Rent the Runway brings drop boxes to WeWork

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Oct 19, 2018

Rent the Runway has partnered with WeWork to set up clothing drop-off boxes at 15 of the shared workspace company's locations across the US. 

The boxes will be placed in the lobbies of WeWork spaces located in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Washington, DC.

These boxes have been available for the public and WeWork customers to return Rent the Runway items as of Thursday. 

This partnership follows the launch of the RTR Update subscription service last year, which allows its users to rent four designer pieces for a monthly fee. While most customers return their items by mail and must wait for shipping to process before selecting new items, these drop boxes will allow users to have a quicker return experience.

Currently, Rent the Runway customers have the choice between the RTR Unlimited and the RTR Update subscription services. The former allows subscribers to rent any four pieces of designer clothing and swap them at any time for $159 a month, while the latter also allows customers to rent four pieces a month, but without being able to swap them, for $89.

Rent the Runway's return boxes were previously available only at the company's five physical stores. With this partnership, the company is able to expand its brick-and-mortar presence without needing to invest in new physical spaces. 

WeWork has over 280 locations in 77 cities across the world, which provide shared working spaces for a monthly rental fee. Their offices are often used by small entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups and small businesses.

To further expand the partnership, Rent the Runway will also open pop-up rental shops inside several WeWork locations.

Rent the Runway currently manages physical locations in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. The company was started online in 2009 by Jenn Hyman and Jenny Fleiss, and recently received a $21 million investment from Joe Tsai and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma.