**Updated October 2017
For the past few months, I have tried out a clothing rental service called Le Tote. It’s one of those companies that mails you clothes in a box, but instead of asking you to buy the clothing, you just wear it as much as you want and send it back. I tire of clothing quickly, and I like to try out trends or bright patterns without giving them a permanent space in my closet, so Le Tote is pretty much genius if you ask me. I can wear funky pants to work or don a bright floral dress to a birthday party, and then send it back and get something new. I save my closet space for more traditional, long-lasting items like denim, cardigans, jackets, and shoes.
Clothing subscription services have become all the rage, and since having kids, I totally get it. I used to love shopping, but now there is no time to peruse sale racks or dance around in dressing rooms. I have tried StitchFix twice since becoming a mom and both times I was hugely disappointed by clothing that was not well made, too expensive, and not quite my style. I was told the solution was to give StitchFix “more info” on my style profile only to find that there were word count limits on the profile, and I was unable to truly explain to them my loathing of polyester. The next solution they suggested was to make a special Pinterest style board of clothing I like, and at this point, I figured I might as well go shopping if it was going to take so much work to get a box of clothing sent to my house. Oh, and StitchFix charges a $25 “styling fee” for every box they send. You can put the $25 toward your purchase, but if you don’t like anything in your box (which happened to me twice in a row) you either lose your money or spend it on an orange polyester shirt that you despise (I experienced both alternatives).
From Le Tote (L to R): Green cardigan + necklace // Green bomber jacket // Blue cocoon cardigan
So when I discovered LeTote in the past year, I was intrigued. I loved the idea of renting clothing for a flat monthly fee. Le Tote posts their actual inventory online, so you can pick what you want and have it sent to your house. I liked the thought of having control over what I received unlike with the other clothing services out there. However, as I began reading reviews of Le Tote online, I was tentative to try the company. I read many complaints from customers not receiving responses to their emails or being charged after they canceled their account. For over two months, I read online reviews of Le Tote and followed them on Instagram, trying to get a better grasp of the company. I discerned that if you want to get a hold of them quickly, it’s better to reach out via direct message on Instagram than send an email. It seemed to me that Le Tote was a hugely successful start-up (because hello, it’s the best concept ever!) that was struggling to keep up with its customer service demands (probably because of not being properly staffed). I finally decided I saw enough positive feedback mixed in with the bad (and could NOT find a comparable service anywhere), that I would give them a try. I found a code for half off my first two months and handed over my credit card information with a lot of excitement and a little trepidation.
PROS:
-I get to choose what I want to wear. Le Tote actually picks out your tote for you, but they send you an email/text reminders **48 hours (used to be 36 hours) before it will ship. You can look at what is in your tote and swap out items. Sometimes I just swap out 1-2 pieces; sometimes I swap out every single item. I think once I loved all four items they picked and made no changes.
-The inventory is decent. I read some people complaining that Le Tote didn’t actually have the clothing they wanted to wear in stock, but I have always been able to fill my tote with ease. Sure, they are sometimes out of stock (or out of my size) in a certain piece, but there are usually MANY other pieces available to choose from. This isn’t always the case for accessories though. I only did accessories for my first tote, but the inventory did seem low for jewelry.
-There are a variety of tote options. In the fall, right around the time I signed up, Le Tote added different tote levels. You can can now do: three articles of clothing with two accessories, four articles of clothing with NO accessories (the one I do), or a smaller package of two articles of clothing with one accessory. They also have a maternity option for $10 extra per month.
-Fast shipping. I was nervous about turnaround times for totes. If I couldn’t get 3-4 totes in a month it didn’t seem worth the money. I have heard if you live on the east coast sometimes there are shipping delays, but I have been pleasantly surprised by fast shipping in SoCal (Le Tote is headquartered up in San Fran). I think I have averaged about one tote per week. I usually try to wear everything in a 3-4 day period. If I return a tote directly to the post office (they come with pre-paid labels and bags to ship everything back), I usually receive a notification my next tote is ready the very next day (and sometimes that same evening). As soon as the old tote gets checked in at the post office, Le Tote starts packing your next one. The totes ship 2-3 day Priority Mail, and I usually have mine within three days. Only once did shipping seem delayed and it took about 5 days to get my tote.
-The brands are high quality and the clothes are clean. I have not received any items I would consider “cheap” and the clothes always smell clean. Not like your mom washed them with your favorite detergent clean, but like a sterile (no-scent-at-all) clean.
-Customer service has been good. Le Tote doesn’t email on weekends, but once I sent a message on a Saturday and they responded first thing Monday morning. One time I received an item that had an almost-unnoticeable grease or oil stain on it. I notified Le Tote and they added an extra item for free to my next tote. I have had eight totes so far (34 items total) and only received one damaged item.
-You can purchase items if you want. If you ever really like an item in your tote, you can keep it. If you don’t send it back in your return package, Le Tote just charges you for the item (at a discounted rate since it’s technically secondhand). Most of their price points are a little high for me, but I have kept one shirt so far. It was supposed to cost $24 dollars, but apparently I had some kind of credit on my account, and I was only charged $14 for it!
-The app is easy to use. You can see all the clothes they have in stock and you can “like” items to save them to your closet. They are supposed to give preferences to the items in your closet when putting together your totes.
CONS:
-Price. Le Tote’s prices just went up about $5 per month and they made this increase without telling their existing customers. This is poor service if you ask me. I didn’t notice the impact, because I was still in my discounted first two months, but I saw loyal customers complaining about it on Instagram. $65 per month is starting to get out of my price range for this service, even though I love it. At $50 per month, it would be a lot more feasible. And no matter what, you should warn loyal customers about an upcoming price increase.
– Overall, I really like the Le Tote interface, but one thing that drives me nuts is that the “liked” items in my closet aren’t easy to access when ordering a new tote. When I get the notification that my next tote is ready, I go in as quickly as I can to make sure I like everything and finalize the order (so it ships sooner). I usually want to swap out at least one or two items, but when you click to swap, it just gives you the whole category of clothing that matches the existing item. For example, if they picked a cardigan for you and you want to swap it out, you click “swap” and it will take you to all the cardigans they have in stock. You can switch to a different category and get pants, a shirt, a dress (etc.) instead, but they don’t list your favorite items (marked with a pink heart) at the top. You have to scroll through 50 shirts scanning for a pink heart. This is time-consuming, and I wish you could just click “my closet” when ordering and simply choose from the items you already took your time to curate. **Le Tote finally changed its user interface, so when you go to swap items in your tote, you choose directly from items you’ve already saved in your “closet.” I actually think the new interface is a little harder to use than the old one, but since I can now easily access the clothes in my closet, I’m happy with the change overall.
Overall, I give Le Tote 9/10 stars. For me, the price is the only drawback. I do like the idea of renting instead of buying, but I still need to make clothing purchases every now and then, and at $65 per month, Le Tote doesn’t leave much room in my budget for a new pair of shoes or a jacket. I would really like to see a price point below $50 for at least three items of clothing at a time. Right now, I have put my account on hold (because I need all maternity clothes now and I’m not sure I want to dish out even more money for their maternity option), but I’m sure I’ll reactivate my account soon, because I love the idea of a revolving, rented wardrobe.
