Ever left a t-shirt with the price tag hanging in the closet for years?

Bought a tool case only to drive a single nail into the wall and then let the case gather dust in the basement for years?

Sarah Huemer

Editor in the "Money & More" department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Our shelves are overflowing with unused items.

So why not just borrow instead of constantly buying new?

And give back when we no longer need the things.

We produce, consume and own more than is good for the planet anyway.

Borrow a little more, buy a little less, that would also be good for the environment.

And we actually know that.

We rarely or never wear 40 percent of our clothes.

The production of our clothes emits more emissions than global flights and shipping combined.

But: Do we even want to share our jumpers and drills?

Or are we too greedy, too addicted to buying?

For some items, at least we don't seem to care if we don't own them.

We jet through the city with e-scooters and rental bikes;

or listen to music through Spotify subscription instead of buying a CD.

So why not share the car with others as well?

Or rent our clothes on a weekly basis?

Few people want to borrow

If you feel a little uneasy at this thought, if you have doubts, you are not alone.

Only 32 percent of those surveyed could imagine renting their everyday clothing in the future.

This is the result of an as yet unpublished survey by the Fraunhofer Institute, the results of which are available to the FAS.

Less than half agree on business attire.

The majority would only rent clothes for special occasions that you only wear once.

The sharing economy is intended to curb our excessive consumption.

The idea is not entirely new.

We've been borrowing books from the library for decades, we used to get DVDs for movie nights from the video store, and ice skate rentals at the ice rink have been around for a lot longer than the sharing economy was in the dictionary.

In the past, this only happened on a very small scale, in one's own town.

Today there are more and more platforms on the Internet that connect tenants and landlords throughout Germany: For example, portals such as Nebenan.de, where neighbors lend out their mixers or drills.

Or start-ups that offer sweaters, dresses and bags on their website like an online shop, which we can rent on a subscription basis or for a weekly fee.

If only we wanted to.

Online shopping is more convenient

But why is it that we carelessly jump onto the saddle of the nearest rental bike while clinging to possessions for household appliances or clothing?

This may in part be a well-founded decision.

Searching, picking up and returning often takes a lot of time.

Online shopping is easier: One click of the mouse, one or two days later the courier delivers the package right to your door, and there is no stress whatsoever about returning the items on time.