I Tried Rent the Runway Update and Here Are My Thoughts

I recently signed up for Rent the Runway Update. I was originally simply looking to rent a dress for an event in June but couldn’t resist the introductory discount to try their monthly rental service. RTR Update allows you to rent 4 items for 1 month. After that one month is over you return the items and pick 4 more and so on. I decoded it give it a go and if I didn’t like it I would simply cancel the service. Spoiler alert: I love it. So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can get into the details and pros and cons of the service.

Details

Rent the Runway Update is $89 a month. RTR also offers their Unlimited service for $159. They offer an introductory discount for both services.

How the items arrive

The items arrive in a black fabric folded garment bag. Each items is on a hanger and in dry-cleaning plastic (they ask in the return instructions that you return the items in their plastic so that the plastic can be recycled). In the side pocket of the bag is the pre-paid return shipping label.

Customer service experience
I opted for Update as it was the more affordable option. You can always upgrade service. For my first month I picked out four dresses; including a cocktail dress for an event. The cocktail dress was….a outright no go. I went onto the website to see about exchanging it for a different item. RTR offers the option to exchange an item for something different within 48 hours of your receipt of your shipment for a 12>95 shipping fee. I called their Concierge Service fully prepared to pay the shipping fee. They kindly waved it for me without me having to ask. I simply returned the dress via UPS using the pre-paid label included in the shipment and the replacement dress arrived two days later.

The Items

Because RTR Update is a rental service I was curious as to what the quality of the items would be. Would they be worn or threadbare in any way? Not really. The Nicole Miller Atelier skirt’s pleats were not as crisp as they probably had originally been but other than that I had no issues with any of the items being in a state of disrepair.

Pros & Cons

One of the pros is of course having access to a plethora of designer dresses, bottoms, jackets, tops , jewelry and handbags to choose from each month. I’ve had a chance to try brands I’ve never worn before and develop a sense of their fit, quality, etc. I also enjoy that the site retains your preferred size options and shows you what’s available in those sizes. Th ease of returning the items is nice as well. I simply repack them at drop them off at a UPS store.

The biggest con for me is the inability to rent dresses on reserve without paying extra. Update is separate from the regular RTR Reserve service. So if you need a dress or item for a specific date you will have to pay an additional rental charge. Update members do receive a 25% discount on the rental fee. So for my event I wound up spending an additional $89 to rent the dress (the Hunter Bell Sequin Roxy Dress pictured below) I wanted. The discount is nice but it would be better to have the Reserve service folded into the Update and Unlimited Services. A smaller con is that because of this you are subject to choosing from whatever is currently available at the time your membership rolls over.

Final Thoughts

Overall I have really been enjoying my RTR Update Membership. I am interested in eventually switching to the Unlimited Service and seeing if I would enjoy that more. I do like the idea of being able to swap as often as I like as opposed to having to wait until the next month but other than that I think it’s a great service if you like to have a few new items in rotation in your wardrobe each month.

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