Earlier this year, Rent the Runway announced that it has reached a $1 billion valuation, making it the second woman-led business (after beauty brand Glossier) to achieve so-called "unicorn" status. The subscription-based, short-term rental model has infiltrated just about every part of our daily lives, including how we shop for clothes, from Amazon Prime Wardrobe to Rent the Runway – and the latter just became even more appealing.
As of yesterday, Rent the Runway users can drop off their rentals in all three Los Angeles Nordstrom local locations as well as the retailer's full-line store at The Grove at designated kiosks, Fashionista is reporting. There are also plans to extend the service to allow users to pick up their Rent the Runway rentals from these Nordstrom locations soon.
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"We both agree and are aligned in the fact that pickup, drop-off, styling and fit are important services to customers and, at our scale, we obviously offer an opportunity for Rent the Runway to offer those services to their customers," Shea Jensen, Nordstrom's SVP of customer experience, told Fashionista. "Nordstrom is a company that we look up to that is hyper-focused and singularly focused on service and I think that's something we really are focused on at Rent the Runway as well," adds Maureen Sullivan, Rent the Runway's chief operating officer.
Don't fret if you aren't in the LA area, Nordstrom and Rent the Runway are looking to expand in the future. They kicked things off in LA because it's Nordstrom's largest market. "It's an important market where we have to get it right," adds Jensen. "I think of it more like a starting point rather than purely a testing ground."
"The L.A. market is such a massive market for us and we really haven't had a physical presence," tells Sullivan. "We're going to have really incredible data around who's using [the kiosks], at what frequency, what other services from Nordstrom are they utilizing when they come to drop off, so it really is a treasure trove of data and insights that will help us define the future of the partnership."
Last year, affordable, mass-market brands joined the high-end labels typically offered by the popular service. "While many of Rent the Runway's longtime brand partners — including Jason Wu, Rebecca Minkoff and Prabal Gurung— are joining the platform, several larger-scale players — including Levi’s, J.Crew and Club Monaco — are also partnering with the service for the first time," making Rent the Runway more accessible then ever. So partnering with Nordstrom is just their latest step in closet domination.