My post on Anthropologie's new clothes-for-rent service, Nuuly, garnered a fair amount of interest. I must confess I'm still thinking about it. Is it a good idea, the wave of the future? Does it only fuel our basest consumer instincts ("I want it all, and I want it now") with an even less admirable "but I don't want to commit"?
I also discovered Nuuly is not the only retail-related enterprise to join the wardrobe rental market. Ann Taylor, Express, New York and Company, Banana Republic and Vince are clothing landlords as well.
Why am I always surprised to find I'm not the first to know something???
This initiative caught my attention because I worked at Anthropologie for many years and would not have thought they would go there. But we are living in interesting times, and this is interesting.
Among readers of the blog only one person declared "never". She just does not like wearing clothes worn by someone else. Some were intrigued but will pass as they don't have the need or desire for a constantly changing wardrobe.
Those who love the idea also love Anthro and see this as an opportunity to further embrace the brand. One reader, Maggie, has already received three shipments from Nuuly (after being on a three-month waiting list). She thinks of this as a way to economize and have some fun too. So far she's quite pleased.
You don't have to join to browse Nuuly's many offerings—2,586 in various categories. It's not just Anthro. Product comes from all the Urban Inc. brands—Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, Free People and a new one, Nuuly Vintage.
There is a lot of denim, and I mean a lot (502 pieces)—mostly jeans and jean jackets. Short of a bathing suit, nothing is harder to buy online than jeans. Nuuly member Maggie has her favorite brand and isn't even tempted.
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| A plethora of denim |
I toyed with the idea of signing up and found a few things I liked but found in many cases that "All sizes of this item are rented". That leads me to believe Nuuly only has a size run on offer, not multiples.
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| Out of luck on this |
The vast majority of clothes were super-casual or date-night specific. While I always felt even an older customer could find things to buy at Anthropologie, Nuuly has weeded out those more sophisticated pieces. But then I know perfectly well I am not the demographic Nuuly is targeting.
There seem to be many summery looks for being late in October.
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| Brrrr.... |
Nuuly Vintage features much vintage denim and graphic tees from the past. I assume the latter are dead stock. I can't imagine a sweatshirt from Carnegie Tech, which became Carnegie Mellon in 1967, would still be wearable 52 years later.
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| Old school sweatshirt |
Nuuly Vintage offers some of the treasures we used to uncover at Army-Navy surplus stores, such as parka liners that retail here for $125. You can find these on Amazon for $30 or less.
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| Nuuly Vintage, $125 |
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| Amazon, $30 |
There are a half dozen or so designer pieces on the site (Loewe, Norma Kamali, YSL, Versace, Celine), hardly worth the bother I would think. The Versace was a pair of jeans in size 25 and out-for-rent.
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| Temporarily out of stock |
What happens if you fall in love and don't want to send your new love back to Nuuly Ground Zero? That's why retail prices are included. You are offered a discount, but it can be random—anywhere from 9% to 45% off. Better not to fall in love with those Versace jeans, though. They list for $1500.
Oh, and I was right thinking Urban would have its own dry cleaners. "To support the logistics of the new company, Urban built a 300,000 square-foot facility outside of Philadelphia...Within that warehouse is a full-service dry-cleaning system, which Urban hired dry-cleaning specialists to run".
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