Are Clothing Subscriptions Worth it?

I had heard good things about Nuuly and I often see things on Anthropologie that I like so I figured this could be a good aesthetic fit for me. The price was reasonable and there were a lot of brands that I could see from looking through the App that I liked but are often more expensive than I would normally order which seemed like a perk.

However, once I actually subscribed I found that a lot of the items that I liked were not actually available at the time or in my size. I found 2 items that I was excited about and the rest were kind of a bummer. I actually found it really difficult to find 6 things I’d want to rent. Some of the items were clothes I had liked a few years ago, but have gone out of style a bit. I figured since I had already signed up for it I might as well try it to see how it went. 

I ended up renting a Free People printed blouse (which was the first piece I ended up wearing). The fit was cute and it was a color I wouldn’t normally wear but it was flattering and easy to pair with jeans. I also got two Love Shack Fancy tops, an Innika Choo embroidered dress, Carolina K dress, Paul & Joe Sister dress. The dresses were a little difficult, one didn’t fit, and the fabric on the other two surprised me so I ended up wearing only 1 of the dresses which was a little disappointing.

Part of a subscription is the ability to purchase items at a discounted rate, however, all of the items I received were heavily worn. When I considered the age and quality of my choices, I felt I could purchase the same items at a better price and quality from Poshmark or other resellers if I wanted to have one of those items in my wardrobe. 

I ended up sending everything back and canceling my subscription. I was disappointed in the service, and I definitely would not try this one again.

However, there are two points that I’d like to call out. I think this could be a good service for anyone who lives away from a major city and wants an affordable way to try out new brands. It could be a good solution if you want a dress for a special occasion, but want to spend under $100 but still have a high quality and unique style. Even though one of the dresses didn’t fit, I did have 3 options so if I had an occasion to wear the others I think I would have found more value in the service.  

Complete Rating (scale of 1-5) 

Clothing choices/style: 1 
I was unhappy with the choices, mostly casual compared to some of the other services out there, a lot of casual blouse options, lots of fun patterns

Ease of use: 5 
Easy, the app is easy to use and it was easy to get set up

Cost/value: 3
I thought the price was good and accessible, but I wasn’t happy with the product offering

Best for: Dresses for casual occasions - think a casual work event, family event, or casual special occasion where you want a unique day dress

Curious if another service might be a better experience, I enlisted blog contributor Lauren Moreno to try out another company I had heard about – Armoire.

I’ve had the App on my phone for ages (like YEARS)...and have often considered RTR for special occasions but in the last 2 years I haven’t been to any - so my interest was on hold. However, this fall I’m moving back to the city during the weekdays and have a wedding to attend, so I thought it would be a good time to test this service out.

Complete Rating (scale of 1-5) 

Ease of use: 5
The setup is incredibly fast and easy. There were so many brands that I loved, but their robust filters (especially for body type) made it easy to find items that I wanted to try. 

I received 4 items with the plan I selected and they were available very quickly. They all arrived on hangers with plastic dry cleaning bags over them and folded in an interesting garment bag that zipped up. I was impressed. These are typically the kind of garments that wrinkle easily, but the packing really protected them. I wasn’t thrilled about all the plastic, but it did seem like the best way to protect the garments.

Clothing choices/style: 5 
Picking items was really fast - they carry a lot of brands I love like Dodo Bar Or, Warm, Ulla Johnson, Tanya Taylor so there were lots of great choices. They also have capsules broken out with different occasions and you can filter by body type so it was easy to find things for what I have planned for the month. I Selected a Carolina Santo Domingo bag that I love, an Ulla Johnson dress in a fun mustard color, a printed skirt by Warm - a style that I had thought about purchasing but wanted to test out whether I’d really wear it, and a fun floral printed Dodo Bar Or dress for going out to dinner.

Cost/value: 3
They have 3 plans, I selected the 2 shipments/month option where you can rent 4 items at a time with full closet access. Although I don’t really know if I would want to be shipping things back and forth so much, I did want access to the higher end brands. The items in the basic closet focus on casual and workwear pieces that only go up to $350 retail value. With the plan I picked, I unlocked access to items with up to a $3,500 value. The quality is dramatically different and you can rent high end evening wear with this plan.

Best for: I think at $135/mo it’s a good deal if you want to have the thrill of trying on something new and having a beautiful dress to wear for a night out or occasion. I think that, especially for a wedding or event, this is a great option since you can try 4 high quality dresses at home for a fraction of what you would typically pay for a dress for an event. It’s definitely a high expense to add to your monthly clothing budget if you also shop a lot. But this seems like a good fit for me since I’m trying to shop much less these days – especially for dresses which I don’t wear as frequently. If anything, it might actually help me decrease my monthly shopping expenses.  

Have you ever tried a clothing subscription service? Let us know about your experience in the comments, and if you have continued to utilize the service after your initial trial.