Rent the Runway (RENT) Q2 Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call: Record Revenue and Margin Expansion

Rent the Runway (NASDAQ: RENT) reported record fiscal Q2 2026 revenue and substantial margin expansion, while ending active subscribers declined. The company reaffirmed its full-year revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA guidance and announced a CEO transition.

Key Takeaways

• Net revenue reached a company record of $97.7 million, rising 20.8% year over year and 8.7% sequentially.
• Gross margin expanded 609 basis points to 36.1%, supported by lower rental product costs relative to revenue and fulfillment leverage.
• Adjusted EBITDA increased to $12.6 million, or 12.9% of revenue, from $3.6 million, or 4.4%, a year earlier.
• Ending active subscribers declined 3.8% year over year to 140,826, reflecting higher pause activity and fewer customer acquisitions following reduced promotional activity.
• Management reiterated double-digit revenue growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 4% to 7% for fiscal 2026.
• Paige Thomas will become CEO, President and a Board member effective September 14. Interim CEO Teri Bariquit will become Non-Executive Chair.

Core Financial Data

Business and Operating Performance

Revenue growth benefited from subscription price increases introduced on August 1, 2025, higher add-on bookings and stronger resale activity. Lower reserve revenue partially offset rental revenue growth.

Product and fulfillment costs provided meaningful operating leverage. Rental product depreciation and revenue-share costs decreased by 240 basis points as a percentage of revenue, while fulfillment expenses declined by 370 basis points. The company also maintained year-over-year investment levels in key technology and marketing initiatives while reducing G&A expenses.

Rent the Runway is concentrating resources on rental and resale. It paused its marketplace initiative and on-site advertising and monetization, and it is not pursuing new B2B dry-cleaning partners. Existing B2B partners will continue to be served.

The company expanded selected merchandise categories and added brands including La Ligne and Jenni Kayne. Beach cover-ups grew from 12 to 25 brand partners, with the category expanding 75% year over year.

Digital discovery initiatives included outfit generation, avatars and virtual try-ons. Outfit generation recorded 35% app engagement. During the pilot, customers with access to the feature added items to their bags 12% more often, while 77% opened another item within the recommended look.

The company secured a $10 million term loan and announced plans for a $15 million rights offering, backstopped by the investor group that led its 2025 refinancing. Management said the additional capital would support liquidity and operating plans.

Management Guidance

Management increased planned rental product investment to support fall events and new product launches. The company also expects resale revenue and reserve orders to grow during the second half, with reserve supported by additional inventory investment.

Risks and Watch Items

• Ending active subscribers declined as customer pause rates increased and subscriber acquisition fell following reduced promotional activity.
• Fiscal Q3 revenue growth is expected to slow as the company laps the prior-year subscription price increase.
• Management expects a negative fiscal Q3 adjusted EBITDA margin due primarily to seasonal subscription pauses and higher costs from receiving more revenue-share inventory.
• Transportation and warehouse processing costs increased, partially offsetting fulfillment leverage from higher revenue per order.
• The company raised its rental product investment plan, increasing capital allocated to inventory relative to its previous guidance.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Complete Earnings Call Transcript

Management Remarks

Operator

Welcome to Rent the Runway's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. As a reminder, this call was recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to Rent the Runway's Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, Cara Schembri. Thank you, Cara. You may begin.

Cara Schembri

Hello, everyone, and thanks for dialing in today.

We would like to remind you that this call will include forward-looking statements. These statements include guidance and underlying assumptions for the third fiscal quarter of 2026 and the fiscal year 2026, and statements regarding our business strategies and initiatives, inventory plans, execution and progress against our goals, and leadership transition. These statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions are detailed in today's press release and our Form 10-Q. We have no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information except as required by law.

During this call, we will also reference certain non-GAAP financial information. The presentation of this non-GAAP financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures can be found in our press release and in our SEC filings.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Teri Bariquit, our Interim CEO.

Teri Bariquit

Thank you, Cara, and thank you all for joining today. Before we turn to the quarter, I want to share an important update on our leadership. This morning, we announced that Paige Thomas has been appointed as Rent the Runway's Chief Executive Officer, President and a Member of our Board of Directors effective September 14.

Paige brings 30 years of retail leadership experience with a track record of driving growth at premium and off-price brands alike. She joined Rent the Runway in June of 2026 as our Chief Commercial Officer, after serving as Chief Merchant and Product Innovation Officer at Signet Jewelers and as President and CEO of Saks OFF 5TH Avenue. Earlier, she spent more than a decade at Nordstrom, including 5 years leading Nordstrom Rack.

The bar we set for this role was high and it was specific, someone who understands the premium customer and fashion brands she loves, someone who has operated at scale, and someone who will lead and accelerate the strategy this team is already executing. That is Paige.

With Paige stepping in as our permanent CEO, I will move into the role of Non-Executive Chair of our Board also effective September 14. Paige and I will work closely together as we transition into our new roles, ensuring the strategy and momentum we've built continues.

I also want to thank Dhiren Fonseca for his service as Executive Chairman through this period of transition. He's been a steady partner to me and to the Board, and the company is better for it.

Now to the business. Through all of this change, our foundation holds. It starts with the customer at the center and the core rental business she comes to us for. Over the past few months, we've listened to her feedback, analyzed the data and evaluated how we work. As a result, we've refined how we serve her and we're clearer than ever on our strategy.

Rent the Runway is a premium fashion service platform. We exist to give her access to premium fashion, whether she is renting or buying, guided by styling intelligence that helps her find and wear what fits her life. And we give brands and partners exposure to highly-valued, highly-engaged customers.

Our strategy is supported by 3 operating objectives: total customer growth, profit expansion and operational excellence.

First, total customer growth is built on being a fashion authority and delivering an experience she trusts. In practice, that means the best merchandise offer, from everyday workwear to the aspirational brands she asks for by name, realized through strong brand partnerships. And it means an even more seamless experience, availability, discovery and access to product on her terms. She subscribes to expand her closet for everyday wear; she reserves for the moments that matter most in her life; and increasingly, she wants to buy from us. She experiences all of it as one relationship with one company, and we are building the business to match.

Second, margin expansion is about bringing more discipline to how we drive profitable revenue. That includes how we use pricing and promotions and how we manage inventory to turn faster and bring the greatest return on our largest investment: the product itself.

Third, operational excellence is about disciplined execution, delivering the plan we set and the promise she is paying us for. This is what separates the retailers that last from the ones that do not. It is the garment arriving clean, on time and in the condition she expects every single time across the hundreds of thousands of items moving through our operations. We hold ourselves to that standard on every order.

Now to the quarter. Our customers' feedback has been consistent, and we aim to always deliver on the promise she comes to us for: the right merchandise, easy to find, in stock when she needs it and in a condition she expects. So we are concentrating our resources toward improving our execution on rental and selling. That focus means we have paused select pilots that do not directly serve those priorities today.

First, we paused marketplace, and we believe that it can be meaningful in our future once the experience is fully integrated. We paused on-site advertising and monetization to prioritize the premium experience. And we are not pursuing new B2B dry cleaning partners, though we will continue to serve the ones we have. These are choices about focus and sequencing. And by concentrating our resources, we expect to improve execution and results.

For the second quarter, we delivered $98 million in revenue, ahead of the range we communicated in June. We also delivered meaningful margin improvement as we focused on operational efficiencies and alternative inventory models. Dave will take you through the financials in more detail shortly.

Total customer growth depends on fashion authority, brand trust and a seamless customer experience. To strengthen our fashion authority in the quarter, we introduced new brands and went deeper into the categories she requests most. To deliver a relevant summer offer, for example, we expanded beach cover-ups from 12 brand partners to 25, growing the category 75% over last year. She continues to respond to newness, with recent additions like La Ligne, Jenni Kayne, alongside refreshed prints from Marimekko, all delivering above-average utilization.

Looking to fall, she will experience a diverse assortment, including new brands and new collaborations weighted more heavily than last year toward the brands and categories she requests most, whether she's heading into the office, working from home or getting ready for a fall wedding.

She has told us how much the reserve experience matters. It's where she comes to us for the key moments in her life. It carries the highest satisfaction scores. And we are investing in it, including category expansion. We will share more on those results at the next call. The goal is simple: more of what she wants with even more newness throughout the season.

At the start of 2026, we said we would deliver features to improve her discovery experience, and we have been delivering. In May, we piloted outfits generation. And by the end of June, it was live for every customer. She no longer has to imagine what to wear together; we show her the complete look. Engagement with this feature on our app is running at 35%, ahead of our expectations. And it is changing how she engages with us. During the pilot, customers with the outfit experience added to their bags 12% more often than those without it, and 77% of the time she opened another item within the look.

In August, we rolled out avatars within the outfit experience so that she can see recommended looks on a range of figures. And we began piloting virtual try-ons so that she can see how a specific item will look before she rents or buys. Over the past 5 months, we've launched personalized carousels, updated imagery, outfits generation and virtual try-ons. Together, they represent a real shift in how she discovers product. She can find an item, picture herself in it and see the whole look together.

Looking forward, we are building our 2027 plan now guided by transformation and focus. We have more clarity than ever before about our customer, the services and experiences she wants, and the value that we offer to both her and to our brand partners. We have a deep conviction that there is meaningful opportunity to grow revenue and profit by deepening our relationship with the customer we already have, by growing new customers and through disciplined execution.

As a reminder, last fall, we recapitalized the business in a transaction led by STORY3 Capital Partners, Nexus Capital Management and Aranda Principal Strategies. These investors continue to have confidence in our strategy and growth plans, and we are actively working with them on the funding to support it. Today, we announced our plan to launch a rights offering to holders of our Class A common stock, backstopped by these investors, for $15 million to support the company's operational plans and liquidity.

This is the plan Paige is coming in to lead. The strategy is set, the team is in place and the work is underway. I'm proud of the work to date and excited about the work ahead. We have made real progress securing more of the assortment that she wants, building discovery experiences that help her see herself in the product, and improving the consistency of her experience throughout. We will keep pushing on all 3 of these.

Serving as Interim CEO and President has been truly a privilege, and I could not be more confident in our strategy in this team and in Paige as the leader to carry it forward.

With that, I will turn it over to Dave Loretta. This is Dave's first earnings call with us. And in the 3 months he's been here, he has brought a true rigor into this business that I have valued enormously.

David Loretta

Thank you, Teri. Let me start by saying how pleased I am to be on the call today. I joined Rent the Runway as Interim CFO 3 months ago with a strong belief in the potential of the Rent the Runway brand, the significant opportunities to drive margin improvement, and our commitment to building a stronger financial foundation. In the current dynamic environment, I believe this company is well positioned to reaffirm its authority in the fashion industry while strengthening our operating discipline to deliver improved financial results.

Turning to performance in the second quarter. We delivered $98 million in net revenue, an all-time record for the company. We grew revenue 21% over Q2 of last year and 9% sequentially over the first quarter. Our top line reflects healthy quarter-over-quarter growth in revenue per subscriber and increased add-on revenue that continues to build as we've invested in new ways to provide flexibility and choices in our monthly subscription offering. The subscription price increases that were effective August 1 of last year have contributed to the revenue growth and driven flow-through to better bottom line results.

Our other revenue line, inclusive of resale, grew 19% over Q2 of last year, which we believe represents a significant growth opportunity for our business, drawing on the large and growing demand for resale apparel. Our data demonstrates that both subscribers and new visitors see tremendous value in our merchandise assortment. And when we price our pieces for resale, we aim to make room for more newness in the offering and drive higher gross margins.

From a gross margin expansion standpoint, Q2 improved roughly 600 basis points. We leveraged both product costs and fulfillment costs to support the second quarter margin expansion. Our discipline in controlling G&A costs while maintaining similar investment levels to last year in key technology initiatives and marketing has added approximately 1,000 basis points of leverage in the second quarter, resulting in significant year-over-year improvement in our operating profitability.

Consistent with what we noted on the first quarter call, the year-over-year growth in ending active subscriber count decelerated in Q2, primarily due to our stronger promotional activity last year and a higher rate of pause activity this year. As we continue to measure the efficiencies of our growth investments, we are focusing the mix of marketing spend and promotions with the goal to drive customers to our platform that are profitable.

Collectively, we remain confident in our full year outlook for revenue growth and earnings performance as evidenced by affirming the full year guidance on net revenue and adjusted EBITDA. In addition, we continue to expect improved free cash flow in 2026 compared to last year. Our liquidity position has strengthened with a $10 million term loan as detailed in the third amendment to our credit agreement with the same investor group that led our 2025 refinancing. This provides both operating flexibility and investment dry powder.

In addition, with the backstopped rights offering that we announced today, we plan to launch an equity raise in the amount of $15 million to further bolster our liquidity position and support ongoing growth. The vote of confidence by our investor group sends a positive message and underpins our 3-pronged operating approach that focuses on: first, growing our customer base; second, improving our profitability; and third, executing with discipline. As Teri stated, we believe that our key to success lies in refocusing on these fundamentals.

Now I'll review our second quarter results before providing an update on Q3 and the full year guidance. We ended the second quarter with 140,826 active subscribers, down 3.8% year-over-year. Average active subscribers during the quarter were 148,259, an increase of 1% year-over-year. The decrease in ending active subscribers was driven primarily by a year-over-year increase in the rate of pause and the year-over-year decrease in the number of subscribers acquired due to the stronger use of promotions in 2025, which we have reduced this year.

Total revenue for the quarter was $97.7 million, up 20.8% year-over-year and up 8.7% quarter-over-quarter. Our rental revenue was up $14.6 million or 21% year-over-year, primarily due to higher average revenue per subscriber driven by the subscription price increase effective August 1 of last year and an increase in the volume of add-on bookings. This was partially offset by lower reserve revenue versus Q2 of last year. Other revenue increased $2.2 million or 18.8% year-over-year, primarily due to significantly higher resale revenue.

Moving to our cost structure. Fulfillment costs were $23.5 million in the second quarter, versus $22.5 million last year, and as a percentage of revenue was 24.1% compared to 27.8% last year. This decline in a percentage of revenue was primarily due to higher revenue per order, partially offset by higher transportation and warehouse processing costs.

Gross profit margin was 36.1% in Q2, versus 30% last year, representing a 609 basis point improvement. This is primarily due to the rental product depreciation and revenue share costs that decreased 240 basis points as a percentage of revenue from last year and fulfillment expenses that decreased 370 basis points from last year.

Second quarter operating expenses were 2% lower year-over-year due to lower G&A expenses. Total operating expenses, which include technology, marketing and G&A, represented 42% of revenue in the quarter, versus 51.7% of revenue last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $12.6 million or 12.9% of revenue, versus $3.6 million or 4.4% of revenue in Q2 of last year.

Free cash flow for year-to-date 2026 was negative $21.6 million, versus negative $32.9 million in year-to-date 2025. The improvement versus prior year was primarily due to lower inventory related capital expenditures as well as increased operating income, partially offset by less working capital benefits.

Turning to guidance for 2026. We are reiterating our double-digit revenue growth guidance for the full fiscal year 2026 and reiterating our adjusted EBITDA guidance of 4% to 7% of revenue for fiscal year 2026.

We now expect rental product investment to be in the range of $53 million to $55 million in fiscal year '26, which is down from fiscal year '25 of $75 million, but is an increase from our previous guidance of $45 million to $50 million. The change in this investment amount reflects our plans to remain flexible and dynamic with where we acquire rental inventory and also to ensure key fall events and new product launches in the second half are more fully stocked.

For Q3 2026, we expect revenue to be between $87 million and $90 million, representing between flat to 3% growth versus Q3 2025. As noted earlier, our subscription fee price increases were effective at the beginning of Q3 of '25, and we are now lapping the impact of that in net revenue. Note that our guidance reflects our expectation that active subscribers will be roughly flat in the back half of 2026 and resale revenue will continue to grow in the second half. We also expect reserve orders will grow supported by the increased inventory investment.

We expect Q3 adjusted EBITDA to be between negative 3% and negative 6% of revenue, which is expected to be driven primarily by the normal seasonality of higher subscription pause activations in Q3, which impacts revenue, and the product cost impact of receiving more revenue share inventory during Q3 compared to other quarters.

In conclusion, our second quarter results reflect meaningful financial progress. We delivered record revenue, expanded gross margin and improved year-to-date free cash flow versus the prior year. With this progress, I believe we are well positioned for the back half of '26, and I expect our renewed focus on core fundamentals will support long-term value creation for Rent the Runway.

Before I sign off, I do want to thank Teri for her leadership during this transition. It has been a pleasure to work alongside her, and I believe the operating discipline we are building together is reflected in these results. I'm excited and look forward to partnering with Paige as she steps into the CEO role and continuing the progress we have shared today.

With that, thank you for joining the call today.

Operator

This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.