This Danish mum wants everyone to RENT rather than buy baby clothes

Vigga Svensson wants Danish parents to rent used baby clothes, to save the planet.

A more sustainable way to use clothes, cutting waste

A growing number of parents in Denmark are choosing to rent used babyclothes for their young children. The idea is that this is a more sustainable way to use clothes, cutting waste in the fashion industry.

What if clothes could grow with your child?

You know the problem: The new baby is coming up to four months old and he’s already outgrown two rounds of clothing sizes – it’s expensive and a massive waste of resources. VIGGA wants to change that.

Danish VIGGA.us is the founder of a award-winning business model for a circular economy in the textile industry. VIGGA is a maternity and kid’s wear brand designed for a circular economy, because pregnancy bellies as well as kids grow and clothes don’t. The VIGGA™ product-service-system enables parents to lease organic maternity and children’s wear. Saves time, money and resources.

Source: Vigga

Only around 20% of clothes are reused or recycled – the rest ends up as waste

One thing that is sure about kids: they just grow and grow and grow. So it makes sense that globally, only around 20% of clothes are reused or recycled. The rest ends up as waste.

Husband and wife entrepreneur team, Vigga and Peter Svensson, think they have the answer. Having worked for 10 years in ethical kids fashion, Vigga realised that her previous career wasn’t as environmentally sustainable as she had hoped.

"We weren’t those green superheroes that we thought we were," Vigga told the BBC."Even though our products were really green, the way people used our product was not very green. It’s a massive waste of resources."

*Eureka! moment.*

With the average baby jumpsuit getting about 5 to 7 wears before it is outgrown, the couple began creating a whole new system of using and upgrading clothes – with no perfectly wearable clothing going into the bin.

Therefore, Vigga and Peter’s new business rents out baby clothes which will be used 100 – maybe even 150 – times.

Called Vigga after its co-owner, the eco-friendly clothing line and circular subscription model of hiring children’s wear provides members with a 16 item bundle of clothes for $55 a month. These clothes are updated as the child grows from baby to toddler.

Genius? We think yes.

Source: MarieClaire

Each clothing item is chipped to track its usage

The main question for prospective members, is whether the clothes are clean and hygienic: can they accept clothes worn by so many strangers?

But the Svensson’s have a solution for that too. Each clothing item is chipped to track its usage.

When the item is returned, each individual piece is sorted, inspected and if needed, repaired. Vigga also works with an independent laundry with clothes then sorted into bags to be sent back out to members.

The Damgaard family are advocates for the Vigga model and are one of 3000 members in Denmark, to join since 2014. "I think it’s obviously a very practical thing that you always have clothes in the right size," says Ms. Damgaard."Obviously it is always good for the environment, that we don’t buy too much; that we just have what we need."

Source: MarieClaire