Fashion rental marketplace HURR has become profitable for the first time, marking a milestone for the circular fashion business as it looks to make clothing rental and resale more commercially sustainable.
Founder Lauren Roberts announced the achievement on LinkedIn, revealing that the business had undergone an 18-month period of operational and strategic changes to improve its financial performance.
Roberts said the company had reassessed how it operates, spends, innovates and develops its technology, with a focus on improving efficiency and scrutinising costs across the business.
She acknowledged that the journey had involved difficult decisions and initiatives that had not delivered the expected results, but said the cumulative impact of the changes had fundamentally altered HURR’s financial trajectory.
The announcement comes as the marketplace continues to grow, with increasing numbers of customers renting fashion from one another and resale becoming a more significant part of its business.
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HURR has also been developing its platform to make circular fashion more accessible, recently introducing features including Search by Image and Request an Item to improve product discovery and help customers find specific pieces.
Roberts said achieving profitability was significant beyond the company’s own financial performance, arguing that circular business models must demonstrate commercial viability if they are to meaningfully change how consumers purchase and use fashion.
The milestone comes amid growing interest in alternative fashion consumption models, as retailers and brands explore rental, resale and recommerce to extend product lifecycles and reduce waste.
However, Roberts stressed that profitability did not mean the work was complete, describing the achievement as an important step forward for both HURR and its ambition to reshape fashion consumption.
The announcement signals a potentially important moment for the rental sector, demonstrating that circular fashion businesses can pursue growth while building a profitable operating model.
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