Rent a Runway
It may have been around forever, I just learned of it. I never thought it was fair that guys can rent a tux for an event but women have to shell out big bucks for something they use once, maybe twice.
Memorial weekend my son and his wife had to go to a wedding in Maine, Ian was a groomsman and rented the tux selected by the groom. Kim rented a $2,000 dress for $60 but realized the wedding was not as advertised, she would have been waaaay over dressed. A call to Rent a Runway later and a summer weight tea length something was overnighted to the hotel, just pay the $13 shipping fee.
I haven't seen photos from the Maine wedding, but this is a rental dress from earlier this year.
I'm surprised some GRMer didn't come up with this plan years ago.
I had no idea that exists. I can see that being a big money maker.
I was expecting an airport topic. 
This exists for many things. Purses shoes high end watches. It's like the Netflix for ????
Holy hell why has nobody thought of this before!? We have all failed. In the future houses may be built with smaller closets because of this.
My wife has used Rent The Runway several times to rent dresses for weddings and other events. I'd much rather that she rent a gown than buy if she's only going to wear it once, right?
Now she uses a Netflix-style service for everyday clothes--she pays a fee each month to have clothes shipped to our house and she can order/exchange clothes as often as she wants. We just had a baby and all through her pregnancy she was able to exchange items and sizes as she got closer to her due date and as her body continues to change now that we have an infant. We would have saved a bundle on maternity clothes if this service was available years ago when we were having our older kids.
In reply to nderwater:
What's this called? Sounds like something my wife will be very interested in.
I think this makes a lot more sense for women than rental tuxes for men. Men's dress clothes really only come in a few select styles and don't seem to stray too far off the beaten path of tradition. We'll happily the same suit(s) time and again for years on end, whereas women tend to have to buy a dress for every occasion. That's just silly to me, but then again there are many things I apparently fail to understand about the fairer sex 
I'm a groomsman in my buddy's wedding this coming weekend and am not looking forward to shelling out $200+ for a damn tux the second time this past year. Hell, I think that's about all that I paid for the last suit that I bought.
A friend was telling me about his friend, who pays $300/month for the watch version of this. I think he gets a new watch every 6 months (IIRC) and they are ~$10k watches. I get the dress rental business (rent one for a special occasion), but, signing up for a monthly car payment (effectively) just to wear a fancy watch? Seems crazy to me.
people are trying to use this model on everything.
https://www.loanables.com/
http://us.zilok.com/
http://www.inc.com/alan-ying/transforming-the-construction-sector-online-netflix.html
Robbie
SuperDork
6/1/16 10:27 a.m.
my wife used Le Tote for maternity clothes. Its like $60/month but you can rent 5 items at a time as many times as you can in a month. their systems are slick such that as soon as your return package hits the post office tracking system, they send your next batch, saving about 2 days of shipping on each exchange.
for 6 months ($360), it has been WAAAAY cheaper than her buying all new maternity clothes. And she has done a few nice dresses, suit jackets, etc. Plus we don't have to worry about storing or getting rid of all the temporary clothes later. She realistically does about one 'Le Tote' per 7 or 10 days.
My wife is no longer pregnant, but she still uses it, and I'm quite sure it still saves money vs the 200-300 she used to spend on 'one-time-or-limited-use' clothes every other month.
T.J.
UltimaDork
6/1/16 10:58 a.m.
914 Driver starts a thread with runway in the title and there is no sailplane action.
I've never heard of it, but it makes sense.
Mike
Dork
6/1/16 11:13 a.m.
My sister uses something similar, and is a big fan.
Still, what I expected from this thread: (I'd try this service.)
Fueled by Caffeine wrote:
people are trying to use this model on everything.
https://www.loanables.com/
http://us.zilok.com/
http://www.inc.com/alan-ying/transforming-the-construction-sector-online-netflix.html
Timely discussion…
My eight year old daughter is in three dance programs (tap, jazz, & ballet) and each program necessitates a specific costume that is worm just once or twice for performances.
Just last week I was thinking through the logistics of recycling the costumes...any of you guys weigh 48 Lbs. and need a pink tutu?
cmcgregor wrote:
In reply to nderwater:
What's this called? Sounds like something my wife will be very interested in.
Gwynnie Bee and also Stitch Fix. Le Tote (mentioned by Robbie above) is similar, but we don't have experience with that one.
Are you renting the woman or the dress? I seem to remember paying women for certain things is illegal...
Woody
MegaDork
6/1/16 12:30 p.m.
I've been working on an idea called Rent a Landing Strip...
In reply to pinchvalve:
Not if you are recording it with an intent to distribute.
Robbie
SuperDork
6/1/16 12:43 p.m.
ThunderCougarFalconGoat wrote:
In reply to pinchvalve:
Not if you are recording it with an intent to distribute.
ha! never really caught that loophole before, but wow, what a loophole.
Robbie wrote:
for 6 months ($360), it has been WAAAAY cheaper than her buying all new maternity clothes.
We just got hand me down's from friends. WAAAAYYY cheaper than $360.
Woody wrote:
I've been working on an idea called *Rent a Landing Strip*...
Those are pretty economical…it’s the hangers that go for big money.
RX Reven' wrote:
Woody wrote:
I've been working on an idea called *Rent a Landing Strip*...
Those are pretty economical…it’s the hangers that go for big money.
Not sure if this is ALL euphemisms, partly, or not in the slightest...
