Is It Cheaper To Buy Or Rent Clothes?

It doesn't take a fashion person to appreciate the high of wearing the right outfit at the right time. So, as a mom reassessing (aka disposing of) her wardrobe after alternating between pregnancy and breastfeeding for five years, I couldn't help but go all Carrie Bradshaw and wonder aloud whether renting was the best way to kickstart some confidence in the clothing department.

On social media, the clothing rental ads were seriously coming for me. And it makes sense that rental retailers would have plenty of cash to spend on targeting: After the pandemic positively sh*t on occasion rental services, the U.S. online rental market has experienced the ultimate bounceback, with predictions that its worth will top $2.33 billion by 2030.

There's still the OG, Rent the Runway, which charges $89 for five items/month or up to $169/month for 20. There's also Nuuly, which charges $98/month for six items; ModLux ($125/month for five pieces); accessory-only options like Vivrelle ($5 to $309/month for one to two pieces of jewelry or purses) and Switch ($41 to $221/month for one to four pieces of jewelry or accessories); and many others I've never even heard of because have I mentioned I have two young kids?!

With a referral discount code from a fellow mom who has been drinking one particular brand of Kool-Aid, I decided to dip my toes in. I paid some $68 for six pieces of clothing from Nuuly, which seems to stock the same sort of stuff as Anthropologie — that is, statement-ish pieces that you can't really get away with wearing more than a few times, and high-quality, trendy basics.

In my first order, I chose three occasion dresses, hoping one would work for an upcoming party, one pair of barrel jeans that I didn't know if I could pull off, a lightweight bomber jacket to bridge the gap between summer and spring, and a one-shoulder floral bodysuit just because. Since I would have otherwise invested in a few new pieces to transition between seasons, I felt like I hit the jackpot from a value perspective.

But by the time my rental period drew to a close, I wasn't sure. I'd worn the jeans a few times and the bodysuit on one girls' trip, plus on two dates with my husband (who definitely didn't notice my repeat offense). I wore one of the dresses to the aforementioned party and once more on a date, but I didn't have time to wear the other two dresses before it was time to return the lot. Although it quickly became too warm for the jacket (retail value $144), I impulse bought it with a discount code that sneakily turned up in my inbox, spending another $73.60. Whoops.

Had I been well-dressed... or duped into spending more than I'd intended? I reached out to California-based consumer saving expert Andrea Woroch and money expert Nicole Lapin, founder and CEO of Money Rehab, MoneyNewsNetwork.com, and TheMoneySchool.com, to help me do the math here. The big question: Does it make more sense to rent everyday clothing or purchase it?

Both experts agreed that the only way to answer this question is to take a close look at one's own spending habits, lifestyle, and values. "It's a personal decision that depends on your individual needs for clothing," says Woroch. So, if you're just as conflicted as me on putting your hard-earned cash into a permanent or temporary closet, read on to assess your situation.

The Case for Renting

You spend all your money on clothes. I'm personally not organized enough to have a monthly clothing budget... sometimes I buy nothing, sometimes, I splurge on an item or two, and sometimes, I go to Target for Paw Patrol Band-Aids and accidentally come home with a new wardrobe. During the month I rented from Nuuly, though, I had six cool new items in my wardrobe and felt like I'd scratched the itch to shop.

Assessing how much you're really pumping into your wardrobe — and being honest about how long fast fashion items last before they're cast aside, Woroch says — can help you figure out whether renting makes more sense than buying.

"Switching to a subscription rental service can help keep tabs on your spending while still letting you enjoy the perks of new clothing," Lapin says. "If you're spending less on the rental than you would be shopping for clothes each month, and it fits your budget, that's a good use case — as long as your bottom line includes items you buy from your rental batch," she warns.

Your size tends to fluctuate. Now that childbearing and breastfeeding are behind me, I could, in theory, invest in a capsule wardrobe. But those who find their bodies inflating and deflating faster than they can say "elastic band" due to pregnancy or some other kind of size-changing journey (ahem, aging) might find rental services particularly valuable. "You don't have to resize your whole permanent wardrobe and end up stuck with items you don't want or need [when you change sizes]," Woroch says.

You care about trends. Being relatively on trend makes me feel confident, but buying super trendy clothing or accessories can be a waste of money since you don't typically get a good cost per wear (which you can calculate by dividing the total cost of an item by the number of times you wear it), Woroch says. As a mom, it's important for me to model the resulting self-esteem for my kids — even if I can't put a dollar value on that. In this case, renting can save costs.

You're into ~fashun~. "Renting luxury handbags and jewelry often makes financial sense," Lapin concedes. Think about it: It would take over a year of $200/month rental fees to amount to a $3,800 Dior bag, she figures — and most people don't have just one bag since many like to switch things up seasonally.

Besides, owning luxury items is a big responsibility, Lapin points out. "Rental companies can help you test drive a lifestyle before dropping big bucks," she says. "You don't want your kid throwing up on your $10,000 bag or your hand sanitizer leaking inside it."

Repeating outfits horrifies you. Spend too much time (read: any time) on Instagram or TikTok, and you might start to believe you're the only one who wears an outfit more than once. The truth, according to Lapin: "It's easy to feel like you need that next thing you saw on TikTok, but no one needs new clothes every month," she says. But who said this debate is about need? If you want a monthly refresh and typically wear items just once or twice, renting could very well be for you.

"Renting a one-time-use outfit is a strong 'Yes!'" Lapin tells me. "If you're going to spend $100 on a dress you kind of like and will never wear again, why not spend $100 to rent a $500 dress you love but also won't wear again?"

Minimalism makes you feel all the things. Recently, I donated a massive suitcase full of fast fashion, stained items, and pieces that just didn't grow with me. So, the last thing I wanted was to buy more cheap sh*t that would inevitably end up stained or fall out of favor. (Never said I was an optimist!) Renting clothing gets new stuff in and out of your closet easy peasy, with no real receipts besides the rental fee on your bank statement.

You don't always wear what you buy. High hopes won't recover lost costs when you hoard mountains of clothes that collect dust with their tags on — and the same goes for the high price per wear when you don an item just once or twice. In these cases, you might as well rent since the cost per wear will end up being less.

You're prone to buyer's remorse. Renting can help you decide if an item is something you'd like to invest in — like those barrel jeans I rented, which were cool to wear twice, but stretched out and didn't particularly flatter the tush. So, back they went!

You have "nothing" to wear. "If you own thousands of dollars worth of clothing and still feel like you have nothing to wear, renting can help you spend less and feel like you have more options," Woroch says.

You'd otherwise buy clothing at full price. Renting can open the door to great discounts since many services let you keep the items you've rented for a fraction of that item's retail price. While the same can be said for secondhand shopping, Woroch points out, it could cost you valuable time to sift through racks or online riffraff.

You have no time to shop. As a working mom of two, I have less time to shop in stores/ online than literally ever before. So, I save time when I pare down my shopping to one rental site. And time, as anyone who pays by the hour for childcare knows, really is money.

The Case for Buying

You're desperate for basics. When renting, there's no question it's fun to spring for unique pieces. However, the pieces you rent might not meet your clothing needs in their entirety, and if you're supplementing what you're renting, you might actually spend more on clothing than you'd planned. Case in point: During the month I rented, I also spent some $100 replacing old Bombas socks and probably twice as much replacing stained white tees and upgrading my summer loungewear. I got some new underwear. I bought two bathing suits. There are some things you just don't want to rent, amirite?

You barely leave your house. I don't have an office job, and no one honestly cares what I wear while working at a coffee shop or shuttling my kids around Brooklyn. As such, "renting makes more sense for someone with a lot of events," Woroch told me. For people like me, investing in a few high-quality basics that last forever and can be worn all the time without anyone batting an eye could be the way to go — even if I believe that capsule wardrobes are a scam.

You're prone to impulse purchasing. "If renting causes you to spend more because you're trying on more things [at home] and falling in love, then stay away from renting," Lapin says. This way, you'll avoid the temptation to buy buy buy and zero in on fewer items you really want to own for good — not just because they're already hanging in your closet.

You're good about reselling your clothes. Transition to renting clothing, and "at the end of the day, you don't have them to wear — or sell," Woroch points out. When you buy clothing, though, you can sell items you no longer wear or like and recover up to 50% of what you paid, depending on the brand and whether it's a high-ticket item, she estimates.

At the end of the day, which is less expensive: renting or buying?

"For high-end luxury items or special occasion wear, renting can make sense or even save you money, but for a lot of people, these services are totally unnecessary," Lapin says. "Unless you're attending galas or test-driving a Birkin, you don't need new clothes every month and are better off shopping intentionally for things you love."

Woroch's take? "Renting is really great for ultra-trendy fashions that will probably go out of style next year"... which is when my clothing budget would dry up if I were to pay retail for all of the cute rental items I'm vying for.

*goes back to curating rental closet*