Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


2

Some Like it Haute— and Cheap

'Netflix rental scheme' delivers high-fashion frocks

Share

(Newser) – Budget-minded entrepreneurs are utilizing the strategy of Netflix in high fashion. Now working girls can afford some of the priciest haute couture frocks by renting them on the Internet. The new mail-order service, Rent the Runway, allows shop-aholics to rent top designer fashions for a tenth of their retail cost. Rentals run as low as $50 for four days and are delivered, just like Netflix DVDs, to the customer's door, reports the New York Times.

Fashion mavens plop the duds back in a prepaid envelope to mail back. One recent customer gushed about paying $50 to wear a $500 dress to recent wedding. Co-founder Jennifer Hyman, a graduate of Harvard business school, came up with the idea after realizing her sister was "willing to spend a good portion of her salary" on a dress for a single occasion. "I thought, there has to be a solution for this," she said.

Model poses for new Internet site that allows customers to rent high fashion they same way they rent Netflix DVDs.
Model poses for new Internet site that allows customers to rent high fashion they same way they rent Netflix DVDs.   (Rent the Runway)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
2 comments
VIEWING:
 
Netstorm2k9
Nov 9, 09 4:37 AM CST
So it's like NetTux? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
Jes
Nov 9, 09 8:38 AM CST
Before I read the article I was all ready to condemn this as more consumerist bullshit, but this is pretty awesome. And I love the NetTux name, NS2k9. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

40 Stories

 Say Goodbye to $600 Jeans 

Thanks to the recession, premium denim comes at a lower premium

Oct 29, 09 11:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - If you couldn't afford a pair of "premium jeans" last year, maybe you can now. Though the basic components of jeans haven't changed in decades, prices skyrocketed early in the decade—but thanks to the recession, designer denim that might have gone for more than $300 two years ago... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fashion • jeans • denim • Jay-ZTV • designer fashion • trends

 Lilo: I Didn't Know 
 About the Pasties 

Lohan claims lack of time, experience to blame for sad state of Ungaro show

Oct 15, 09 10:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - How in the world can Lindsay Lohan justify the inclusion of pasties in her fashion line for Ungaro? Easy. “I wasn’t aware of the nipple tassels on the girls until they were walking out,” she tells People. As for the general disaster that was the rest... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • fashion • Lindsay Lohan • celebrity • fashion designer • designer fashion • Emanuel Ungaro

 Designer Fixing 
 Barbie's .... Cankles? 

Louboutin thinks the doll's ankles are too fat

Oct 14, 09 7:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Christian Louboutin makeover of the Barbie doll is going further than just the clothes. “He found her ankles were too fat,” said a Louboutin spokeswoman. At least one of his dolls should be ready for the next Cannes film festival in May, Women's Wear Daily reports. "... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fashion • fat • Barbie • doll • redesign • designer fashion

40 Stories


Arts & Living  •  Business 
TwitterFollow @NewserArts on Twitter

 
Internet • fashion • business • rentals • Netflix • designer fashion • haute couture

from our news partners