Rent the Runway is a membership service that offers upscale designer dress and accessory rentals. Initially, exclusively online, the fashion company expanded their business model to include brick and mortar stores in 2014. We created a store concept that resonated with the client and was then hired to design their first store in New York City’s Flatiron district.

Our firm’s design for Rent the Runway was to translate the online idea of the “endless closet” into a physical architecture while establishing the store as the access portal to designer fashion for all women. Their goal was to be an extension of the online platform but to offer an enhanced experience via environment and service. The design was created from initial programming sessions and quickly took shape, focusing on the dressing rooms and the customer experience from start to finish. Translating their feminine brand through the physical space, the initial store features an overall color palette of blush, champagne, and bronze with silver accents. In addition to completing the first location, a pop-up-turned-temporary store in New York City, our firm implemented the concept in two additional locations, adapting the design for a range of retail types: a flagship in Chicago, and a neighborhood store in Washington, DC.