Rent The Runway Review: My Honest Thoughts

[lwptoc]

Updated on 11-20-19

How Does Rent The Runway Work?

Rent The Runway is an online website where you can rent clothes, dresses, jumpsuits, handbags, jewelry, and other accessories for everyday wear, special occasions and formal events like proms and weddings. There is also a rent the runway store in a few locations: NYC, San Francisco, Georgetown (Washington DC), Chicago and Santa Monica/Los Angeles where you can go shopping in their showroom and rent items in person. The New York City store is their flagship store so it's a little bigger and they tend to have more options. There is also a flagship store in sf, the Rent The Runway San Francisco Flagship Store.

I have used RTR on many occasions: as a red carpet event attendee, professional marketing speaker, when I attended a formal masquerade fundraiser, as a wedding guest, for prom and I'm thinking of renting a dress for my bridal shower next year and for my fiance's United States Coast Guard Military Ball. But you could also rent dresses for your honeymoon or other special times or vacations.

I first tried Rent The Runway in 2016 for a conference I was speaking at. At the event, there was a red carpet event on one of the evenings. I ordered 2 dresses using Rent The Runway Pro, and both styles that I ordered came with backup sizes so I ended up getting 4 dresses to make sure 1 of them fit.

Slate & Willow Amy Dress ($225 Retail Value)

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I rented a $225 dress for $64 for 8 days using the Rent The Runway Pro. Not only that but for more than half the cost I got two of the dresses in different sizes to make sure one fit.

Badgley Mischka Fifth Avenue Showstopper Dress ($750 Retail Value)

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I got the 8-day rental for $56 and if you were to buy the dress in a store, it would have cost $750. This is crazy because I got 2 $750 dresses sent for $56 in 2 sizes because of the free backup size they gave me.

This dress is STUNNING. I wasn't quite sure how it'd fit on me since I have a larger breast and with it being such a deep v neckline, but I didn't feel uncomfortable at all and it didn't show a whole lot of cleavage. You can't see the front in the picture but it was the perfect dress.

However, if you try this dress and feel like your chest area is a little too exposed, you can easily safety pin the front together so it's not as low cut.

Second RTR Dress Rental

After my 1st experience with RTR, I was so happy with the shipping times, quality of the dresses, cleanliness and the way the dresses made me feel. The process was so smooth and it made finding a dress for my event easy and not stressful. Plus it saved me a lot of time because I didn't have to go to the store shopping to try on tons of dresses and only walk out with one or two.

My second time renting a dress with renttherunway.com was for my boyfriend's (now fiancè's) cousin's wedding. The wedding was in November so I wanted a dress that had long sleeves and thankfully, there were a lot of options to pick from. I ended up going with the ML Monique Lheillier Alice Dress.

ML MONIQUE LHUILLIER ($498 Retail Cost)

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This dress was perfect for the beginning of November with the crisp fall breeze, but still sunny weather. The blue color was pretty and the nude underlay was perfect and the dress is very flattering with the waist seam and lace detail. I wore my nude Kate Spade close toe rounded heels and added a shimmery metallic statement necklace and I got tons of compliments from others that attended the wedding and on social media too!

Third Dress Rental

I was again extremely happy with my experience with Rent the Runway that I decided to rent another more formal black tie dress for a charity fundraiser that was a masquerade ball.

The dress I chose was the Badgley Mischka Aware Winner Gown.

Badgley Mischka Award Winner Gown ($620 Retail Cost)

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This dress looks exactly like the Badgley Mischka Night At The Oscars gown that is a little more expensive to rent. I think the only difference between the two dresses is color. The Award Winner dress is gold sequins and the night at the oscars gown is rose or blush sequins but the color is similar.

With the gold sequins and slouchy back, this dress is an absolute dream.

The dress made me feel extremely comfortable in it and it was great for dancing and moving around. I am 5 feet and 1/2 an inch tall so when I wore heels, the dress touched the floor but I didn't once trip over it. It was the most perfect dress.

I got so many compliments on this dress and it made me feel very elegant, beautiful and confident. I loved this dress so much that when I wore it I knew I wanted my bridesmaids to wear it when I would get married and I wasn't even engaged. Now that I am engaged, I've had all of my bridesmaids try on their gown to get the correct size before the wedding to rent the dresses.

Rent The Runway even has Wedding Concierge packages for brides and bridesmaids too. Instead of buying bridesmaids and the bride's wedding dresses, you can rent them to wear for 1 day for much cheaper to save a little bit of money while on a tight wedding budget.

What Is Rent The Runway Unlimited? FAQS answered.

Rent The Runway Unlimited is a subscription program that you sign up for monthly where you can choose up to 4 items at a time whether they be dresses, skirts, jewelry, shirts, pants, shoes, handbags, you name it, and you can rent it.

The Unlimited subscription costs $159 per month and you can cancel at any time with no contract or commitment to a certain number of months. Also, if it's your first-month trying RTR Unlimited you can get it at a discount for $119 per month, or $80 off a 60 day trial.

What If I Want More Than 4 Items?

With your membership, you can choose more than 4 items but anything over 4 is an additional cost to rent, but it's at a significant discount compared to the normal price to rent.

If you want to rent a 4 day or 8-day rental on top of your unlimited items, Rent The Runway gives you 25% off the cost.

Do I Have To Dry Clean The Items?

Included in your Unlimited monthly membership, you get free dry cleaning and free shipping. You also get free insurance with your Unlimited membership as well in case something happens to the items you rent or if they get damaged. It only covers minor damage and theft or lost items are not covered.

Does Rent The Runway Have Shoes?

At this time you can not rent shoes on Rent The Runway.

What Do When I'm Done With An Item?

If you're done with 1 item, 2 items or even all the items you rented, all you have to do is send them back. A return shipping label is provided to you so you don't have to pay for return shipping.

All you do is remove the plastic slip that comes over the dress and keep or throw out the hanger, put the dress back in the black bag, zip it up with the handles on the inside and fasten the zipper lock on the outside and drop the bag off at a UPS store, UPS dropoff/pickup location or schedule a time for UPS to come and pick up the bag, which may cost you money.

Can I Buy RTR Gift Cards?

Yes, Rent The Runway offers gift cards for purchase and it would be a great and unique gift idea for the fashionista in your life for Christmas, Valentine's Day or for birthdays.

Is There A Late Fee If I Return The Items After I'm Supposed To?

If you ship back your rented items late, RTR will charge you a $50 late fee. This goes for items that aren't returned at all as well.

Can I Buy An Item I Love?

If you rent an item and really love it, most are available for you to purchase at a discount because of your RTR Unlimited Membership. You don't have to pay the full retail price!

Does Rent The Runway Have Plus Sizes?

Rent The Runway offers sizes from 0-22, so yes they carry dresses you can rent if you are plus size.

How Quickly Do The Items Ship To You?

You choose which date you want your rental to arrive, and typically you want it to come 2 days before your event.

What Happens If Neither Size Fits?

If you receive your rental and your backup size and neither of them fit, you can choose a replacement and when you contact Rent The Runway's customer service team, they will overnight it to you. This is a LIFESAVER! I had to do this once for a wedding I was attending and it came right in time. All I did was chat with a customer service representative and they were able to help me, but you can also call their phone number (1.800.509.0842) and speak to someone on the phone, email or tweet them on Twitter to get help.

Who is Rent The Runway for?

Currently Rent The Runway is for women, not for men. Rent The Runway is even accommodating with maternity rentals for pregnant women. They do have a kids option for ages 3-10. If you're looking for something like Rent The Runway for men, you should try The Mr. Collection or Black Tux for rentals.

Are There Petite Size Options?

Yes, RTR offers petite sizes, along with Regular and Long sizes too.

How I Used Rent The Runway Unlimited Membership

For my 3rd prom, I didn't want the hassle of going dress shopping. In high school, I went to 2 proms and had to get dresses for both.

My boyfriend, now fiance, is 2.5 years younger than me. When he had his prom, I was already out of school and he asked me to go with him. Of course, I couldn't say no, so I needed a dress for his prom.

I had a full-time job so it was hard to find the time to go prom dress shopping and I already had a good experience with Rent The Runway so I decided to rent my prom dress. This was the best decision I could have ever made.

I already had 2 prom dresses that sat in my closet that I only wore 1 time and I didn't want to spend ridiculous amounts of money to have a 3rd.

Rent The Runway Unlimited - Prom Dress

I signed up for Rent The Runway 3 weeks before prom and chose 3 dresses that I thought would be good options for prom. At the time you could only rent 3 dresses at a time, included in the monthly cost, but they have since changed that to 4 items.

I tried on all the dresses I rented as soon as they came in case they didn't fit so I could send it back and get a different size.

The first dress was the Badgley Mischka Fluorescent Chiffon Gown in Pink. I wasn't a fan of the strapless look or the color pink so I knew that wasn't the dress for me.

The second dress was the white and black ML Monique Lhuillier Jadore Contrast Gown.

Second Round Of Unlimited Items

The Badgley Mischka Sequin Silo Gown was black and bronze and retailed for $915 and the Badgley Mischka Karmin Gown also retailed for $990.

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The Karmin gown is shimmery with silver details and floral patterns. The dress is strapless and didn't fit right. On the other hand, the Silo gown fit, but I fell in love with the Ombre Sequin Gown. When I tried it back on, I knew that was the dress for me. It was very flattering and I felt more comfortable then all the other dresses so this was the one.

Here are pictures of me wearing the dress to prom.

RTR Unlimited Package Subscription For Bridesmaid's Dresses At My Wedding

My fiance proposed and I got engaged on Christmas in 2018.

I knew that I wanted my bridesmaids to wear the long, gold, gown pictured above.

To start the process, I did a trial run to make sure I knew all of my bridesmaid's sizes and ordered for them to try on. Because you can choose 4 styles with Unlimited, and additional ones for more money it was perfect.

My bridesmaids will end up saving money and they will only have to pay $25-$30 for their dress. They also wouldn't have an expensive bridesmaid dress sitting in their closet collecting dust that they will never wear again.

My wedding is not until a later date, but this is a perfect option for me and works great, as I bride I don't have to do much work and I get what I want on my wedding day.

Both of these times, I canceled the Unlimited membership after the first month so I wasn't charged a 2nd time. The only downside is that you have to call Rent The Runway Customer Service to cancel, you can't do it on your own.

Wedding Concierge Packages

You could also do a Rent The Runway Bridesmaid Wedding Concierge package but you have to go through one of Rent The Runway's wedding specialists. So if you have time before your wedding for bridesmaids dress try-ons, stylings, and fittings at home to find the perfect bridesmaids dresses in the right sizes, I'd say go for it!

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Rent The Runway may charge a Bridesmaids coordination fee for groups but in the end it's worth it because you have exactly what you want for your perfect and special day

Try Rent The Runway

Overall my experience with Rent The Runway has been awesome, so if you're on the fence, definitely try it out.

You can get $30 off your first rental by clicking the button/link below:

https://rtr.app.link/e/CTFoiYyYhW

You get the most for your money through the Unlimited Membership.

On the website, you can read other customer reviews and see what the dress looks like on other people. It will help you get an idea if you like the dress and if it'd look good on you. I've done this for every dress I've rented so I know if the dress will fit me right and look good with my body shape and if the specific dress runs smaller or larger in size. Also, it helps to look at the size chart for the dress you are wanting to rent to get a more accurate idea of what size to order.

There are some negative reviews out there on the web for Rent the Runway, but don't listen to them. Rent The Runway is a great company and is AWESOME for your dress and event needs!

Rent The Runway Coupon Promo Code

You can use the promo code OUTSMART to get $80 off your first 2 months of Rent The Runway Unlimited. You don't have to commit to 2 months though, you can cancel after the first month and get $40 off. So instead of paying $159 you only pay $119, but only for a limited time.

You can also get $30 off your first rental by using this link to shop and pick a dress.

Also, Rent The Runway gives you a birthday promo code for a $25 discount toward a rental. You only have a certain time period to use it.

If you sign up for emails they also give you updates and send you emails with special deals and discounts. In addition, you'll get notifications when they have sample sales.

Sign up for their emails here.

Rent The Runway Sample Sale

If you rent an item from RTR and love it, be on the lookout because Rent The Runway does an Online Sample Sale where they sell items they've rented for clearance prices where you can get articles of clothing and accessories for up to 75% off retail price.

The RTR sample sale is also sometimes called the semi-annual clearance sale, held 2 times a year.

Rent The Runway Careers

Many people ask about careers at Rent The Runway. They give lots of information about their culture and benefits on their about us careers page. You can see what jobs they have open at any given point.