Keeping up with the latest fashion can be an expensive business. Constantly buying and throwing away clothes is also really bad for the environment in all sorts of ways.

New York-based Rent the Runway is an online business that rents expensive designer dresses to women for special events. They get access to the latest fashions to wear… and can then send them back. A fashion company with a technology soul, their motto is ‘Access is the new ownership’.

Founded in 2009 by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, two women from Harvard Business School, the $1 billion startup has been called ‘Spotify for fashion’.

For a subscription you can choose four items, swapping them out for new ones each month, and for a little bit more you get unlimited access and can swap and change as much as you like. There’s also an option for short term rentals, so the item you would have bought and only ever worn once can see a lifetime of use.

They even encourage you to donate your old wardrobe to help give back through their partner Give Back Box.

AtlasAction: Download a free shipping label to donate your old clothes.

Student at Bournemouth University and intern/accidental activist with Atlas of the Future, Matthew spends his time promoting the solutions of tomorrow and staying out of his overdraft.