Rent-A-Closet

The problem with clothing subscription services and consumerist machine behind Nuuly.

Hello again, friends! We’re back with another deep dive and today, I’m taking on the rent-a-dress model, focusing on the mega successful clothing rental site Nuuly.

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Folded neatly in a reusable, zip-up package, I found my Nuuly treasures sitting on my doorstep. It was 2019 and I’d just heard of this new clothing rental service. Always curious about clothing rental, I never felt like I had an excuse to try it myself. But I was planning and packing for a few trips and buying new outfits wasn’t an option.

What I found when I unzipped the packaging left much to be desired. The shirts I picked were too baggy and the dresses didn’t suit me. Too oversized, too flouncy, too “not me.” I sighed, zipped everything back in their packaging, and inserted the return shipping label in its little clear plastic window.

I tried Nuuly yet again, during the pandemic. Different time, different place, nowhere to go. There was a sweater set I contemplated keeping, but like the year before, I was met with the same flavor of disappointment.

Gif by me.

Started by Urban Outfitters (URBN), Nuuly is thriving where other clothing rental companies struggle. Their leg up seems to be their access to inventory from Anthropologie, Free People, etc., giving them a built-in advantage.

To quote David Hayne, URBN’s Chief Digital Officer from their Nuuly press release:

“…When paired with our proven ability to develop creative lifestyle brands, we believe Nuuly is uniquely positioned to deliver the dynamic subscription rental experience the modern customer desires.”

The subscription service is similar to other clothing rental services. For $99 a month, Nuuly will send you a box of clothing of your choice of over 400 styles. If there’s anything you want to keep, that $99 goes towards your purchase. Aside from the ability to sample clothing, members will also get the added perk of access to their resale program where they can purchase retired clothing for a fraction of the price.

However, the clothing rental model has seen its fair share of doubt and speculation in the last few years.

Rent the Runway’s subscriber count has leveled off and their stock price hovers at around $4 a share. Plus, this OG of clothing rental services has yet to make a profit. In a scandalous twist, the founder and former CEO of CaaStle, a subscription management service for mono-channel fashion brands like Ralph Lauren and American Eagle, pled guilty to one count of securities fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud hundreds of investors.

This hasn’t deterred the crop of new clothing rental subscription services. In fact, market forecasters predict that we’ll start to see a new interest in this business model with rising gas prices and tariff costs.

Who is willing to pay $100 a month for clothing you don’t get to keep? Why? What is the benefit? Is it truly “sustainable”? And why is this better than shopping secondhand or thrifting? Let’s get into it.

Subscription Fatigue

Subscription Fatigue describes the feeling of overwhelm and frustration created by the amount of time and brain space one uses to manage multiple subscription services.

According to this Forbes article, 99% of households report subscribing to at least one or more service. In a 2022 study, research suggests that consumers spend $133 more per month on subscriptions than they think they do, and it’s beginning to weigh on us financially and psychologically.

And yet, we still subscribe. The subscription market is projected to reach $1.44 trillion by 2030, and it seems everyone wants a piece of that sweet sweet cash. From Tesla to Tinder, a wide swath of companies are thirsty for that subscription money and they depend on our monthly payments to pad their bank accounts. When we forget to cancel or pause our accounts, these companies reap the benefits.

And when we actually try to cancel our subscriptions, it isn’t as simple as clicking a button.

Many companies utilize Deceptive Patterns (formerly Dark Patterns) as a means to discourage users from canceling¹. The FTC has been cracking down on companies employing these patterns in their UI. Take their Amazon settlement and Fortnight lawsuits, for example. On the national level, the Unsubscribe Bill was introduced in 2025 and some states are enacting new “one click” unsubscribe laws.

But what makes us so susceptible to signing our lives away to subscription services? Zooming out, the shift towards a renting everything seems to be generational.

Millennials and Gen Z have been conditioned to rent. Rising debt rates, using Klarna to pay for everything, and being priced out of the home buying market primed to be the clothing-rental subscription target demographic. To quote Nathan Pettijohn from his Forbes article on Subscription Fatigue:

“Once upon a time, we owned things. Now we rent everything, paying tithes to corporations who dangle convenience like a carrot.”

From renting movies straight from your smart TV to sending you clothes you’ll wear only once, subscriptions promise to make our lives easier. We’re OK with the idea of not owning simply because it’ll remove the obstacle of choice, cleaning, space, etc. Renting clothing for your wardrobe feels like an easy, natural next step in the “owning nothing” economy.

Now that we understand how we became complicit to subscriptions, we need to ask ourselves: what is the true cost of subscriptions?

The Sustainability Facade

Clothing rental businesses conveniently position themselves as sustainable which, in some cases, is true. While they keep clothing in the circular economy and out of landfills, we have to consider what it takes to keep these items in good condition for the thousands of other subscribers.

Most rental companies claim to use cleaning solvents that aren’t carcinogenic. However, as Elizabeth Cline mentions in this Elle article, they aren’t necessarily “green”. In fact, the stain removing solutions are far more toxic than the cleaning solvents themselves. We’re still not sure how damaging the dry cleaning industry is to our planet, however, the process requires far more energy than washing at home.

And how about returns and shipping? That’s a key component of the rental model. In one study, researchers found that renting a pair of jeans generated far more greenhouse gasses than buying jeans, wearing them, and eventually throwing them away. Some rough estimates claim that purchasing an item online and returning it emits 44 pounds of carbon monoxide both ways. In some cases, it could be more than roughly 121 pounds for rushed shipping.

Then there’s the whole Urban Outfitters elephant in the room.

Nuuly subscriptions ultimately feed the machine that is URBN, a company that paints themselves in the loveliest wash of green. While they state they are “on track” for many of their sustainability goals in their impact summary, one area where they’re lacking is transparency around the volume of clothing they produce. We can make inferences based on their imports, but without clean, clear data from the company, we’re left in the dark.

At it’s core, URBN is a fast fashion business, no matter how much organic cotton or mono-fiber, recycled polyester they use in their garments.

In Summary

At first, I fully bought into the idea of renting clothing in lieu of buying new. It allows you to try on styles you’re curious about or find a little something different for that special event without the commitment of buying. And because most of the clothing is sampled by many, you’re keeping them out of the donation bins and ultimately, the landfills.

But is it really sustainable? Honestly? No.

When we look at the process holistically, renting may not be the solution to pollution generated by the fashion industry. Cleaning and care takes chemicals and energy and shipping both ways emits immense amounts CO2 into the atmosphere. In some cases, it’s better to own and care for our own garments for continuous wear.

Renting isn’t the solution to over-consumption; it’s merely a placebo.

At the end of the day, we must remember that clothing rentals and their subscription models are a means to an end. Nuuly isn’t designed to benefit you or the planet. It was dreamed up in a URBN boardroom based on consumer data. Data we willing give to companies that don’t care about you and don’t deserve it in the first place.

A circular system alone won’t save our planet, but combined with better production practices and consuming less, we’ll get closer to a more sustainable fashion industry.

What can we do?

Do we need to be getting a new box of clothing every month? It certainly would help the planet if we backed off, just a touch. Renting occasion wear is far better than renting everyday pieces when you’re craving newness.

If you regularly rent your clothes, consider investing in pieces you find yourself renting regularly. Owning and caring for them at home is proven to be more sustainable than renting.

And instead of supporting the fast fashion giant that is URBN, consider using a different service, like one of these:

1. BNTO is a new one (for me.) Do I love the “AI” of it all? Not even a little bit, but until I hear otherwise, I’ll give them a pass.

2. Armoire is based in Seattle featuring a wide range of styles and brands. And they offer maternity wear!

3. By Rotation lets you rent clothing from actual people! Become a renter or a lender and earn a little extra cash for the clothes you already own.

If subscription services are out of your budget, here’s a few more ways you can try new clothes for (nearly) free:

• Borrow from a friend, family member, or neighbor. I’m all for lending event dresses to my pals, as long as they pay for the dry cleaning bill.

• Host a clothing swap or “naked lady” party. Get the gang together for some bevies and shop each other’s closet. The host will donate whatever doesn’t get swapped.

• Find new ways of styling your current faves. I’ve worn the same dress to every wedding I’ve gone to for the last three years. Depending upon the dress code, I’ll swap out my shoes, bags, or jewelry to dress it up or down.

• Looking for you next pair of jeans? It might be tempting to rent them before you buy. But if you’re able, go try them on in store. Walk around in them, do some squats, and see if you can actually live in them. If it’s a no, you can fold them up and place them back on the shelf, no returns required.

And please, for all that is holy, do not buy things with the intention of wearing and returning them. As we’ve covered in a previous newsletter, a lot of what we return goes directly to the landfill.

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Thank you again for reading along! Now I want to hear from you. Do you regularly rent clothes? Have you rented from Nuuly or any other clothing rental services? What was your experience like? You know what to do.

1. As a UX Writer by day, I could go on and on about Deceptive Patterns. Maybe that’s another article. For now, if you spot DP’s in the wild, you can and should report them here.