Owning a designer handbag or a dress from the runway used to be a status symbol. Not anymore. Anyone can be a member of this ‘exclusive’ club by simply renting an item.
Kenlan’s Closet is an Ottawa based boutique where for between $60 and $350 a designer dress can be yours for two nights.
Got 2 Have It Handbags is a Canadian website where shoppers can have the genuine Chanel or Louis Vuitton handbag they’ve always dreamed of shipped directly to their home – a designer bag of their own for a week, two weeks or a month. Weekly rental fees range from $14 to $75 and the service is available across Canada.
Art Lending of Ottawa has been renting art for reasonable prices since 1970. It is a non-profit organization with a focus on showcasing the work of Ottawa artists. Rental price is based on the value of artwork and pieces may be rented for up to 12 months.
But it is only recently that the market for renting more personal items has developed.
Though people have been shopping consignment for years and hand-me-downs often fill the closets of children, the purpose is practicality. Renting designer items is a bit like playing dress up for grown-ups. The rationale for buying a designer bag or well-made dress used to be that it could be passed down through generations.
Now anyone can borrow whatever they want at an accessible price. It’s not special or exclusive anymore. “Every girl is a celebrity now, and she doesn’t want to be seen in the same outfit she wore on Facebook,” Derek Guillemette, Rent the Runway’s head buyer told Patricia Marx of The New Yorker.
It used to be that if you can’t afford the bag, you don’t have it. Period. Maybe you stop by the Coach window display and gaze in covetously, but that was it. Why prance around with a Prada clutch for a night on the town while working a minimum wage job?
“It’s like having access to a celebrity’s closet,” boasts an ad on the website Avelle where one can buy or rent designer items – even extremely personal things like earrings and sunglasses. “See how fast, easy and fun it is to rent authentic luxury.”
There are also technical problems to consider. If the item is lost or stolen or destroyed, by say a dog chewing it up, companies will require the renter to pay the full replacement cost and this easily means thousands of dollars.
Some people choose to rent as part of a lifestyle and are part of movements such as ‘anti-stuff’ and ‘transumerism’ or ‘the leasing lifestyle,’ but most simply want something they can’t afford. At the end of it all, you have nothing to show for the money you’ve spent.
Designer garb used to be a way to convey wealth and show off. But when luxury is so easy and accessible, it isn’t worth much.