Disowning is the new black... Legendary department store Bloomingdale's jumped into clothing rental this week. Confusingly-named "My List at Bloomindale's" costs $149/month for 10 items you use, minorly-abuse, then return. Rental-ware is just 1% of the apparel market, but it surged 24% last year, while fashion overall grew 5%. Here's who recently got in:
- The original look = Rent The Runway: The decade-old rental pioneer is now a unicorn, boasting 25 drop-off points (19 of them in WeWorks) and a new club in San Francisco to meet fellow dress-renters.
- The moocher look = Levi's: Denim's finest doesn't have its own rental service — but it partnered with Rent The Runway on a revenue share deal to offer up its skinny jeans on their platform.
- The newbie look = Nuuly: It's the rental brand of Urban Outfitters that just launched this summer to take on all the others.
"Clothing as a Service"... CaaS. It's now a thing. The startup CaaStle has it in its name. Clothing rental is almost entirely logistics — shipping is its greatest cost. So CaaStle's software and warehouses handle all that for clients like retail chain Express. And solving that logistics challenge could make it the greatest threat to Bloomingdale's and Rent The Runway yet.
Clothing Rental is one big bet... and we’re all waiting on the answer. Both fashion brands and retail chains are experimenting with clothing rental programs because the industry could go in 1 of 2 directions:
- Cannibalization: Shoppers could stop buying clothes and just rent instead, potentially hurting sales.
- Boosting: Shoppers could start testing clothes before they buy, thereby helping sales.