Rent the Runway is expanding into home with a new West Elm rental partnership - here's how it will work
Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider, Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
- Clothing rental company Rent the Runway and home brand West Elm are partnering to offer home textile rentals on the Rent the Runway website.
- Rent the Runway members will be able to slot in one of 26 exclusive bundles of pillows, throws, shams, and more to their existing RTR Update or RTR Unlimited subscriptions.
- Just like the current rental subscriptions allow members to discover and experiment with clothing styles in a more sustainable, affordable way, this West Elm offering is a new way to shop efficiently for the home.
In a move that will extend the concept of "dynamic ownership" to the home, clothing rental company Rent the Runway and home brand West Elm announced a partnership today to offer textile bundles through Rent the Runway's online platform.
Starting in the summer, Rent the Runway members will be able to choose from 26 exclusive bundles of decorative pillows, throws, shams, quilts, and coverlets to refresh two areas of the home where they spend the most time, the living room and the bedroom.
The partnership marks a first for both companies: the first time West Elm is making its products available for rent, and the first time Rent the Runway is offering rentals beyond clothing and accessories.
For 10 years, Rent the Runway, named one of the most disruptive companies in the world in 2018, has been helping women update their closets with designer clothing and dress for special occasions, work, and everyday life - without the commitment, cost, and waste of buying these pieces.
It offers two different membership plans, RTR Update ($69-$89/month) and RTR Unlimited ($99-$159/month), which now collectively boast nine million members.
RTR Update lets you rent four items a month, with one swap per month, while RTR Unlimited lets you rent four items a month on constant rotation, with unlimited swaps per month. With this new West Elm collaboration, members will be able to rent the textile bundles as one of their rotating spots.
Bedroom bundles will include a mix of a quilt, coverlet, throw or blanket, shams, and decorative pillows to decorate the bed. Living room bundles will pair decorative pillows with each other or with a throw.
Rather than turn home accessories into an entirely different subscription, Rent the Runway COO Maureen Sullivan says the company wanted to make the process as simple as possible by incorporating it into existing RTR subscriptions.
"Time is the most precious object and commodity for our members," she explains.
Like shopping for clothing, shopping for the home is rarely a quick and easy endeavor. By offering curated, stylish bundles from a well-established and respected home brand, the company is once again able to make reflecting your personal style a seamless, efficient process.
West Elm in particular is a smart fit for this partnership because of its own commitment to sustainable, stylish living. It designs the majority of its items in-house, allowing it to control its offering of organic, sustainably sourced, and Fair Trade Certified products. In 2014, it became the first-ever US home retailer to offer Fair Trade Certified products. By 2020, 100% of all the cotton in its bedding will be organic, while 50% of its wood will be sustainably sourced.
When we asked Sullivan for predictions about which bundles might perform the best, she wasn't able to say, referencing as an example the phenomenon of Rent the Runway's clothing subscriptions. For clothing, members try anything and everything, with no clear patterns of trial, and the same will probably be true for the new West Elm home rentals.
She says, "The magic of rental is that you feel unconstrained by the burden of ownership." Because you know you're not making a forever purchase, you're more willing and likely to try something out of your comfort zone.
The idea that one day we may not own anything in our closets and homes can be difficult to come to terms with. So far, however, it seems that shoppers are receptive to the idea. This upcoming partnership between Rent the Runway and West Elm puts us one step closer to an ownership-free reality.