July 30, 2010

Window Shopping / January 2010 / Designer Style, Non-Designer Prices

Designer Style, Non-Designer Prices

Stylist Blaire Rabenhorst sums up Rent the Runway, a dress rental website, for me neatly in four words: “it’s Netflix for dresses.” The online video-rental service is famously known for its sheer convenience and doorstep service—literally. Expand that concept to handbags and accessories (Avelle.com) and, most recently dresses, and you’ve got Rent the Runway.

Basically RTR members can jump on the site (Renttherunway.com), pick out a dress they like (one-time rental prices range from $50–$350), order it and the New York-based business will ship the dress to you whatever day you’d like. Members can rent for four or eight days and on the fourth or eighth day, simply drop the dress in the prepaid shipping box and send it back. Total shipping costs $12 on top of the rental price (expedited shipping is extra, of course) and RTR also adds on a $5 insurance charge for those pesky wine spills, missing beads or any other little snafus that might occur when you’re wearing the garment. (So, you’re safe with normal wear-and-tear; but if your dog somehow gets the dress and rips it apart then you’ll have to pay full retail price). Another perk of the site? The first time you order any designer (whether it be Matthew Williamson, Diane von Furstenberg or Temperley London) RTR will send you the size you select and you get to choose an alternate size for free so you’ll be guaranteed the garment fits.

I was invited to join Rent the Runway by a friend and intrigued, I signed up for the free membership. I perused the site here and there and gazed at Christian Siriano’s “Swept Away” red silk organza strapless cocktail dress and Badgley Mischka’s satin draped bodice dress. Some might wonder why you would rent a dress rather than buy one. I have the answer for that: if you’re picky (me), don’t want to spend a lot of money for something you might be able to wear more than once (me) OR don’t have a lot of time to run around and shop, then $50 isn’t so bad for an original, one-of-a-kind find. Add in the convenience of online selection and delivery and you save time and money. Some of the higher-end garments might be a harder sell for me ($250–$300 per rental) but I think $50 to $100 for a dress you don’t get to keep isn’t so bad.

In fact, I thought the concept was such a good idea I decided to take the plunge for this weekend’s Frostiball and picked out something fabulous, unique and totally different than everyone else. My dress will arrive tomorrow (Friday) and I’m looking forward to seeing it in person! I will also appear on WISC-TV’s Live at Five on Monday to talk about my dress-renting experience (which I will post on the blog next week!). But first I wanted to get a bit more background on how Rent the Runway started from Rabenhorst, a stylist with the website.

When did Rent the Runway start?
November 9, 2009.

How did the idea come about for the business?
Our CEO is Jennifer Hyman and our president is Jennifer Fleiss. They both attended Harvard business school. It was actually Jennifer Hyman’s younger sister who had to attend a wedding and wondered why women had to spend all of this money for a dress they’re going to wear once. So, they came up with the brilliant idea to wear these dresses off the runway for reasonable price.

How do you pick the designers you’ll carry on the site and how do you work with them?
Our head merchant was previously a buyer for Saks’s. He pitches the designer (Ed’s note: by designer, Rabenhorst means Diane von Furstenberg, or Alice + Olivia, et cetera) our concept and the designers love it—it’s a hard time out there with the economy so this is great way [for designers] to sell their dresses to the everyday girl. Rentals start anywhere from $50–$250. We actually work hands-on with the designers.
Our buyer makes appointments with the designers and basically the designer decides what dress they’d like to provide us and how many samples will be made. We buy an entire size run or we try to get two dresses in each size. Some of the designers will even provide us with special designs, so we have some originals here. We try to have a dress for every occasion possible.
We carry several designers and we’ve been getting great feedback. We have a very talented group [working] here and we come from different backgrounds in the fashion industry.

What’s the reaction been to the concept?
[People are] amazed with the concept of renting a dress and not having to pay thousands of dollars for a designer dress to wear once. They say they like our mailing system, and it’s easy for them to return it—they can drop it off in any mailbox on their fourth day of renting. The dress itself goes through dry cleaning in preparation for the next customer.
So far the most popular designers have been Herve Leger, Robert Rodriguez and Alice + Olivia, but we are constantly adding new inventory. Customers are asking for more!

How did you become involved in the business?
I graduated from school in fashion design from the Art Institute of Dallas and moved to New York City to gain experience in the fashion industry. I came across RTR and set up an appointment with the team before the site launched. [Having experience in fashion design] I know how a material feels, where the dress falls, and of course how to measure a garment and how to sew it if it rips. Styling happens to be a passion of mine. [Working for the website] I get to work with every customer and help them choose a dress for a certain event they have. [Customers can] chat and talk to the stylists here. You can send us an IM and talk with our stylists about anything you’re interested in on the site!

What’s next for RTR?
We’re reaching out to Marc Jacobs and we landed Theory today, so we’re trying to reach out to more of designers. We already carry thirty-six designers and plan to carry a lot more in the future.
And we are launching accessory rentals in the spring to make full looks—the pricing for jewelry will be great rental prices!

Rentherunway.com