Armoire vs. RTR & Nuuly: What’s the Difference?

As clothing rental services continue to gain popularity, three standout companies—Armoire, Nuuly, and Rent the Runway (RTR)—offer unique approaches to fashion-on-demand. While all three of us provide convenient rental options and a sustainable alternative to fast fashion, we differ in key areas such as style selection and subscription options. This comparison, Armoire vs. RTR & Nuuly, breaks down each platform, helping you decide which best suits you.

But first, the common ground

All three services promote a more sustainable approach to fashion by encouraging clothing rental over purchasing, reducing textile waste, and extending the lifespan of garments. This helps customers refresh their wardrobes without contributing to overproduction and waste. That’s a win in our book.

Each company offers a monthly subscription and embraces the idea of a rotating wardrobe, where customers can swap out styles for new ones without cluttering their closets. This gives customers the opportunity to experiment with different styles and trends without long-term commitment. 

If members fall in love with a rented item, they have the option to buy it at a discounted price. This allows renters to gradually build their wardrobe with pieces they truly love. Each service allows customers to test out styles, fit, and brands in real life before committing to a purchase or deciding to return. Armoire goes a step further by giving members cash back each month to apply towards purchases.

Although they feature different brand selections, all three services provide access to premium and well-known labels at a fraction of the retail price. Nuuly is owned by URBN, the parent company of Anthropologie, Free People, and Urban Outfitters, so they predominantly offer overstocks of their in-house labels.

Each service includes free shipping and returns, as well as cleaning. All provide prepaid return packaging, so there’s no extra cost or effort to send items back.

Target Audiences: Armoire vs. RTR & Nuuly

Because each service caters to different audiences, there’s room for all three in the market. 

Armoire focuses on busy, professional women who want a curated, hassle-free wardrobe experience without spending time scrolling through endless options. The selection leans toward high-end, work-appropriate, and stylish casual pieces. Nuuly appeals more to younger, trend-driven shoppers who enjoy experimenting with fashion, including casual, vintage, and trendy pieces, while RTR appeals to women who prioritize designer fashion and want statement pieces for special occasions and events. Their selection includes a wide variety of gowns, cocktail dresses, and trendy pieces.

Subscription Models

Armoire offers flexible membership plans, including options for four, seven, or unlimited items per month. Members on any plan can rent from the full inventory, with personalized recommendations cutting scroll time. Free personal styling service is also available on every plan, which start at $89 per month.

Nuuly’s sole plan allows members to rent six items per month for $98 with no swaps—once you rent the six items, you have to return them before getting another set. The browsing experience is less curation, more self-selection; users scroll and sift to pick all of their own items. Rent the Runway offers subscription plans with 5 or 10 items per month. If you don’t want a subscription, RTR also allows one-time rentals—ideal for a wedding or gala. Their browsing experience is also full self-selection but styling advice is available. The lowest priced plan is $94 per month, but inventory is limited on this plan to styles with lower retail value. Subscribers pay $129 to rent five styles from the full closet, while the 10-style subscription is $164.

Clothing Selection & Brands: Armoire vs. RTR & Nuuly

Armoire features high-end, workwear-friendly brands like Diane von Furstenberg, Milly, Rag & Bone, and Vince. Most-rented brands include Boden, Lilla P, French Connection, Michael Stars, and Paige. The inventory is largely a mix of contemporary business casual, formal, and everyday styles that skews toward versatile, timeless pieces rather than fast trends.

Nuuly carries boho, vintage-inspired, and trendy styles from owned brands like BHLDN, Free People, and Anthropologie, which are geared toward youthful, street-style fashion. You’ll find graphic tees, cropped tops, and oversized sweaters, as well as festival-ready styles like flowy maxi dresses.Rent the Runway has an extensive collection of formalwear, gowns, and cocktail dresses and a wide range of bold, high-fashion, trend-focused items. You’ll find styles from designers like Proenza Schouler and Marchesa.

Workwear

When it comes to workwear, Armoire vs. RTR & Nuuly offer distinct selections that cater to different professional settings and style preferences. Armoire specializes in polished, office-ready attire for professional women, offering a mix of power suits, chic blouses, structured dresses, and versatile separates. Armoire’s algorithm-driven styling ensures that members choose from pieces suited to their personal style, making it an excellent option for busy professionals who want effortless, stylish rotation without constant browsing. Additionally, Armoire’s unlimited swaps on higher-tier plans allow members to keep their work wardrobe fresh throughout the month.

RTR also provides high-end workwear options, although its selection leans more toward statement pieces and fashion-forward designer styles rather than everyday business looks. RTR offers bold suiting, structured blazers, and modern business casual pieces. While RTR is a great choice for women who want to incorporate runway trends into their professional wardrobe, it requires more time spent browsing for the right pieces.

Nuuly, in contrast, has the least emphasis on workwear and is better suited for casual and creative workplaces. While it does offer blazers, flowy midi dresses, and stylish wide-leg pants, its pieces are generally more casual and relaxed compared to Armoire and RTR. Nuuly might work for women in creative industries, remote work settings, or workplaces with a more relaxed dress code, but it’s not the best option for those needing structured, executive-level workwear.

Values

All three companies are alternatives to fast fashion, however, approaches to sustainability vary. Armoire focuses on a long-term wardrobe rotation model, encouraging members to rent high-quality, versatile clothing instead of buying new items frequently. By offering a curated selection of durable, timeless styles rather than trend-driven pieces, Armoire helps reduce textile waste and unnecessary production. 

While RTR has helped shift consumer behavior away from one-time wear purchases, its high turnover of trendy items and dry cleaning dependency raise some sustainability concerns. Because Nuuly primarily rents its own in-house brands, it still supports a fast-fashion business model, producing high volumes of clothing that eventually enter the waste stream. While all three companies contribute to reducing clothing waste and consumer overconsumption, Armoire’s focus on curated, long-term wardrobe rotation and RTR’s extension of designer garment life make them more sustainability-focused than Nuuly, which remains tied to the fast-fashion cycle despite its rental model.

However, Nuuly, like Armoire, has an upcycling initiative to enhance their sustainability efforts. The Re_Nuuly program aims to decrease clothing waste and increase garment longevity. Armoire’s upcycling program repurposes garments worn out or damaged during the rental process, furthering a commitment to sustainability while providing one-of-a-kind pieces for customers at no extra cost. 

Armoire stands out for its explicit commitment to featuring women-owned brands and designers of color, aligning with its mission to provide an inclusive and empowering fashion experience. Armoire features women-owned brands and designers from diverse backgrounds in its curated collections, aiming to empower underrepresented voices in the fashion industry. Over at RTR and Nuuly, efforts to support designers of color appear less pronounced. Specific initiatives or partnerships focusing exclusively on underrepresented designers are not evident in available information.

Refer-a-Friend Perks

Friends don’t let friends pay full price for being fabulous. Beyond curated wardrobes and sustainable fashion, Armoire, Nuuly, and Rent the Runway all have referral programs. With Armoire, when you refer a friend using your personal code, you earn a $100 in subscription credit, and your friend enjoys 50% off her first month on any plan. That’s at least $44.50 saved since plans start at $89. Nuuly keeps it simple: your friend gets $30 off their first month, and you receive $10 off a month’s subscription, with a limit of 12 referrals per year. Meanwhile, Rent the Runway offers your referred friend 40% off their first month, which works out to $37.60 saved on their cheapest plan ($94 for access to a limited inventory). And for you, RTR rewards you with an extra item in your next shipment .

Your friends can enter the wardrobe rental world at the lowest cost with Armoire—just $44.50 with your referral, less than the price of a nice dinner out. Nuuly comes in at $68, while Rent the Runway lands at $56.40 for its entry plan. There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer to Armoire. When it comes to sharing clothes with the women we love, the more the merrier.

The Bottom Line: Armoire vs. RTR & Nuuly

Choose Armoire if you want curated, high-quality workwear on rotation and stylish everyday pieces with flexibility and frequent swaps. Choose Nuuly if you love trendy, boho, and vintage-inspired pieces. Choose Rent the Runway if you want access to a wide variety of formalwear and statement fashion for events, or if you want access to specific high-end designer items.