The Glamor of Renting

Since last January, my family has been all abuzz over a very special event slated for July 23^rd, and I’m delighted to report that it went off with only one hitch—my cousin Hillary to her fiancé Cameron. Yip!

In the weeks leading up to Hillary’s wedding, I decided I didn’t want to buy anything new to wear, but I did want to find something to jazz up my outfit. So I turned to two directories of sharing-based services here and here, and the second is where I came across Renttherunway.com.

The company offers its customers access to clothing and jewelry from over 95 designers at a 90% discount. So instead of purchasing and wearing a dress or accessory only once, multiple gala goers can use the same garment or necklace over and again. Love. Wear. Return.? Yes ma’am, sign me up.

In the market for a piece of jewelry, I initially felt uninspired (I’m quite picky). But then, seconds away from throwing in the towel, I found this piece by Miriam Haskell . . .

and I was sold.

The process of renting the cuff was surprisingly simple, as it’s nearly the same as making an online purchase. My only question was this: If I damaged the cuff, would I be responsible for paying its retail price in full? (My pocketbook wouldn’t respond fondly!) My fears were quickly assuaged by the site’s insurance policy, which covers any incidental mishaps, so I went ahead and made the booking. And just as Rent The Runway assured, the Secret Garden Cuff arrived in the mail two days before the big event.

I adored wearing the bracelet at the wedding, and after receiving so many complements, I was reluctant to take it off.

However deeply we wished for the festivities to continue, the shindig came to an end in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and shortly thereafter I had to seal The Secret Garden Cuff in the prepaid mailer and send it on its way to Rent The Runway’s headquarters.

In the end, what I loved more than the bracelet itself was sharing the story of renting it. Have you tried a service like Rent the Runway? If you haven’t, there are a number of companies that offer similar services, such as Bag Borrow or Steal and Fashion Hire, and I'd recommend giving them a go. If you've already discovered the glamor of renting, I’d love to hear your story. Do share.

About encommon

There’s a new sharing-based movement underway, and it’s ramping up—fast. It leverages the power of technology-enabled networks to help us use existing resources with greater intelligence and efficiency. It is disrupting traditional patterns of consumer behavior, while replacing them with fresh, community-based alternatives. Simply put, it’s a new form of economy, where consumers share, lend, trade, and swap products instead of own them. You may have heard of Zipcar, the car-share service, or Roomorama, the online marketplace for short-term accommodations. These companies are perfect examples of the share economy, which is turning business on its ear across sectors from social lending to peer-to-peer transportation, clothing swaps to coworking, and more.

Author and Entrepreneur Lisa Gansky first introduced me to this new economic and social phenomena in January 2010. I had the pleasure of working with her for just over a year while she wrote and published her book The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing (Portfolio Penguin 2010). With an academic background in environmental studies, I became an instant fangirl (in the best possible sense of the word). The share economy seems to be the most promising way to live an efficient and fulfilled life on the planet—sans all the junk, and the detrimental effects its production and lifecycle has on our environment. For a product or service to exist in the share economy, it must have various essential qualities: durability, classic design, adjustability, and “share-ability.” (Sorry, your gas guzzling jalopy just won't cut it in a peer-to-peer car-sharing service.) In the share economy, we don’t have to rely on words that have been rendered essentially meaningless from overuse, such as “sustainable” and “green,” to describe an earth-friendly offering. The proof is in the pudding.

And so, after a terrific run as Lisa’s program manager at www.meshing.it, and my subsequent move from the City by the Bay (San Francisco) to the City of Lakes (Minneapolis), it came as no surprise that ideas about sharing-based organizations and activities kept floating to the top of my mind. Then I got to thinking: How can I put my knowledge about the share economy to use?

Enter encommon, a year-long project in which I will attempt to conduct my life as fully as possible within the share economy—with one caveat. I will integrate sharing strategies into my day-to-day life within reason. Ultimately, it is my intention for this sharing-based lifestyle to extend beyond the life of encommon. The project is not designed to be a life study that I might make it through by the skin of my teeth; it's about making deliberate changes to my real life.

So for the next year, I will explore and try to use many of the hundreds of organizations that provide unique ways for individuals to become more connected to their communities and make better use of existing resources. And I will share my experiences with you here on encommon.

You might wonder, Why now?

The time is ripe. Faced with building a life and starting a career in this recession, my peers and I are discovering that there are countless new ways to re-imagine how we work and play and shape our communities. I want to find out whether the share economy will truly help us re-value what matters most, so I’ve prepared myself to meet the challenges of living a sharing-based life in a (sometimes very chilly) mid-sized city with creativity and gusto.

Thank you for being here. I hope at times to inspire you to try something new and to learn from you in return. Please keep in touch!

Warmest wishes,

Jessica