Jennifer Hyman, the chief executive and co-founder of Rent the Runway, has vast ambitions for the fashion rental service she co-founded in 2009. In the beginning, the company offered shoppers clothing choices they couldn’t afford to buy, enabling everyday Americans to sprinkle some haute couture on a prom or wedding. Now she wants you to wow your workplace all week long.
“I want to put H&M and Zara out of business,” Hyman proclaimed from a spacious conference room at Rent the Runway’s Manhattan headquarters overlooking Hudson Street. “I don’t want to,” she corrected herself. “I plan to.”
Hyman, 37, plans to replace the American woman’s static closet with a dynamic one. Rent the Runway has bet its future on subscriptions, hoping it can convince shoppers to use its service for everyday wear, not just dress-up events. For $159 a month, its Unlimited program allows members to rent four pieces at a time on rotation, effectively replacing their wardrobe if they want. The company recently began offering a cheaper option, called Update, which lets subscribers grab four pieces total per month for $89.
As Hyman sees it, it’s impossible to serve all of America’s women at a price point above $100, especially those her strategy depends on most. While Rent the Runway’s subscription service has taken hold in the cities, in suburban and rural America-where more than 50 percent of her customers live-it’s still used mainly for special occasions: a designer gown for graduation; a cocktail dress for New Year’s Eve. To make subscriptions work, Hyman needs to get those consumers onboard.