Goodbye, Rent the Runway Unlimited

The revolutionary clothing rental plan is officially coming to an end.

Goodbye, Rent the Runway Unlimited

After a few good years of a closet filled with designer clothing I never actually had to purchase, it's time to say an official goodbye to Rent the Runway's Unlimited plan. My personal story with the revolutionary fashion service might sound familiar: Early in 2019, I weaned my one-year-old off of nursing and discovered my wardrobe was entirely composed of things I had no interest in actually wearing anymore. My closet was filled with cheap button-downs, flimsy tanks, and pre-pregnancy jeans. It was the first time in two long years that I no longer needed clothes just for function. I wanted to embrace fashion again. So I joined Rent the Runway’s Unlimited Swap plan, a program that literally let subscribers build a dream wardrobe by ordering four pieces from RTR’s vast collection of designer items and swapping them for new picks as often as you want.

As a freelance writer already working from home, well before the Great Pandemic of 2020, I felt like I’d discovered buried treasure. There was a trove of designer jeans, leather moto jackets and cool sweatshirts just waiting to take a temporary spot in my wardrobe, and when I got sick of them I could send them right back. I was hooked. I lived just a few blocks from an RTR dropoff spot, so I was getting new clothes almost every week. And when special events popped up I would create fantasy capsule wardrobes for them: thanks to Unlimited I had perfectly appropriate clothes for ski vacations, beach trips, bachelorette parties, and whatever else was on my calendar.   

Reinvigorating my wardrobe via short-term rentals changed more than just how I dressed. I felt confident again. For that first year after my older daughter was born, I felt house-bound, held captive by a schedule of constant nursing and naps that made doing anything beyond errand-running difficult. Whenever I attempted to be social, I was insecure about everything —my parenting, my postpartum hair loss, the fact that I didn’t have good mom friends. It might sound silly, but having the ability to regularly acquire new clothes at the drop of a hat from labels I loved helped me stop feeling so unsure of myself. Once I felt like I was put together again, I wasn’t as intimidated by the groups of moms who seemed to have all known each other for years even though our kids were all babies. When I felt polished, I put myself out there and I did actually made friends. Slowly, the confidence began extending to all areas of my life.  I didn’t feel like the out-of-place mom on a trip with my mostly childless girlfriends, or like I didn’t belong at a hip brunch spot. Armed with pieces that looked great on me and that I genuinely loved, I felt like me.

After about a year of enjoying this sense of wardrobe-driven confidence, quarantine hit. Though I was unable to see the mo, friends I’d made (or any friends), Unlimited was there for me. I was newly pregnant with my second child  and deep in a funk, mostly because of the pandemic but a little bit because nothing fit. I was in an awkward in-between zone where my normal clothes were too tight but I didn’t have a bump to hold maternity wear in place. I felt lumpy and, once again, insecure. 

I was able to use Unlimited to transition from jeans one size bigger to jeans two sizes bigger and finally to their surprisingly robust selection of maternity clothes, making each shift as soon as I noticed my buttons were no longer buttoning. Even though I wasn’t going anywhere or seeing anyone, I still needed clothes that fit, and Unlimited made that possible. 

It was thanks to Unlimited that I had a perfectly-way-too-big pair of sweatpants to wear home from the hospital after giving birth. It was thanks to Unlimited that I snagged a bunch of caftans to wear while I wandered around in a postpartum fog, providing me the ability to take my boobs out at all times. When my breastmilk supply regulated and my boobs didn’t hurt so much and I could wear normal tops again, I sent all the caftans back, knowing I’d never have to see them again and could go back to renting things that made me feel like I’d actually gotten dressed. 

For other women who don't work from home, the idea of renting clothes provided a way to elevate their style without buying an entire “office” wardrobe. “My truest self just wears jeans and a T-shirt or a flannel,” Glamour senior editor Anna Moeslein tells me. “But my colleagues all dress so cute that I felt like I needed to find a way to step it up without spending a ton on clothes I wouldn't wear in my off hours.” Moeslein says she did often end up hanging onto pieces she loved to wear out on the weekends and that the service opened her mind, fashion wise. “I tried on so many different pieces and styles that I have a much clearer idea of my overall vibe and what fits work best for me now,” she says. 

The ability to try out different “vibes” was what drew Anna Eilinsfeld, a TV, film and Broadway actor, to Unlimited: she often rented pieces to appear more like the characters she was auditioning for. “I loved that I could use it for, say, business-casual wear, which I never need unless I'm auditioning for a show like Suits,” she says.

Just as I went back to work after my second maternity leave, I got the notification that the Unlimited Swap plan was coming to a close. The news wasn’t a complete shock; at one point during the COVID crisis, subscriber activity was down nearly two-thirds. The company also says only 4% percent of Unlimited users were swapping out their items more than 16 times a month, so the shift away from Unlimited is to address the fact that many users were paying for more items than they were actually using—the new plans will offer 4, 8 or 16 items per month rather than the old “infinity.” 

When I first read the news, I was disappointed. Because of my fluctuating sizes I was sure I was actually using my plan, well, unlimited-ly. My favorite part of having endless options was trying on a pair of jeans, discovering they didn’t fit and rather than throwing them across the room in a rage-induced tear fit that sent me into a confidence spiral, easily swapping them out and getting a new pair that did fit. And I was far from the only one who used it this way: Lauren Curtis, a fellow mom of two and Unlimited subscriber in Brooklyn, expressed the same thing. “The Unlimited option gave me the confidence that I would always find something to wear, even on days where I was feeling the lowest about my body changes,” she says. “There were no risks if I didn't love something or it didn't fit correctly—I would just send it back. Now I feel like I'll have to be more careful about what I pick out,” she says. 

Bummed, I reached out to the company to get more insight about the end of the Unlimited era. A spokesperson walked me through the new plans: the 8-item plan is actually very similar to Unlimited: you can have four pieces at home, and you get one opportunity over the course each month to swap them out (the name is a bit of a misnomer—as it’s more like up to 8 items a month, since you can keep anything as long as you want). With the 16-item plan, you get to swap things out three times. On the 4-item plan, you can only swap on your billing date. 

To my surprise, the 8-item plan is actually my best bet: according to my RTR data, I went through less than eight items most months. And my concern about things not fitting is one of RTR’s concerns too— they’ll be offering one free “fit do-over” in the first three months after the plans change if an item is the wrong size. But if a shipment is all wrong, their customer service team will work with you one-on-one to figure it out and make sure you do have wearable clothes. (For current subscribers with more questions, RTR will be emailing a link to “Ask Us Anything” webinars on April 7, 14 and 15.)

The updated model does discourage the “wear once” option that was such a big part of unlimited renting’s appeal. Kimberly Monty, a partner at a Boston law firm, owns a wardrobe full of work staples and has almost no time to shop for one-off “fun” clothes. “RTR gave me access to amazing clothes to wear to parties, weddings, and vacations without having to splurge on a dress I’d wear once,” she says. 

But I’ve been assured the new plans are more customizable: for example, if you know you’ve got a beach trip coming up, you can add a few extra spots for the month of the trip and only pay for them that month. (It’s worth noting that the 4- and 8-item plans are cheaper than the Unlimited version was, so theoretically you don’t end up spending more money to make this work: Unlimited was $159 per month. The four-item plan will run you $89 a month, and 8 items are $135, and additional items range from $29-39 a month, so you would still save over the course of a year if you added a few extra spots every now and then. The 16 item plan is $199 a month, but all three plans have promo pricing while the new plans roll out of $69, $99 and $149 per month respectively.)

In the end, even with the changes, I won’t cancel my subscription—clothing rentals will continue to hold a place in the future of fashion, and I want to be a part of it. Rent the Runway anticipates by the end of the year its subscriber base will surpass pre-pandemic levels. Plus-size brand Eloquii launched its rental service during mid-pandemic August 2020 and Ralph Lauren introduced its own version in March 2021. And it makes sense: renting clothes is more sustainable than fast fashion, it’s often more economical (I treat it as my clothing budget for the month and rarely go over), and it’s definitely social-media friendly (goodbye feed-repeat outfits). 

The reality is Unlimited was, in many ways, too good to be true, and all too-good-to-be-true things do eventually come to an end. So goodbye, Unlimited. Thank you for the good times, the party dresses and the well-fitting jeans. May you rest easy in the fantasy closet in the sky. 

This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Sara Gaynes Levy