Rent the Runway’s New Clothing Subscription Service Will Change the Way You Shop
I know I’m not the only person who regularly suffers actual pangs of guilt/anxiety over the sheer number of worn-once garments crowding my tiny apartment, but who still also never has anything they want to wear, which is why I feel obligated to clue you in on Unlimited. It’s a new subscription service from Rent the Runway that gives you access to thousands of designer clothes every month for a flat $139 fee, and that I intend on subscribing to for the rest of my life. “Clothes in the cloud,” is how founder Jennifer Hyman explained the service to me, adding that it’s about time your wardrobe went completely online.
Picture yourself lying in bed tonight, doing your usual end-of-day Internet scroll. You start thinking about what you’re going to wear on the weekend, and tap the Rent the Runway Unlimited app to pick a few pieces—perhaps a Tibi off-the-shoulder dress, a jumpsuit, and a fur coat—hit order, and go to sleep knowing they’ll land on your desk the following day. On Monday you send ’em back with a prepaid package and repeat, this time hiring a leather midi skirt and a silk blouse for a big meeting on Wednesday. You can do this over and over and over all month, and never pay a cent more than the monthly fee. Or, if you find an outfit you love and want to wear again, hang onto it for as long as you like and wear that winner to death.
“You can have three items at home at any given time and can swap an item for another item of your choice whenever you want. Hold onto a leather jacket for an entire season or wear a skirt to work once and return it after a day. If you love a piece you have at home, there is also an option to buy it,” Sarah Tam, Rent the Runway’s senior vice president of merchandising and planning told me. You can pick from outerwear, tops, skirts, handbags, jewelry, dresses, and jumpsuits from more than 350 designers.
Ahead of the launch I tried out the service, picking this yellow David Koma skirt, a Cameo dress, and a white crop top.
I live in New York where Unlimited customers can get next-day delivery—something anyone who’s ever bought clothes online in the history of the Internet will agree is the best kind of instant gratification. (Side note: Next-day delivery is available everywhere else in the U.S.) Everything arrived together in a garment bag, with instructions on how to return when I’m done—it was almost too easy. I loved the skirt and top, and while the dress arrived without a belt–annoying!—the accessory was sent the next day after I chatted with the customer-care team by email.
Right now I’m still not done with the skirt and plan on hanging on to it until we have another warm weekend that justifies bare legs—as for the top and the dress, they had a couple of wears and are being sent back. As a replacement, it’s a toss-up between a flared jumpsuit, this Elizabeth and James pencil skirt, and a light blazer. Or maybe a furry mini bag and some earrings—sorry for the cliché, but the outfit options actually are unlimited. Trust me, you’ll never want to go shopping again.
