Can Nuuly be Anthropologie Harm Reduction?

Does Nuuly work for plus sizes? And is renting clothes worth it? A very thorough review.

I have several friends who always look extremely cute. And for the past few years, whenever I’d see them and compliment an outfit, the answer would be: “It’s a Nuuly!” If that sounds like some kind of cult-speak to you, A. You’re not wrong and B. Allow me to explain: Nuuly is a clothing rental company. You pay a monthly subscription fee, choose six items to rent from their online shop, and a box shows up a few days later. You wear those clothes for a month, and then send them back and choose your next box. You don’t even have to wash them! And if you love something, there is, of course, the option to buy it at a deep discount.

I spent a few years admiring my friends’ Nuuly outfits before I tried it out myself, mostly because the only Nuuly users I knew were straight-sized and I was pretty convinced it would be a bust for plus sizes. But last May, I decided to try it out. And now, after ten months of Nuuly-ing, I feel qualified to give you an honest review. This is not sponsored content. I have been paying the $98 monthly subscription fee myself every month. I also paid for the nine items I’ve bought from my Nuuly boxes (yes we’ll talk about those!). I will use affiliate links when I link specific items in this piece. And I have a referral link for you, so you can try one month of Nuuly at $30 off (and if you do, I get a $10 credit). But they give those to literally every member.

And I’m not convinced you should use that link or buy any of these things! So let’s discuss.

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What I Love About Nuuly

• It’s easy to use. Nuuly ships fast and they send your clothes in reusable zipper bags with return labels included. As someone who regularly deals in annoying online returns (where you have to print a label, find the packing tape, etc, etc), I appreciate how seamless their process is.

• I do less anxiety shopping. Something about me is that whenever I have an upcoming work event, wedding, or vacation, I’m going to panic buy a bunch of things that may or may not fit, in an effort to feel calm and prepared and put together. This almost always fails, results in a lot of annoying returns, or in my keeping clothes I don’t really want or need. Now I make a point to look at my calendar when I’m picking my Nuuly each month and choose clothes that might work for any upcoming book events, vacations, or other situations that I know tend to activate my add to cart mode.

• I’m realizing I don’t need to own everything. When I rented this amazing fur coat in January, most people who heard it was a rental said something like, “But you need to buy it!” But the thing is… I do not? My life doesn’t involve that many occasions when a fake fur (but not terribly warm!) coat is the move. I don’t want to have to store it. I don’t want to feel guilty that I never wear it. It was great to have for a few weeks and if I realize I have need of it again next winter, I can always rent it again. Or I can rent some other absurd coat that speaks to my heart then.

• It’s helping me divest (a little) from Anthropologie. Which is an objectively terrible company but one I’ve found hard to release because they do make cute plus size dresses and fun coats and other “statement” type items. (Many of which don’t end up fitting well, or I don’t actually need to own, see previous bullet points!!) Enter Nuuly, which stocks tons of Anthropologie. Which yes, still benefits Anthropologie (Nuuly buys their clothes). But it nevertheless feels much better to rent, not buy, the Anthropologie I wear these days. (And when I do buy a piece, I’m buying it secondhand from Nuuly, not directly from Anthro.) Yes this is baby steps of divestment, not gold standard divestment. Something is better than nothing.

Post-Publication Note: Several readers alerted me post-publication that Nuuly is, in fact, owned by URBN, the same (problematic!) parent company that owns Anthropologie. This was a sloppy mistake on my part, and I apologize! It clearly can’t be an effective Anthropologie divestment strategy if we’re giving money to the same corporation.

However, there is a larger conversation to be had about whether Anthropologie makes sense for fat folks who depend on it as one of our few reliable sources of plus size clothing. And I think it’s also still valuable to consider whether renting clothes can help us consume less overall. (Your mileage will vary on those questions and as always, I’m not here to prescribe a decision for you! I hope this Nuuly review is still useful as you evaluate your own relationship with consumerism. —VSS

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What I Don’t Love About Nuuly

Very good jeans, but did I need to buy them? (Rest of outfit.)

• I’ve never had a perfect haul. $98 gets you six clothing items per month; I usually only end up wearing three or four, max. Usually at least one won’t even zip up or is cartoonishly large. And this makes sense because Nuuly rents clothes and most clothes don’t fit! They aren’t solving for the systemic anti-fatness in fashion; they aren’t even designing the clothes they rent. They are buying clothing from major retailers, meaning they are sending me the same badly fitting clothes I used to buy directly and end up having to return. The upside is, I’m putting less of those purchases on my credit card. The downside is, I’m still paying to rent clothes I can’t use.

• The plus size section is… basically Anthropologie. At least half of every box I rent is Anthropologie, or Anthropologie house brands like Maeve and Pilcro. I have discovered a few other plus brands (like Good American jeans and Rachel Antonoff), but I can see my straight-size friends are shopping a much wider section of brands. If you don’t want to shop Anthro at all and you wear plus sizes: Skip Nuuly.

• “Plus size” means 3X, most of the time. When I filter by size, I’m currently seeing 98 options offered up to a size 40 or 5X. But of course, some 5X fit like a 3X. And as a rental company, it’s impossible for Nuuly to keep every size in stock all the time. You can save items to a virtual closet and keep tabs on when they come back in; but I’ve definitely had months where finding six items I wanted to rent has felt tricky due to size and stock limitations.

• I’ve still made some bad buys. I’d like to think not buying the fake fur coat in January was a turning point for me… but most months, I do wind up buying something from my box. And of the nine items I’ve bought so far… I’d say four are pieces I’m confident I’ll still be wearing a few months and/or a year from now. The others haven’t held up the way I hoped or involved some degree of compromise. (I love the fit of the Good American jeans I bought but they have a ripped knee that is not my style — I should have returned these and bought a regular pair in the same cut.)

It’s possible that this last bullet point isn’t Nuuly’s fault so much as proof that if you struggle with overconsumption, you’re going to struggle in just about any setting. One friend mentioned that trying Nuuly made her even more manic to shop, because the chance to get new-to-her clothes each month kept her in a “I need new clothes” mindset. That said, I do think renting clothes can be a helpful tool for increasing mindfulness about clothing purchases. Having the chance to wear something multiple times often does eliminate the urge to own it, because what might fit okay in the first try-on ends up bunching or itching or otherwise not living up to its potential. It would be nice if Nuuly offered tiered pricing though — in months when I only see 3 things I want to try, it seems silly to pay for six.

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My Nuuly Favorites

I didn’t purchase all of these, but here’s what I’ve most enjoyed renting (and I’ll note when I did end up buying it and how that worked out!).

1. The Bennet Buttondown.

An Anthro shirt that comes in so many good colors. I love it over leggings, yoga pants or bike shorts, with either just two, or no buttons buttoned. Would also be great over a swimsuit. I didn’t wear it much in cold weather but have already pulled it back out for spring. (Rest of outfit linked here.)

2. Vine Half-Zip Pullover

A non-Anthro purchase! Just a very good, well-made sweatshirt. (And it’s WARM, so I can often wear it and skip a coat, always a fat girl’s dream!) (Rest of outfit.)

3. Pop Color Cashmere Sweater

(From a brand called Nouveax.) I’m loving this neon pink sweater in my current Nuuly haul — it fits well and the color is gorgeous. But I’m not going to buy it. Not because it’s not great! But because this feels precisely like the kind of “fun for now” item that I’m better off renting than owning. Plus I don’t want the stress of washing cashmere correctly! (Outfit details.)

4. Robi Jumpsuit

But here’s what I am tempted to buy this month: A very comfy wrap-top jumpsuit that fits me pretty perfectly and caused one of my friends to actually scream when she saw me in it last weekend. It checks all my jumpsuit requirements: Easy on/off, bra-compatible, jogger-style legs. Cute with sneakers, but could dress up too. It retails for $118 but Nuuly will sell it to me used for $93.

Do I need it? You tell me:

OK Nuuly fans! I know there are many of you here. Can’t wait to hear what you think I got right or wrong about the experience, plus how it’s impacted your own relationship with shopping?

And if you’re not a Nuuly-head, I’d still love to hear how you approach clothes shopping these days. Are you a believer in retail therapy? Or also trying to divest from certain brands?

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A Note About Affiliate Links:

I include affiliate links in these posts because we’re often asked where we got something, and finding/adding all those links is labor—so using links that also earn Burnt Toast a small commission feels like a fair trade. (This doesn’t raise the price for you at all.) But I remain committed to keeping Burnt Toast and ad- and sponsor-free space, so you’re only ever going to see clothes that I’ve purchased (or stole from my mom). I don’t accept free merchandise from brands and I don’t do sponsored content.

If you ever want to track down something else you’ve seen me wear, it’s likely saved in the Burnt Toast LTK Shop or on the Burnt Toast ShopMy page.