[JSR] Urban Outfitters’ Rental Service - Nuuly

URBN, the company behind Urban Outfitters and others is planning the launch of Nuuly, their new rental program. [Source: URBN Facebook, Screenshot by Author, Sungmin Stelle Kim]

The Nuuly team as they anticipate the launch of their rental program. [Source: treehugger.com, Screenshot by Author, Sungmin Stella Kim]

Urban Outfitters is an ongoing trendy apparel and lifestyle store for teens and adults. It is a very popular fashion store among both male and female teens because Urban Outfitters sells a variety of items such as beauty products and lifestyle, not just clothing. Recently, the company has dropped a surprising announcement that particularly college students and teens would find very exciting and something to look forward to.

Sungmin Stella Kim, Grade 10 Northwood High School

The company is set to launch a clothing rental service called Nuuly this summer. By using Nuuly, shoppers can rent up to six items at a time for $88 dollars a month. Some of the clothing for rental service include popular clothing brands sold by Urban Outfitters, like Anthropologie and Fila, as well as vintage pieces sourced from flea markets and dealers. On Nuuly’s website, customers will choose 6 items of clothing, in which they must keep the clothes for a full month, then return them to obtain 6 more. Returned garments will be washed, dry-cleaned and inspected at company facilities before being sent to another customer. Nuuly subscribers can also choose to buy an item or return all the clothing they borrowed.

In a press release, the company said that the new service will allow customers to infuse “freshness and variety into their wardrobes.”

So, could this new rental service be successful? According to the Urban Outfitters chief digital officer David Hayne, who will run Nuuly, this new service expects to attract 50,000 subscribers and earn more than $50 million in revenue in its first year in business.

Furthermore, it is anticipated that social media platforms will help influence the market for rented clothing. According to Naomi Braithwaite, a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University who has been conducting research on consumers’ attitudes toward clothing rental, clothing rental is getting a boost from shoppers’ desire to have a new outfit for every Instagram post and an increasing awareness of sustainability issues.

When asked about her thoughts on this new idea of rental service, Julianne Nguyen, who likes to shop at Urban Outfitters said, “I think that it’s a really good and creative idea, and I’m looking forward to it, only if they allow us to rent cute clothes. Since Urban Outfitters’ clothing are pretty expensive, I think a lot of people might actually prefer renting clothes instead of permanently buying clothes for a high price because you might end up not wearing the clothing ever again.”