Rent the Runway
Last year I discovered that none of my business clothes fit me anymore since my pregnancy and never would again. My hips were bigger. My breast were permanently bigger. I was a little shocked any of those suits ever fit me at all.
Since I work remotely most of the time, I don’t need 20 suits anymore like I did working in a formal office setting. I just need a suit every now and again. That’s why I decided to try Rent the Runway for a while rather than investing in an expensive closet of clothes I may hardly wear.
If you go to lots of events, need clothes for client meetings, or care about brands, Rent the Runway is a good option compared to the time it takes to find sample sales or used clothes in good shape.
RTR has a few different subscription options, but the good one is the unlimited at $159 per month. The clothes arrive in a re-useable, mailable bag that is pretty great. The selection is great and the clothes are good. The website is easy to use. It’s pretty fun to shop for rentals.
It’s expensive though. One of my only complaints stemmed from unusual circumstances. One of the shirts I rented was stolen along with my suitcase while I was returning from a trip. It’s one thing to lose a favorite shirt–it’s quite another to be forced to buy a $300 shirt. There is no insurance you can get that covers loss or theft.
Pros:
- Good clothes
- Easy to use website
- Fast shipping
- Re-useable mailing bag
Cons:
- High risk
- Expensive
- If you decide to buy the clothes you may want to shop around for new ones as the price will be similar
The dry clean a lot of clothes. I’m sure they use the more environmentally friendly chemicals, but are any of them really environmentally friendly? As they have pretty stocked local warehouses that eliminate the need for flying things back and forth across the county, that was my only real concern on the environmental side.
I don’t have any great photos to share as I wasn’t planning to review these services as the time, but here are a couple of silly ones I found. (Isn’t it shocking how many pictures we have of our kids and how few we take of ourselves.)
I rented this sweater that I would never buy.. just for fun.
And this peach dress which was fun, but also not quite my style.
LeTote
The second rental company I tried was LeTote. This has much less expensive clothes to buy although not quite the equivalent discount in subscription prices. The clothes are definitely not the same level of quality, but they were prices that you didn’t have to think very long about if you did want to buy something. I liked that the clothes were affordable, but I didn’t like that some of them would probably not last long. I’m a bit past the disposable clothing stage in my life. That said, I did find a couple of items I thought would last at least a while.
The standard $79 per month LeTote subscription comes in two monthly “Totes” which include three clothing items and two “accessories”. You can add extra items for an additional fee. The accessories include primarily jewelry (all of it very inexpensive mixed metal costume jewelry) and scarves. There may be belts occasionally. There is an option to receive four clothing items instead, but it is a bit hard to find.
Pros:
- Clothes are affordable
- Subscription price is more affordable
- Clothing is every day wearable
- Very little financial risk if the clothes are lost or stolen
Cons:
- Quality can be iffy
- Shipping takes a while
- Not as environmentally friendly as it could be as the clothes probably don’t get re-rented too many times. They wouldn’t hold up. Also, they are shipped in boxes
In general, this is a better option if you are looking to buy some inexpensive clothes and want to try them out first. It reminds me of Stitchfix, but you can wear them before you send back what you don’t want to buy.
Le Tote Box
You get a box twice a month.
Le Tote
You return the clothes in a pre-labeled shipping bag.
Conclusion
I’m planning to rent from RTR for my next business trip if I haven’t restored my wardrobe enough by then. It’s useful. LeTote is more just for fun if you want to shop for inexpensive clothes but don’t have the patience to go to Soho with the kids.