sustainability Article Product-Service Systems and Sustainability: Analysing the Environmental Impacts of Rental Clothing Emma Johnson * and Andrius Plepys   Citation: Johnson, E.; Plepys, A. Product-Service Systems and Sustainability: Analysing the Environmental Impacts of Rental Clothing. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2118. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042118 Academic Editor: Sofia Ritzén Received: 30 December 2020 Accepted: 10 February 2021 Published: 16 February 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden; andrius.plepys@iiiee.lu.se * Correspondence: emma.johnson@iiiee.lu.se Abstract: Business models like product-service systems (PSSs) often recognise different sustainability goals and are seen as solutions for the impacts of consumption and fast fashion, but there is a lack of evidence supporting the environmental claims of such business models for clothing. The research aimed to understand if rental clothing business models such as PSSs have the environmental benefits often purported by quantifying the environmental impacts of rental formal dresses in a life-cycle assessment (LCA) in a case study in Stockholm, Sweden. The effects of varying consumer behaviour on the potential impact of a PSS vs. linear business model are explored through three functional units and 14 consumption scenarios. How users decide to engage with clothing PSSs dictates the environmental savings potential that a PSS can have, as shown in how many times consumers wear garments, how they use rental to substitute their purchasing or use needs, as well as how consumers travel to rental store locations. Keywords: product-service system; life cycle assessment; rental clothing; environmental impact; sustainable business model; consumer behaviour 1. Introduction There is an emerging awareness and increasing global effort to reduce current con- sumption patterns to address resource depletion, climate change, and other environmental impacts. The textile and clothing industry, in particular fast fashion, contributes to resource depletion, produces large amounts of wastewater and solid waste, contributes to chem- ical and pesticide residues, and is known for the exploitation of workers among many other negative impacts [1]. Clothing production globally has nearly doubled in the last 15 years, although clothing use intensity has declined by nearly 40% [2]. Clothes are being consumed at higher rates than the technical lifespans of garments [3] due to increasing disposable income and the influence of fast fashion in encouraging waste. In Sweden, clothing consumption has increased by 30% since 2000 (roughly 3 kg per person) with the average consumption of textiles per person at 14 kg in 2019 [4]. Yet Swedes dispose of 7.5 kg per person of textile waste in the residual waste annually, of which over half of that is in a condition for reuse [5]. In addition to this waste, Swedes send another 4 kg of textiles per person annually to charities or second-hand [6]. A change to conventional business models (BMs) and consumption habits is needed to reduce current unsustainable impacts [7]. BMs based on ideologies under the circular econ- omy and the sharing economy are anticipated to contribute to sustainability objectives [8] and can be seen as solutions in the fashion industry [9]. Tukker et al. (2015) has analysed and noted BMs like product-service systems (PSSs) often recognise different sustainability goals and are seen as pathways to the acceptance of service-based societies and more sustainable solutions [10]. Examples of sustainable strategies include circular solutions such as reuse, remanufacturing, or recycling, as well as ideas of moving towards access over ownership [11]. Providing a product as a service can change consumption patterns and may provide incentives for the optimisation of supply chains and product design Sustainability 2021, 13, 2118. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042118 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability