CWB’s Laura Turner speaks to Charlotte Morley, founder and CEO of The Little Loop, the UK’s first shared wardrobe for kids.

 

Laura Turner: What was the inspiration behind The Little Loop?

Charlotte Morley: Ninety-five per cent of the time we make decisions based on instinct, we’re only five per cent rational. This means to alter our habits we need big, life-defining events that necessitate change, like marriage, house moving, starting a new job or going to university, where your brain is in a different mode and more receptive to new ideas. One of these, of course, is having a child.
For me, although I’d theoretically been a sustainability advocate since the 90s, I needed this shift to make changes in my life. Once I started, it became a very natural part of my life; so much so that I started to create solutions where there weren’t good ones already. One of the problems I experienced in those early years of my kids’ lives was waste.
They go through so much stuff and with clothing, in particular, there’s no good solution to it. It’s such a headache to replace their clothes every few months when they grow or the seasons change; there’s nothing convenient to do with the items they no longer need. Hand-me-downs are haphazard and leave you unable to choose what your child wears. And the peer-to-peer resale market is incredibly time-consuming and rarely financially rewarding. As a result, there are 183 million items of baby clothing alone stashed in UK cupboards. It’s very broken, and rental seemed like the best solution for both parents and the planet.

 

 

LT: How does The Little Loop work?

CM: We’ve built The Little Loop hand-in-hand with parents to make it as seamless and convenient as possible. It’s a subscription that gives parents access to a shared wardrobe of thousands of items from the UK’s best ethical brands.
Depending on your subscription size, you get a certain number of credits to spend on clothes. You choose what you need, we send them to you, and when you’re ready to swap, you can. It’s as simple as telling us what you’re sending back, choosing replacements, and returning the old ones.
Behind the scenes, we launder, sanitise (steam), repair if needed, and store the returned items. We do all this in-house, because a critical part of what we do is partner with our brands and provide data on the performance of their items so they can feed that back into their production. We therefore need to see the items to check how well they’re holding up.
Brand partnerships are a core part of who we are. When I created the business, I was struck by the challenge of how to involve clothing brands in changing the fashion industry for the better; incentivising them for producing better quality, longer-lasting clothes. So we don’t wholesale stock as a rule. We think brands ought to be responsible for how long their garments last – and so do they. This is why they sign up for a revenue-sharing arrangement where the clothes earn more money the longer they rent for. It’s just one of the features we’ve pioneered and we’re seeing more rental businesses do the same, albeit only those that are tech-driven. The technology required to track the items, account for their revenue and apportion that to brands, is pretty hefty.

LT: What does your offer look like in terms of brands, product categories and age range?

CM: We currently cover 18 months up to 8 years and find the older age ranges are very popular. We’re hoping to broaden this from 12 months up to 10 years in 2022.
Because quality and choice are core elements of the value we bring to our customers, we are very careful about the brands we work with. Not only that, but one of our goals is to allow more consumers to be able to access ethically and sustainably made clothing, as renting makes it more affordable. We work to identify and promote the brands that do this best, no matter what size they are.
The brands are our lifeblood, and we don’t underestimate how brave they’re being to give rental a shot. We currently work with Little Green Radicals, Frugi, Polarn O. Pyret, Pigeon, Jujuni, Grass & Air, Kite and Wilder Ones. We’re hoping to bring on more brands this year.

LT: What happens to the clothing once it can no longer be rented?

CM: We are just introducing resale for clothing that has met its rental potential. We believe that clothing can continue to be worn for even longer; even if it’s no longer in a fit state for rental. We will guarantee to take back any item that is no longer wearable to recycle it. We’re currently working to identify the best recycling partner. In time, we’d love to look at composting unwearable clothing, as the majority of the clothing in our range is cotton construction.

LT: The very nature of The Little Loop is sustainable, but what other measures are you taking?

CM: The feedback loop we achieve through our brands is a big part of what we’re trying to achieve. The data we give to them about the performance of their items will hopefully, over time, help to make their garments even more durable and long-lasting.
Elsewhere, we use entirely reusable packaging, with our bags guaranteed for up to 2,000 uses. We’re also as eco-friendly as possible with our laundry practices and only wet launder. Soon we will be using Ozone to reduce the amount of water used.
We’re a member of Textiles 2030 too, which is the WRAP led initiative harnessing the knowledge and expertise of UK leaders in sustainability and fashion to accelerate the whole fashion and textiles industry’s move towards circularity and system change in the UK. We sit on some of the working groups bringing our expertise to the mix to try and encourage a far higher rate of reuse for all textiles produced in the UK.

LT: What rate of growth do you foresee for the childrenswear rental market?

CM: Rental is just beginning to really pick up. We’re slightly ahead of the market, as consumers are only just beginning to get their heads around access over ownership. Once they do, however, we predict it will be a rapid adoption curve. We’re involved in some very exciting initiatives early this year to drive the profile of childrenswear rental and make it more mainstream, which I think will help enormously.

LT: What are your plans for The Little Loop?

CM: In the short term, we’re focusing entirely on driving adoption and awareness. We’re hoping for a physical presence early this year to enable consumers to get their hands on rental clothing and really experience how it could fit into their lives, and we’ll really be driving marketing and PR.
Beyond that, we’re looking to introduce resale. This will also be in partnership with brands, powering a serviced take-back scheme that rewards both consumers and brands for the reuse of their clothing. We’d love to hear from brands who want to get involved.

To visit The Little Loop website, please click here.