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Rent The Runway: A New Recession-Proof Way To Buy Clothes?
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by Yuliya Talmazan | November 9, 2009 at 03:20 pm
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Rent the Runway has made Google Trends this morning, prompting me to check on what the buzz is all about. Turned out, Rent the Runway is a New York based company that rents designer clothes to women across America, delivering them right to a customer's doorstep. The clothes can than be returned to Rent the Runway via mail. The idea is that a woman does not need to purchase a $1000 designer dress to wear it once, but can instead rent it out at a cheaper price ($50-$200) and part with it in the end.
Customers are encouraged to browse through the array of 'A-list' designers and find the dress they like, schedule a delivery date for their dress to be delivered to their doorstep, in two different sizes. The dress can than be worn for four nights. After which it can be put in a pre-paid package and dropped off in the nearest mailbox. The company even promises to take care of the cleaning. Essentially, Rent the Runway follows the Netflix business model of delivering movie DVDs -- the Internet-mail renting service.
The mail-order service, which finishes the testing phase on Monday, allows women to rent dresses from notable fashion designers like Diane Von Furstenberg, Hervé Léger and Proenza Schouler for roughly one-tenth of what they would cost to buy in a retail store.
Rent the Runway was founded by two recent Harvard Business School graduates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter Fleiss. Ms. Hyman said she got the idea for the service last year after watching her younger sister agonize over whether to buy an expensive new outfit to wear to a wedding.
The founders say that more than 20,000 women have signed up for the service, which has been shipping dresses for only a week.
Rent the Runway is already on Twitter with 300 followers.
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jillbergie (not verified)at 13:32 on November 10th, 2009
www.WearTodayGoneTomorrow.com has been doing this for almost a year! WTGT loans nationally at 5%– 10% retail values, has had amazing reviews from Teen Vogue, People, InStyle, The Today Show and many more. Items arrive in 2 – 3 days, and they carry over 125 of the top designers including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Herve Leger, Matthew Williamson and more. They’re amazing!