This chapter introduces a literature overview of the industry/sector which is related to this research. It covers an overview of the fashion industry and rental fashion sector in the UK, as well as the latest issues and current trends. This chapter provides a better understanding of where this research is conducted.

Fashion industry in the UK
Fashion is one of the largest industries in the world. According to the latest forecast by Statista (2020), the global revenue of the fashion industry will reach £449,052m in 2020 and £643,677m by 2024 (see Figure 1). The industry plays a significant role in the UK as the country ranked the third in terms of the market volume (see Figure 2) (Statista, 2020). Report from WRAP (2017) shows that the clothing consumed in the UK has increased from 1,030,000 tonnes in 2010 to 1,130,000 tonnes in 2016.

Fashion has contributed £32 billion to the UK economy, and has provided nearly 900,000 jobs across the country (Sleigh, 2018). Fashion companies launch more collections every year. For example, Zara and H&M have produced 24 and 12 collections annually respectively (McFall-Johnsen, 2019), which also encourages consumers to purchase more fashion items