You’re rummaging through your closet and find that dress you spent $75 on and wore … once. What a waste of money, you tell yourself. Don’t fall into the trap of buying clothes to only wear once or twice. The bags will pile up in your closet carrying old gum wrappers and chapstick that has went dry and empty. Always stay in style!
Rent the Runway is an online service that provides designer dress and accessory rentals. It was started by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, who launched the company in November 2009. Initially a purely e-commerce company, it later opened brick-and-mortar retail locations in New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Each school year, this company chooses from a wide selection of applicants to represent their brand on their school’s campus. The application process takes place over the summer, so they have a few months to determine who would be best to represent their brand on campuses all around the United States! These reps have the opportunity to market the brand by posting clothes they have rented from this website through popular social media apps like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and even Facebook. A big way for this brand to get their name out there is by word of mouth, and while college students are always talking about the new and exciting things that happen, Rent the Runway is bound to pop into a conversation!
This year, Penn State was chosen to have three campus reps and one campus coordinator. The reps and coordinators work together to market for the company. They are offered a free subscription to the company where they are given the opportunity to choose from brands like Levis, Champion, Opening Ceremony, JBrand and even Khloe Kardashian’s brand, Good American.
You are able to rent, depending on the subscription, items from the online store. They are sent to you in box if you have chosen things like bags or jewelry, or hung on hangers and delivered in a concise garment bag. The clothes are all dry cleaned by the company before they are sent out to another person who has rented the same item. Each day, more and more products and brands are working alongside Rent the Runway, allowing their customers to try out items for a huge fraction of the cost. And the best part is, if you fall in love with an item, you have the option to purchase it for a huge discount!
So many clothes each year go to waste when they are purchased, therefore, Rent the Runway’s motto is, “Buy Less Rent More.” This is something very important in today’s day and age. As styles and trends go in and out so fast, it is important that you aren’t wasting your money on things that sit and collect dust.
Stand out for a price that is within your budget. Make people turn their heads when you wear popular, name brands and be sure to let them know that Rent the Runway helped you out!
