothing by re-wearing and repairing products so that they do not ever end up in landfill. We recognise the inherent contradiction between the current fashion industry that thrives off newness and consumption, and the concept of sustainability. So instead, we're focused on becoming the most responsible version of ourselves and embracing the circular economy.
We are committed to making better choices every day across the business to minimise our social and environmental impact. We see this as our moral obligation and an inherent core of our business model in that we are a dress hire company. We have just introduced Tishwish 100% compostable and reusable satchels to our packaging, all stickers and tissue paper are in fact recyclable and we ensure all single use plastics are disposed in our local RECYCLE bins. Branding is fundamental and a part of the customer experience, so it has been a win win for us when finding that equal balance between aesthetics and being kind to our planet.
Alongside this, we believe knowledge and educating our audience on what it means to repair, reuse and recycle is a key priority. We love uploading time lapses of the repair process in our HQ and providing fun-facts about the circular economy (without being too statistical).
We are also building networks with brands and suppliers that are dedicated to the same ethos as ourselves and have moved away from stocking fast fashion labels and organisations that do not have environmental plans. When our products reach the end of its lifecycle, we ensure that it finds a new home rather than disposed of.
We’re still forever learning and taking baby steps to improve all areas of the business with our next mission being focused on responsible dry cleaning!
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