More women are renting dresses, coats and ugly sweaters as clothing prices tick up

Jenn Ackerman / for NPR

Lydia Patel made a big decision two years ago: she stopped buying clothes.

"In my busy life nowadays — I realized especially after Covid — I go to work in scrubs," explains the Minnesota pharmacist, YouTube creator and mom of three. "I don't dress up anymore for work, so I really don't need a whole lot of new clothes."

After seeing the outfits she rarely wore to kids' birthday parties and daytime events languishing in her closet, she thought, why not rent her wardrobe instead?

While Rent the Runway set the tone for the clothing rental industry when it launched 16 years ago — offering designer gowns for a night — it and trendy competitors such as Nuuly now let consumers borrow a set number of items, including dresses, jeans and even winter coats, for a mont