Rent the Runway is selling its pre-worn clothing on Amazon via new partnership with the e-commerce giant.
As of Thursday, the clothing rental service is selling hundreds of pre-worn items from almost 35 brands and a line of unworn designer products available for Amazon shoppers via Rent the Runway’s Design Collective, which produces proprietary items for Rent the Runway.
Rent the Runway has partnered with ThredUp and Saks Off 5TH to sell off its second hand luxury items.
The moves comes as the New-York fashion rental service looks to pick up its business after a lull in demand throughout the pandemic. In September, the company reported a net loss $33.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2022 and announced it would lay off its a quarter of its staff. The staff reduction was described as a restructuring plan aimed at reducing costs in order to “streamline its organizational structure” and “drive operational efficiencies.”
In December, Rent the Runway reported a Q3 net loss of $36.1 million, including $5.8 million of restructuring-related charges, even as consumers seek out fashion-related purchases as they return to work and in-person events. At the time, Rent the Runway co-founder and CEO Jenn Hyman said the restructuring plan was “substantially complete.”
Hyman said the new Amazon partnership brings “incredible brand awareness’ for the company and can “ignite a new engine of growth” for the business.
Rent the Runway went filed for to go public in July of 2021 and sold 17 million shares on the first day of its IPO in October 2021 for $21 each, raising a total of $357 million.
As for Amazon, the e-commerce company is expanding its fashion offerings “through strategic relationships with brands,” said president of Amazon Fashion Muge Erdirik Dogan in a statement. In August, Peloton inked a deal to sell its footwear and apparel on Amazon.
