The best entrepreneurs are their own customers. Jennifer Fleiss, alongside her co-founder, turned this belief into a revolutionary business model. As a woman in the fashion world, Jennifer felt the pressure to frequently wear new outfits, but she knew that getting dressed shouldn’t mean accumulating more. Together, they created Rent the Runway—a shared closet built on the idea of access, not ownership.
That personal connection fueled Rent the Runway's rise to prominence, giving it the unique edge of being both a product of necessity and a solution that resonated with millions. The “Closet in the Cloud” became the world’s largest and most innovative shared designer closet, built not just to rent clothes but to transform the entire experience of how we think about what we wear.
Through years of strategic planning, fundraising, and building partnerships, Rent the Runway grew from an idea into a category-defining brand. By staying relentlessly focused on the real needs of her customers and scaling the business with their insights at the forefront, she crafted a brand that is as much about empowering women as it is about innovating in fashion. Today, Rent the Runway continues to disrupt the trillion-dollar fashion industry.
