Jennifer Hyman, Redefining the Future of Fashion and Workplace Equality

On disrupting the fashion industry: “‘Fast fashion’… understands the customer a lot more than the designer business has. What they understand is that customers want variety. They want the ability to constantly express themselves differently. They want to wear new things every single day, but with fast fashion you have this rush of you’re able to have an impulse buy. You’re able to try something new. The sugar rush of doing that and then the ultimate crash of having that live in your closet and know that you’re going to throw it away. So what we’ve tried to do is say, “Okay, we’re going to give you the rush without the crash.’ We’re going to give you the rush with the real designer item at the fast fashion price point so you can have all the variety that you want, but do it with the real thing.”

On promoting workplace equality: “If you think about the competition for talent right now, people are choosing to spend their time at places that represent their values and the value set of equality and treating everyone with that level of respect for their life. There’s nothing more that I want my own employees of Rent the Runway to think of our company for.”