baby clothes
April 14, 2023
What My Child Taught Me About Rent a Romper
A reflection on community + change
by Lauren Gregor, Founder & CEO of Rent a Romper
Today I was picking up all of the Rent a Romper returns for processing and laundry. I had my 7-year-old son in the car with me because he was home sick from school. We also had our camping chairs and soccer gear left in the car from the endless soccer travel, so I had to stuff packages in the front and back seat all around him.
“Are these all Rent a Romper packages?” he asked. “Yep.” I told him. “These are the packages coming back with clothes that the babies and kids have outgrown. They are sending them back so that other families can use the clothes.”
“Oh, so that’s how Rent a Romper works?” he asked.
Surprised at this question from a child who has been surrounded by piles of baby clothes for years, has watched me unpack a constant stream of closet clean out donations, and has observed me carefully packing capsules (that fill our car to the brim), I took a breath and answered, “Yes.” Then, I used the rest of the car ride home to talk about what we actually do at Rent a Romper, and why.
“Well,” I said. “You know how when your brother has a shirt that gets too small for him then we give it to you because the shirt is still good.”
“Yeah,” he responded.
“That’s what we do at Rent a Romper because babies are always outgrowing their clothes and there is always another family that needs good clothes too. If your brother didn’t give you his shirt, what could we do with it instead?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we can give it to Rent a Romper?” he suggested.
I told him I loved that idea then explained some more. “Often people only use the clothes for one, or maybe two children. Then, the clothes end up going to the landfill even though they could be used again. When we don't reuse clothes, we need to make new clothes using resources from the Earth like cotton and water."
Then I asked him, "Did you know that it takes over 700 gallons of water to make one t-shirt?”
He looked a little shocked then said, “That’s a lot of water." And then, to my surprise, he asked, "I wonder if there is a way to make a t-shirt without water? It probably would just take a long time. Like Granny, you know how she makes a sweater from yarn?”
Loving his creative brainstorming, I replied, “Yes, knitting does take patience, but I think the sweaters that Granny makes are extra special because of the thought and care she puts into making them! When we share clothes by renting them or when we take time to repair or make our own clothes like Granny, we help save a lot of resources from our planet. We can use much less water, cotton and oil and use fewer pollutants like pesticides and dyes too.”
“Yeah, I think that is why so many people send their packages to you,” he observed.
Reflecting a little bit on his observation, I replied, “I really hope so,” and I do! I hope the families in our community care just as much as we do. But even if they don't, I still feel happy knowing they are still contributing to a positive change in the way we consume and create clothes.
As we drove the last block home I was reminded how much power our actions have, how much our little ones learn from us even when they're just observing, and how if we pause to listen we can hear their brains and hearts making choices that matter.
There is power in our community. Power to reduce the amount of resources we are using for clothing. Power to embrace sharing and collective impact. And power to model care for our planet and each other to our children. They care so we should too.
Thanks for being a part of what we do.
xo,
- Lauren