Seven home games in Bryant-Denny Stadium this season, spring break, multiple Greek life events and countless campus events leave students at The University of Alabama (UA) with one question: What to wear?
On social media, where outfits are posted and permanent, clothing can have its “one and done” moment. There can be pressure to have a fresh outfit for every post. Director of fashion marketing at Quad Marketplace Emma Gregory said that on average, she ends up renting around 10 clothing items a month. She recalled that in just a single weekend she needed three formal gowns and a cocktail dress.
This phenomenon of temporarily renting clothes has expanded beyond just UA’s campus. For those who are post-graduation, date parties turn into weddings, sorority functions into bachelorette trips, spring break becomes a PTO trip, and campus events are the yearly corporate holiday party. Clothing rental platforms like Rent the Runway, FashionPass, Nuuly and Pickle are leveraging social media and its tendency to make clothes a one-off wear.
There are many consistent trends that center around showcasing clothes. The Instagram #OOTD (outfit of the day) has 466 million posts as of February 2026. On TikTok, #fitcheck has 9.6 million videos as of February 2026. Those statistics only capture permanent posts including these specific hashtags. There are many more mentions in stories that disappear after 24 hours. Once an outfit is posted, the original user may hesitate to wear it again, but rental allows that piece to be seen again and styled by someone new.
Instead of letting items fall to the back of the closet to collect dust, Pickle created a solution. “Similar to how cars and homes can be underutilized, and now Uber and Airbnb are circulating them, we wanted to do something similar for the items in your closet,” described Julia O’Mara the COO and founder of Pickle, a peer-to-peer, non-subscription based rental service. Renting puts these dusted off and underutilized pieces back in use. Clothing renting is a multifaceted solution to fashion overconsumption: it’s convenient, cost-friendly and eco-conscious.
Closet accounts are common at UA where girls create an Instagram account and upload different items from their own collection to rent out. Quad Marketplace, a clothing rental company in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, serves as the “background dashboard for girls who have big closet accounts,” Gregory said. Quad’s employees do their UPS trips and handle all their rentals. Quad is convenient because it has same-day pickup, try-ons available and more than 30 different closets available for rent. Quad Marketplace makes the process seamless for both sides: sellers drop off their clothes and watch the money hit their Venmo as rentals roll in, while customers can pick up an item, wear it once and return it just days later.
Another clothing rental option at UA that began as any other Instagram closet account in December 2023, has developed into Ellison’s Closet LLC, a rental store front with employees working six days a week. Owner Ellison Harris, a junior at The University of Alabama, recognizes that since her customers might only wear an item one time, cost can be a huge factor in deciding to rent instead of purchase. “Many items in my store are worth $800 to $900, but you can go in my store to rent for $80. I think that’s huge with my target customer base,” Harris said. “Everyone I rent to is in college and high school; it’s not like anyone’s working a full-time job yet.” What attracts her college-aged customer base is that they can “spend less on more,” Harris explained. What college student doesn’t enjoy more bang for their buck?
While smaller storefronts profit from local demand, platforms like Pickle take a different, larger-scale approach, focusing on expanding nationally through partnerships and strategic marketing. Compared to smaller rental businesses, Pickle has a broader impact when it comes to sustainability. “Circulatory and sustainability are an inherently amazing extra benefit,” O’Mara said. “Rental is amazing because it gives you a much better alternative to fast fashion with a similar price point, but the quality is so much higher.” Renting clothing items can reduce consumption and the pollution fast fashion produces. Harris agreed, putting it simply, “It’s like recycling in a way.” Just swap the blue recycling bin for the racks in your closet.
Pickle showcases the benefits sellers can get from investing in trendy pieces. Describing the mindset of some of her users O’Mara said, “I actually want to invest in this trend, I’m really interested in the leopard print happening for winter, and I’m making a return on this investment by lending out my pieces.” Pickle also utilizes popular influencers’ closets like Remi Bader, Acquired Style, and Hannah Lizzy to showcase what’s most popular and stylish. “We are able to leverage our community as the trendsetters, the people that are showcasing these are the coolest pieces you want to be wearing right now,” O’Mara said. Leveraging social media influencers and their large following to set trends and then rent the trendy item allows Pickle to hit those influencer fanbases.
Renting has many benefits, and it’s a solution to an even bigger unspoken rule: once something is worn and posted, it has had its moment and can’t be reworn. Social media has changed clothing from a practical necessity into a permanent statement. The trend cycle is ever evolving, making certain pieces a ticking time bomb. “We know how fast the trend cycles change. Something is really in one week, and the next week a new brand or style is trending,” O’Mara described. Social media has created a revolving door of trends and pieces going in and out. The constant circulation of clothing items on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest constantly reshapes what’s on trend.
Social media users are susceptible to critique from the public every time they post. There’s pressure to perform and a sense of urgency to be on top of clothing trends. Influencer and Pickle user Halley Kate said, “There’s a pressure to have the best outfits on brand trips, and if you don’t look good, people are going to screenshot your photos and post about it.” Kate is not sponsored by Pickle but said, “I don’t want to be on Revolve every time I go on a trip ordering a whole new wardrobe” and explained how Pickle “changed the game” for her. The pressure of her public presence has led her to constantly elevate, update and grow her closet. Although Kate is on a larger public scale than the average social media user, with over 1.8 million combined followers, the pressure can remain the same for the average user as well.
The rental industry is driven by social media and the permanency of everything that is worn and posted. Looking forward, Future Market Insights estimates that “the rental market is valued at around $2.6 billion and projected to top $6 billion over the next 10 years.” Renting out clothing provides a savings-friendly, sustainable and savvy solution to staying on top of fashion trends. As time goes on and calendars continue to fill, the question of “What to wear?” isn’t going anywhere. In a culture where outfits are documented and rarely repeated, ownership is no longer the only answer.
