Clothing Rental Subscriptions That Cater To Plus-Sized Fashionistas

According to data from the "International Journal of Fashion Design Technology and Education," the average clothing size for women in the United States is 16-18, but despite a large percentage of women falling into sizing considered plus-size, brands often fail the plus-size community in favor of their straight size ranges. Improper fit, dated designs, and a lack of availability in-store can leave women frustrated and looking for alternative options, often forcing them to look into more inclusive brands and order clothing online.

After years of settling for less from typical stores, however, it's not uncommon for plus-sized women to feel like they've lost their sense of style in favor of functionality. That's where fashion rental services come in. These subscriptions allow you to receive a monthly box of items from brands you may have never heard of, giving you the opportunity to test-run the pieces for a limited time. Once the time is up, you can either return the items for no additional charge or purchase them to help expand your wardrobe. This approach gives you the chance to explore your own style for a fraction of the cost of buying items outright, and acts as a way to introduce people to new brands they may end up loving.

Nuuly is a company that was founded with a core mission of sustainability. Their platform allows you to sell and buy gently-used name brand items, similar to a marketplace like Poshmark or Depop. Their rental service Nuuly Rent, however, offers a more short-term solution to expanding your closet. For $98 a month, subscribers get to choose six clothing options to be sent directly to their door. At the end of the month, you send back the clothes or opt to pay for the items you love at a discounted rate and keep them.

This service has a regular range that goes up size 18, as well as plus-sized offerings that go up to size 34. Because they pull from different brands like Anthropologie, Universal Standard, and Free People, you enter your own sizing while shopping for your new picks to find items that are currently available. This service doesn't do much to match you with suggestions, but it's a solid option if you prefer to explore and find trendy pieces on your own.

Gwynnie Bee is a clothing subscription service that started off by offering options for women in sizes 10 through 32. Now, they've expanded their sizing a bit to include straight sizes as well, but it's clear that most of their focus is still on brands that carry inclusive or plus-size ranges. Their model is similar to other clothing subscription boxes, but there isn't a set time limit on how long you can keep your items. Instead of sending your box back at the end of the month, you're allowed to hang on to pieces for as long as you want, so long as you still have an active subscription. Once you decide you want a new box, you send your items back or purchase what you'd like to keep.

Gwynnie Bee's pricing depends on the number of items you'd like to rent at a time, but it starts at $49 monthly for one item and goes up to $199 a month for ten. Because there are no set dates, the exact number of items you receive throughout your month is dependent on your activity — you can choose to maximize your variety and send back items after wearing them once or twice, or you can take them for a spin for months on end.

For a more curated, designer approach to clothing rental, there's Armoire. This service carries higher-end brands like Boden, Elie Tahari, and French Connection, and they match you with items they think you would like based on a style quiz. This approach slightly limits your options if you're looking to explore a variety of styles, but it can be incredibly helpful if you already know what kind of items you feel comfortable and confident in.

Armoire carries size options from 0-24, but, because of your responses on the style quiz, they cater the sizes of each piece they choose to fit your body instead of just aligning with the number on the tag. This service also comes with an included monthly appointment with a personal stylist over the phone, but the additional service and high-quality options for clothing come at a price. Without any deals or offers, plans range from $79 for four items delivered once a month to $249 for six-item shipments with unlimited ability to swap pieces.

Dia & Co is an online store that carries brands specifically in the 1X-5X size range, and their subscription box service proves that plus-size fashion is their focus. For this service, you take a style quiz that covers both your fashion taste and your individual body type, and you receive a monthly box of personalized recommendations based on those factors. For many plus-sized women, this is a game changer. Because brands tend to ignore the needs of their plus-sized customers and slack on finding fit models that accurately represent a larger size range, plus-sized items tend to just be sized-up versions of their straight-size stock. With Dia & Co's approach, you're able to find items that should actually fit your specific measurements.

This subscription is also one of the more cost-effective options on the market. Plans range from $18 a month for three items to $30 a month for seven, and they also offer one-time boxes if you're looking to test out their styling service without committing to a subscription.

Stitch Fix is one of the more popular clothing styling and subscription services, likely because they boast a collection of over 1,000 brands. They carry sizes XS-3X, and though there isn't much of a direct focus on providing customized selections to fit plus-sized customers, they do incorporate your individual sizing into the style quiz and allow you to test out styles instead of having to buy outright. 

With the help of the style quiz, you're matched with pieces that are catered to your personal taste and how you spend your time, but instead of acting as a short-term rental, there's more of an expectation to buy the pieces you enjoy. For $20, you're matched with a stylist and sent pieces that fit your profile, and your payment is credited towards any of the items you decide to keep. Once you receive your first box, you're able to continue working with a stylist or be allowed to shop your personalized recommendations individually.

Wantable, similar to Stitch Fix, focuses on more of a try-before-you-buy model than a direct rental service. For $20, you take a style quiz and are matched with seven items you would enjoy and wear according to your size and preferred style. You have the choice to either send them back or buy them outright, with the styling fee going towards your total cost. While prices per item vary, most are in the $50-$100 range. Sizes aren't divided by straight size and plus, but their offerings go up to 3X and your preferred fit is incorporated into your final selections.

With Wantable, you're also able to specifically note items you do or do not want to receive in your box with new updates daily. Additionally, they have four specific edits to allow you to explore more than just daily wear items — the style edit for day-to-day clothing, the active edit for workout gear and athleisure, the sleep and body edit for lingerie and lounge, and a specific men's active edit.

Stylogic is a clothing styling brand that's focused exclusively on plus-sized women. Their sizes range from 12 to 36, making them one of the more inclusive options on the market, and their boxes follow a similar style-then-buy model. After answering a few questions, you're matched with a stylist that decides on picks based on your personal taste, specific measurements, typical daily activities, and price range.

The brand charges the average $20 styling fee per box, applied to your purchase, and sends you a mix of five clothing and accessory items. You have seven days to try everything on, and then you ship back what you're not planning to purchase. One of the major benefits of this style service, along with the wide size range, is that each box comes complete as a cohesive look rather than a set of individual items. This way, you're left with both a ready-to-wear outfit and items you can incorporate into your existing wardrobe.

Fashion to Figure is a trendy, plus-sized-focused online clothing store. If you'd rather maximize your dollars and expand the number of items you can try, however, their Fashion to Figure Closet feature allows you to rent pieces until you move on to your next selection. Each month, you're allowed to choose a collection of three styles from their size 12-28 selection to borrow at a time. If you want to wear them once and swap them, you have unlimited chances to select new options to be delivered. Or you can hold on to them for as long as you maintain your subscription with the brand.

Subscription packages are $55 a month for clothing, but you can also add on the option for accessories for an additional fee. With this service, you also have the chance to outright buy the items you end up loving for a solid 50% off of their listed retail price.

Rent the Runway is one of the more well-known clothing rental services thanks to its large selection of designer pieces and glamorous formal options, but recently the brand has done more to lean into its casual clothing selection as well. Because they carry such a wide variety of brands from all over the world, they've put more effort into calculating fit for each of their customers. Users are able to rate the fit of the item they rented based on their experience and specific sizing, allowing others to more transparently understand how an item is designed. 

With that being said, offerings only range from size 0 to 22 on the site, and there is no definitive plus-sized section. If you do fall in that range, however, there are a wealth of options available for the price of $69 to $139 a month — much less expensive than the cost of buying some of these designer items outright. They've even recently upgraded the number of items subscribers can receive per month from four to five, eight to ten, and 12 to 15, respectively.