When Your Ski Outfit Arrives Faster Than Your Coffee

What happens when you realize at 6 PM that you need ski gear for tomorrow's trip, but buying new would cost £500 and contribute to fashion waste? By Rotation, the UK's leading peer-to-peer fashion rental platform, thinks it has the answer: your outfit can now arrive via Uber in under an hour.

The partnership, announced Wednesday, offers UK users 60-minute delivery of rental outfits through Uber Courier at a 10% discount through May 31. While the service covers all fashion categories, it's specifically targeting ski gear renters—a group that represents some of the platform's most urgent requests.

The "Emergency Economy" Problem

Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder and CEO of By Rotation, calls it "sartorial panic"—that moment when you realize you need the perfect outfit immediately. Her data reveals the scope: one in four rentals happen within 48 hours of an event, and 30% of ski gear renters specifically want same-day pickup.

"Usually, when this moment comes, a person has to run out to make a 'panic purchase' for a new outfit," Kabra-Davies told TechCrunch. The partnership aims to eliminate what she considers the final friction point in sustainable fashion: logistics.

This isn't By Rotation's first creative collaboration. The platform previously partnered with Airbnb to provide wedding guest outfits for destination weddings, showing a pattern of meeting consumers "where they are" rather than forcing them to adapt to traditional rental timelines.

Beyond Convenience: The Bigger Picture

The timing isn't coincidental. Ski fashion has become a significant online trend as winter sports remain popular across Europe, creating both demand and urgency around specialized gear that's expensive to buy but perfect for renting.

By Rotation has scaled impressively since its 2019 launch, now boasting over 1 million users (including songwriter Ellie Goulding) and managing luxury inventory worth more than £100 million. The platform has evolved beyond simple fashion rental—Kabra-Davies shares the example of a top lender who used her wardrobe earnings to fund her IVF journey.

But the partnership with Uber represents something larger: an attempt to make sustainable fashion as convenient as fast fashion. "We have wanted to change this behavior by removing the one thing standing in the way—logistics," Kabra-Davies explains.

The Sustainability Speed Test

Fashion remains one of the world's most polluting industries, making the sharing economy particularly attractive to environmentally conscious consumers. The challenge has always been convenience—can sustainable options match the instant gratification of buying new?

This partnership tests whether consumers will choose "slow fashion" when it arrives as quickly as "fast fashion." By removing the logistics barrier, By Rotation is essentially asking: if sustainable fashion were as convenient as unsustainable fashion, which would you choose?

The company's global ambitions mirror Uber's own expansion playbook. Already launched in New York with eyes on the UAE, By Rotation wants to make the "rotating wardrobe" the default consumption mode worldwide.