“In New York a lot of the people listing stuff are of a certain age and size,” she says, adding it could be “harder” for people who wear larger sizes to find items. Pickle tells WIRED they’re working to address this issue by partnering with “creators, influencers, and tastemakers across a wider range of body types and aesthetics.”
Erickson’s own wedding is coming up, and she’s considering renting her bridal accessories, primarily in an effort to make environmentally conscious choices. “When I buy something new it’s very considered and I’ve wanted it for a long time, so I use rentals for more of the fun items or one-off use cases,” she says. “I definitely like the kind of circular fashion aspect of it.” She says she hasn’t encountered any negative stigma surrounding her choice to rent instead of buy, which she attributes to the popularity of non-peer-to-peer rental platforms like Rent the Runway.
The financial burden of attending weddings is also what drew fellow Brooklyn resident Jane Kim, 35, to Pickle. “I don’t want to have to buy another sand colored dress,” says Kim, who has been a bridesmaid at multiple friends’ weddings. “I’ve already spent $600 on beige sand dresses.” She rents out her own clothes as well, and makes around $200 a month on the platform.
While Pickle’s selection heavily features high-fashion, the platform welcomes any in-demand item, regardless of its price point or brand, including low-cost pieces from brands like Urban Outfitters and Edikted. The highest earning “lenders”—users who list their items for rent—earned over $3,000 monthly in 2024. Pickle takes a 20 percent cut of each transaction.
Pickle plans to expand its scope of inventory, first to men’s clothing, and eventually beyond the clothing and accessory space.
Yoodlize, a Utah-based app that operates near three college campuses, allows users to rent party supplies (bounce houses, tables and chairs), tools (tile cutters, really tall ladders), electronics (cameras, PA systems, karaoke machines), and outdoor sporting equipment like paddleboards.
“We do get a pretty wide age distribution, but we feel like we’re building this for the Gen X, Gen Z, Millennials,” says Jason Fairbourne, Yoodlize’s CEO and founder. “Our biggest demographic are still in college or in high school at this moment. So we’re trying to build for the future.”
The average rental transaction Yoodlize is $50, and its top users make $10,000 to $15,000 a year. The delivery mechanism is determined by the buyer and seller on a case-by-case basis. Yoodlize tacks a 10 percent fee on both the buyer and seller side of the transaction.
By reducing the demand for products that spend most of their lives taking up space, the peer-to-peer rental model appeals to both environmental and economic concerns. “Why does every house have a lawnmower? Why does everybody own this $600 machine that you rarely use?” Fairbourne says.
Similar platforms include BabyQuip, catered to baby items, KitSplit, which specializes in electronics, and Fat Llama, where you can rent anything from construction machinery to your wedding’s selfie station backdrop.
Both Yoodlize and Pickle hope to build a robust nationwide user base, and want to shift cultural norms around consumption, so even those without tight budgets feel inclined to rent rather than buy.
“Sometimes it is kind of a pain,” Kim says. Once, a courier rang her door bell at 1am to return an item she rented out through Pickle, when the app estimated that it would be returned by 8 pm. “There have been times where I’m like, this isn’t worth 40 bucks that I’m making.” But some environmentally conscious users might tolerate inconvenience if it means combatting overconsumption: “It’s nice that it makes me feel less guilty about the things I already own,” says Kim.
