An unsponsored review of a service that sends you clothing for rent
I got sucked in by an Instagram ad recently…well, by like 15 Instagram ads–one of those situations where you click on one once and then the company knows they’re onto you. And that’s how my subscription to Le Tote was born.
Le Tote is a service that, for $60 a month, sends you a box with 5 rental clothing items. When you want another box you return the first one, and 5 more things come your way–old school Netflix style.
How it works: On the website, you enter all your sizes, then start picking the items you like. Le Tote gets to work on a box for you, based off of your style. You can either let the robots pick your 5 items for you (3 clothing items, 2 accessories) or you can go in and “swap” items out for exactly what you want. Seeing as I am very picky, I have yet to let the robots do the job for me.
Items arrive in a cute box! Fun mail is always good! Items are clean–professionally cleaned in between wearers, in fact. You can choose to purchase $5 insurance so that if you damage items, you don’t get charged (I’ve already spilled on two things…so this seems like a good idea).
So far I’ve received cute work shirts, fun statement pieces that there is no way I would ever allow myself to buy (see: suspender overalls) and accessories. I think this service is great for: anyone who (*raises hand*) realistically spends over $60 on clothing a month (I know, on a grad school stipend this is bad..), anyone who loves that new-clothes feeling, and anyone who suddenly finds themselves wearing a teaching or business casual wardrobe 5 days a week.
This shirt would also work with dress pants. The stretchy skirt (below) was perfect for summer.
The part where two items in the box are accessories is not my favorite. I’m not really an accessory person. But I’ve tried some cool earrings as a result! Also, they have a lot of purses, which is really useful because I’m going to a wedding next month and I never have the right purse for that.
If you like what they sent you, you can keep it, and they’ll just bill you for it, Stitch Fix-style. So far I have abstained. If I can keep it that way, for $65 a month, I am rocking at least 10 new items (I got 2 boxes last month, I might try to see if I can get 3 in a month this time).
Final verdict: If you suddenly find yourself teaching 5 days a week (summer school life!) or have a spree of conferences or interviews coming up, Le Tote would be a great way to have a good rotation of business clothes on hand. I’ll do another round up of pics if it’s useful at the 4-day seminar I’m attending next month. Oh yeah, also, if you wanna try Le Tote and get your first box free, if you use this link I get a lil’ credit.
PhD in Clothes 