Your dreams of having an endless closet can come true with Rent the Runway. With my monthly update subscription, I have access to a revolving wardrobe of clothes I previously only could have dreamed of affording on my college budget.
Full disclosure: I am a campus rep, but these are my honest thoughts! I’d never rep something I didn’t personally love.
I joined the rep program just this semester and can honestly say I have fallen in love. At first, I imagined it would just be a fun refresh on my wardrobe and a good excuse to post some cute “outfit of the days” on Instagram, but it is now so much more than that. Rent the Runway has given me the freedom to worry less and wear more. As a fashion major, it is easy to fall victim to the pressures of being on-trend at all times. Not only is that stressful, it’s expensive! Before Rent the Runway, I was spending an embarrassingly high amount of money on clothes I would wear just a few times. Case and point: the first few weeks of the school year when the heat was still scorching, and I wanted nothing more than to run out and buy easy breezy lightweight dresses. I knew I’d be packing them away though in less than a month when fall weather came, so I choose to hold off and instead choose two summer dresses to rent that month. They were lifesavers, especially this Miaou dress which I wore over and over again throughout the last few weeks of summer. When it was time to send them back, temperatures had begun to drop, and I was ready to trade them in for my next go-to pieces.
Another item I love renting is jeans. It may seem silly to rent such a basic, but that’s actually why I love it. Since they are such a closet staple and a part of my everyday attire, I have enjoyed the ability to refresh without commitment. Wacky mismatched leg two-tone jeans? Not something I would have wanted to drop money on, but I absolutely loved wearing these Current/Elliott jeans for the month I rented them. Renting gives me the freedom to experiment with my style in ways that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to since jeans are somewhat of a pricier item to purchase.
Curious as to how it all works? I’ll give you the breakdown. The membership I have is called Update, which allows me to select four items to rent each month from over 400 different designer brands. At the end of each month, I put everything back in the garment bag I received it in and take it to the post office with the pre-paid return shipping label. It’s seriously that simple, and then I’m ready to select my rentals for the next month. The subscription is $89 a month, and the average retail value of the pieces I rent each month is about $1,000 in total, so talk about some serious bang for your buck! Rent the Runway also offers a student discount of 25%, making the Update membership just $67 a month.
Since I’m a rep, I’m enjoying Rent the Runway (along with some cute branded swag!) for free, but I know that once I graduate and begin my career in the professional world it is something that I absolutely will be paying for! Just beginning a career and transitioning from the casual attire of college life to the put-together styles of a sophisticated career driven boss lady (the goal!) can be intimidating and expensive, but I know Rent the Runway will be there to help me out.
Until then, I’ll keep rep’ing and rocking these free rentals. Sounds like something you’d enjoy? If you’re into cute clothes, lots of Instagram-ing and networking with other career driven, trendy ladies, then apply to be a rep next semester! Applications close December 20th.