Skiwear brand aims to rent out rather than sell its products
French a snow, ski, surf, and outdoor clothing brand Picture has launched a new idea that it hopes will help it sell fewer products.
Based near Clermont-Ferrand, Picture launched in 2008, the brainchild of three outdoor-loving friends. They said from the outset that they were 100% committed to responsibility and to “sustainability-driven eco-design”. It is this commitment that has led them to a desire now to sell fewer products.
Instead, it intends to use a new in-house platform it has created to rent its products out.
Picture announced the new platform at the start of 2022, saying that many outdoor enthusiasts were already used to the concept. Hiring rather than buying specialist clothing and equipment is especially popular for week-long school ski trips, for example.
Ongoing questions about how to lower their own carbon footprint led the brand’s founders to conclude that launching their own rental platform, ‘Location Picture’ (or ‘Picture Rentals’) would help, while, at the same time, “democratising access to winter sports” by helping to make high-tech clothing for trips to the mountains available to more people.
To give concrete examples, the brand’s Naikoon jacket, which costs €330 to buy, is available to hire on the new platform for €13 per day. The Tanya jacket (pictured) costs €265 to buy but is available for a rental of €11 per day. Products for men, women and children are available, although the service is limited at the moment to customers in mainland France and Corsica.
Two days after ordering, customers should receive the products they have hired. It will be delivered to their homes or to an e-commerce pick-up point in reusable packaging. After use, customers will use the same packaging to return the items for sorting, inspection, repair (if required) and cleaning before going out again to a new customer.
At the launch of Location Picture, the brand’s head of sustainable development, Florian Palluel, said: “In a rental model, instead of needing five jackets for five people, one jacket will be enough. This will have a major impact on product manufacturing and the ravaging effect it has on the environment.”
Mr Palluel went on to say that the new model would also help address the problem of “unnecessary purchases”. Picture suggests that, if there is one type of clothing that is certain to spend a large part of the year in a cupboard because it can’t be used, it’s skiwear.
