Rent the Runway eye 2021 IPO since it enters resale market

Fashion rental platform Hire the Runway is getting into the fast-growing resale industry and is reportedly likely to float later this year in what is definitely the latest found in an extended string of style IPOs to take place during the pandemic.

The New York-based web business is in talks with banks in preparation for a public launch that could happen as early as this year, The Business of Trend reports, citing persons familiar with the problem.

Those talks remain in their first stages and could even now result in nothing, the sources said.

It is unclear how big a valuation the business could be looking for in the IPO, but this past year it had been valued at 750 million us dollars - below its previous valuation of just one 1 billion us dollars, according to Bloomberg Media.

The business was hit hard by the pandemic this past year as going-out events were cancelled, forcing it to announce redundancies and close its entire physical store estate.

The digitally-indigenous retailer operated five places across New York, Chicago, LA, SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA and Washington DC. It said it could return its focus to its web business and increase its quantity of drop-off spots across the country.

Previous month, CEO and co-founder Jennifer Hyman told the New York Occasions that customers were returning to the company in large numbers as markets started out to reopen pursuing lockdowns.

Since a pandemic lower in May 2020, there was a 92 percent upsurge in active clients, with the amount of customers on the right track to outpace 2019 amounts by the finish of the year, Hyman said.

If the general public offering does just do it, it will be the most recent in a spate of fashion IPOs taking place since the outbreak of the pandemic, regardless of the industry all together being hit hard through the crisis.

Those companies include resale platforms Poshmark and ThredUp, and iconic boot maker Dr Martens and British e-commerce huge The Hut Group.

Rent the Runway measures into resale
In another interesting development, Rent the Runway announced Wednesday programs to get into the fast-growing resale industry, according to CNBC, a move that would view it competing with famous brands Poshmark, ThredUp and The RealReal.

The second-hand fashion market has boomed recently, influenced by increasing consumer awareness over the harm the style industry - and particularly fast-fashion - is having on the surroundings.

The industry is likely to hit 64 billion dollars within the next five years and overtake the fast-fashion industry by 2029, according to a written report published this past year by ThredUp.