Rent the Runway: a look into the office of a start-up that has just had US$20 million investment
Company, which lets customers rent clothes from 450 designers for as little as US$30 for four days, received funding last week from Alibaba founder Jack Ma
Rent the Runway has been working to democratise fashion since 2009.
The start-up allows customers to rent articles of clothing from more than 450 designers, with tiered monthly subscription services and items that begin at US$30 for a four-day rental.
Last week, it was reported that Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, the Chinese multinational e-commerce conglomerate and owner of the South China Morning Post , and Joe Tsai, Alibaba’s executive vice-chairman, invested US$20 million in Rent the Runway through asset management firm, Blue Pool Capital.
With that investment Rent the Runway is now reportedly valued at a little less US$800 million.
Late last year, Rent the Runway celebrated its eighth anniversary with the opening of a freshly renovated Manhattan headquarters.
The nearly 40,000 sq ft (3,720 square metres) space, which was designed by Hyphen, is adorned in pink wallpaper, and its perks include a meditation room, photo studio, and fitting room for employees to change into their own rentals.
“Even though we’re 1,200 people, it still feels like it did in the early days when we first founded the company,” co-founder and CEO Jenn Hyman told Business Insider .
“That entrepreneurial spirit, the warmth, the friendships, are all there. We wanted the office to reflect that energetic entrepreneurial spirit.”
Here we take a look around the office and Hyman's favourite spaces.
The offices house around 250 staff, although Rent the Runway employs about 1,200 people in total, including in their stores and warehouses.