Rax

rax is Canada’s peer-to-peer wardrobe rental app and the first app globally to offer long-term rentals on maternity wear, children’s clothes or short-term rentals for costumes, suits, dresses or other items you just need for a moment in time. Driven by our community, lenders, list items they are willing to lend out and make money on to borrowers for a fraction of the cost of retail value. Waste is at the heart of fashion. We live in a culture consumed by the desire to own the latest and greatest products but on average a piece of clothing is only worn 7 times. Fast fashion has devastating impacts socially and environmentally: Social impact The majority of products in the fashion industry are made in undeveloped countries with child labour, slavery conditions, low wages and exaggerated working hours. 97% of fast fashion is produced overseas in developing countries with poor labour laws and human rights protections. Of the 75 million factory workers around the world, it’s estimated that only 2% earn a living wage. Environmental impact Fast fashion is one of the largest sources of pollution in the world, causing 10% of annual global carbon emissions, and is expected to skyrocket to 50% by 2030. To put things into perspective, it takes about 700 gallons of water to produce one cotton shirt. rax impact Studies have proved that increasing the number of times we wear clothing items is the best way to reduce the environmental and social impact of our wardrobes. If the average number of times a garment is worn were doubled, greenhouse gas emissions from textiles would be 44% lower and peer-to-peer rental is 60% more efficient in relation to resource use than the production of new garments.