Pre-loved baby clothing rental library goes from strength to strength

The idea behind the not-for-profit online pre-loved baby clothing rental library is that instead of owning clothes parents can rent them for as long as they need them and then send them back and choose a net set in the next size up.

Jenny said: "At the beginning the pandemic, although people were all allowed to go out for a bit of fresh air, everyone was terrified of having any contact with other people or things. It clearly wasn’t the best time to start the a business."

During lockdown Jenny decided to re-photo the library of more than 1,500 baby clothes and redesigning the website. During lots of Zoom calls with her volunteer team of ex-fashion and marketing professionals, the business model was reworked and improved and the rental process simplified.

Jenny said: “In many ways lockdown was helpful for SuperLooper which now looks unrecognisable and so much better compared to before. I knew that it was no good to sit back and wait until the pandemic was all over ... at the time we thought that would be in a month or so, maybe six. I felt that once lockdown was over it would be the businesses that have adapted to new ways and ideas that would have the best chance of survival.

"The way people think, live, spend and socialise has shifted. Many people have re-connected with nature during lockdown and for some this means a move towards more conscious consumption as they realise that we have to change our wasteful ways in order to protect our planet - 80 per cent of clothes get worn 20 per cent of the time!

"Because babies grow so quickly - eight sizes in the first two years - perfectly good outgrown clothes get either stored and forgotten or chucked away. This is a waste of money and resources the we can’t afford any more. On average there’s around 750,000 babies born in the UK each year - if all those babies wore at least one pre-used baby grow we could save 320 tonnes of carbon and 600 million litres of water."

Part of the SuperLooper model is that the clothes in the library are donated by parents who want to get rid of outgrown clothing and want their clothes to go to good use. During lockdown, charity shops had to close and suspend in-coming donations. This means that SuperLooper is even more useful for parents wanting to do a clear out, and as they know they're supporting an idea to keep things out of the landfills, they’ve been very happy to donate some beautiful items.

Also, people are having to watch their pennies and can’t afford to splash money around on clothing that they might not get much wear out so they're looking for new, easy ways to dress their babies in lovely clothes.

SuperLooper is a growing community of mums and dads who want to meet other like-minded parents who care for the environment, offer support and want to discuss more than just the colour of their baby’s pooh! The original plan was to hold monthly meet-ups in local venues - cake was going to feature large at these events. For now, SuperLooper members are going meet online and will be able to keep all their cakes to themselves!"

Parents can choose the clothes they need from the online library and instead of using pick-up/drop off points to return and collect orders and donate clothes, they’ll deliver straight to the customer’s door. At first during lockdown deliveries were made by Jenny on her trusty electric bike. Beyond that, the team use one of the various e-cargo bike delivery services popping up in Brighton.

At present, all items of clothing are washed by SuperLooper before they’re distributed, but for the future Jenny's looking at using ozone washing methods that enable washing at low temperatures with superior results and total infection control.

For more information, visit superlooperlife.comInstagram, Facebook and Twitter @superlooperlife