Rent the Runway
How supplier and customer testing reshaped an idea before launch.
- Sector
- Fashion rental e-commerce
- Source
- Week 5 tutorial resource (Case 3.1, Barringer and Ireland, 2018)
The case in brief
Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss met at Harvard Business School. In November 2008 Hyman saw her sister buy a $2,000 gown for a wedding because her existing designer dresses had already been photographed and posted online. What if women could rent designer clothes for special occasions instead? The founders set out to validate both the supplier side (designers) and the customer side (women renting).
Designer Diane von Furstenberg hated the original pitch of renting designer clothes at 10 percent of the retail price, fearing brand damage and lost sales. But she explained that designer buyers were mostly in their 50s and 60s and concentrated in big cities. The founders repositioned: Rent the Runway would bring younger women and geographic diversity to designers. Customer tests at Harvard, Yale and by PDF catalogue followed, and one woman’s change in confidence after trying on a dress led them to reposition again — around memorable moments rather than saving money.
Rent the Runway launched on 9 November 2009 as an invitation-only website, raised just under $2 million in seed funding and gained 100,000 members in two weeks, helped by buzz from the feasibility process, a 40,000-name email list and a New York Times feature. It kept listening after launch through its Customer Insights Team, which led it to rent accessories earlier than planned. By October 2016 it had over six million members, 975 employees and over 400 designer partners.
Key facts
- Idea
- November 2008
- Launch
- 9 November 2009
- Seed funding
- Just under $2 million
- Early growth
- 100,000 members in two weeks
- Scale (October 2016)
- Over 6 million members, 975 employees, over 400 designer partners
Analysis through module theory
Product/service feasibility
The Harvard test answered practical demand questions — would women rent, which designers, at what price, for which occasions, could dresses be returned by mail, would they come back damaged — and produced the insight that changed the positioning.
Industry/target market feasibility
Talking to designers revealed an industry problem the founders did not know about: a customer acquisition gap among younger women and outside major cities. Solving that problem made suppliers willing to join.
Organisational feasibility
The founders had complementary strengths — Hyman the visionary, Fleiss the executor — and believed their lack of fashion experience let them see the industry with fresh eyes.
Discussion questions
- 1.How did Hyman and Fleiss vet the idea before launch?
- 2.What does the time from idea to launch say about their process?
- 3.Would the company be as successful without feasibility analysis?
Takeaways
- Share the idea widely; feedback from suppliers and customers improves it.
- Feasibility analysis can change the positioning, not just confirm the idea.
- Keep listening after launch — feasibility thinking becomes a habit.