Why nonprofit matters here
Most rental companies are private equity-backed. They have shareholders to pay back. We don't.
Where the money actually goes
100% of rental profits get paid out once a year to charities on our Honor Roll - a short list of 501(c)(3)s our donors nominated. After we cover the basics (cleaning, shipping, storage), the rest goes to them.
2026's inaugural honoree is Street Angels MKE, a Milwaukee group that does outreach to people sleeping outside.
Profit goes to people
Housing, food, literacy work in Milwaukee. Not dividends.
No outside investors
No PE backing, no growth-at-all-costs pressure. Just us and the donors.
Open books
We post how much each piece earned and which charity it went to at year-end.
501(c)(3) approved
EIN 41-3469239. Donations are tax-deductible.
Where most gowns end up
A designer piece bought for one event usually gets worn two or three times, hangs in a closet for a decade, and ends up at Goodwill or in a trash bag. The fabric and the work that went into it just sit there.
When you donate a piece to us, it gets cleaned, photographed, and rented out. The same dress can show up at twenty weddings, fifteen galas, ten award nights. Same dress, twenty good nights for twenty different people, plus the rental income going to charity.
You'll know who wore your piece
When you donate, you can opt in to updates. We'll email you when your dress goes out, where it went, and how much it raised.
It's nicer than dropping a bag at a thrift store and never hearing about it again.
What an update looks like:
"Hi Sarah - your Zimmermann floral gown just came back from its fifth rental. It went to a downtown charity gala. Total raised since you donated it: $475, all going to literacy programs at year-end."
Same dress, next rental, another good night.
How the loop runs
Four steps. Same piece, repeating.
You donate
A piece comes in. We clean it, photograph it, list it.
Someone rents it
It ships out for a wedding, a gala, an interview. Comes back, gets cleaned, ships again.
Rental fees come in
After we cover the basics (cleaning, shipping, storage), the rest is profit.
It goes to charity
Year-end disbursement to whichever 501(c)(3) is on the Honor Roll that year.
What one rental keeps out of the world:
The waste angle
Fashion is one of the biggest polluting industries on the planet, and most of the impact comes from making new clothes that get worn a handful of times. A shared closet pushes back on that. The dress already exists; we just make sure it keeps getting used.
Renting from us costs you less than buying new, and the money you do spend goes to charity instead of a shareholder.
Ready to put a piece into the loop?
Donate a piece you don't wear, or rent one for the next event. Either way, the money ends up at a charity instead of a shareholder.