From fine automobiles to designer handbags, we've covered various companies that let consumers rent expensive objects instead of buying them. The latest to join the herd is New York-based Rent the Runway, which allows women to rent designer dresses.

Dress-seeking fashionistas browse RTR's collection and schedule a delivery date (next-day delivery is available, as well as same-day in New York City). RTR then sends them the dress, including a second, back-up size to make sure the fit is as good as the design. Rental costs are around 10% of a garment's retail price, and range from USD 50–200. Customers can rent for four or eight days, after which they return the dress in the USPS return envelope that RTR provides. The extra size—which RTR provides at no extra cost—must be returned unworn.

Further proof that its founders have thought through the concept from a consumer's point of view, RTR also lets members rent a second style for just USD 25. Which gives them a back-up option for last-minute decisions, or a second dress to wear at an elaborate wedding or a multi-day event. Brands currently on offer include Just Cavalli, Helmut Lang, Proenza Schouler and Hervé Leger.

Appealing both to consumers who are cutting back for economic reasons, and to those who value experiences over ownership (dubbed transumers by our sister-site trendwatching.com), there's plenty of room for concepts like Rent the Runway to grow, especially if they provide their clients with heightened convenience as well as heightened style. (Related: Free clothes rental for fashionistas — Clothing rental for size-changing dieters — Baby clothes rental service.)

Website: www.renttherunway.com
Contact: feedback@renttherunway.com

Spotted by: Mike Hudack

The way for Uneven Feet has been paved by the growth in social shopping and swap marketplaces. Founder Jonathan Lee—whose own shoe shopping pains inspired the site's creation—sees revenue potential in affiliate sales once the community grows. On a global scale, if even a tiny percentage of people feels their 'uneven' feet are a big enough issue to act on through the website, that could become a sizable audience. Any more anthropometric niches out there to capitalize on?

Website: www.unevenfeet.com
Contact: www.unevenfeet.com/contact.php

Spotted by: Jonathan Lee

In the midst of an explosion of information and choice, are consumers missing out on surprise? The team behind Hipstery, a web store for mystery t-shirts, thinks they are. Which is why there are no t-shirt designs to choose from on Hipestry's site. Instead, customers select a size, pay EUR 17 (plus shipping) and answer a series of questions about themselves. The Hipstery's 'style scientists' run the responses to this quiz through their 'innovative style algorithm'—both concepts which the site's irreverent tone would lead us to interpret loosely—to select the right t-shirt from their exclusive range of designs, many of which are out-of-print shirts from small suppliers.

Leipzig-based Hipstery's openly opaque business model latches onto an anti-trend noted by our sister-site trendwatching in last month's briefing about transparency. While most companies are providing ever more choice and ever more information, a gap is opening for businesses who can relieve consumers of the burden of decision. Acknowledging that this is a big responsibility to hand over, Hipstery will replace any t-shirts that customers don't like, with the option of a refund if they're wrong the second time. Sometimes a lack of choice is a good thing, especially if used to surprise and delight consumers. It's a theme creative entrepreneurs should have fun exploring. (Related: Soft drinks for the undecided — Kashiwa Mystery Café.)

Website: www.hipstery.com
Contact: www.hipstery.com/contact

Spotted by: Andreas Milles

Amidst thousands of online clothing retailers, Market Publique has found its niche. Based in Brooklyn, it aims to attract premium sellers and buyers of vintage fashion. Goods are sold both through auction sales (eBay-style) and fixed prices. Potential sellers fill out a brief application form before joining. Besides selecting those that offer great vintage clothing, Market Publique also ensures they possess necessary skills such as correctly taking measurements. Once a seller is accepted, there's a USD 0.25 charge per listed item, plus a 5% commission fee for each sale.

Buyers and sellers receive monthly itemised bills from Market Publique, making it easier to keep track of purchases and sales. Sellers also benefit from the site’s active blog and promotion through advertising in print and on the web. Currently, only women's clothes and accessories are on offer, but men's items and housewares will follow soon.

By focusing on one niche and creating an appealing storefront for carefully selected vendors, Market Publique takes the standard online marketplace model and makes it more attractive and reliable for both buyers and sellers. (Related: Online marketplace focuses on mid-century design.)

Website: www.marketpublique.com

Spotted by: Bonnie Sandy

It's been almost three years since we wrote about Denim Therapy's jeans-doctoring service, and now the company has added a new offering to its line: a special service that adjusts favourite jeans for pregnant bellies—and then, post-baby, back again.

Pregnant mothers simply send New York-based Denim Therapy their favourite jeans. Denim Therapy then inserts expandable side inseams in the pants that will move and grow as the woman's belly expands. Perhaps even better, however, is that once the baby is born and the mother has brought herself back to her pre-baby figure, Denim Therapy will restore those jeans back to their original form. As the company puts it, "Why spend money on a new pair of maternity jeans when you can feel sexy and comfortable in your own favourite jeans. And voila, you're also doing your part of being environmentally conscious." Pricing on the service is USD 60 per pair.

More than 4 million babies are born in the United States alone each year, and that translates into a whole lot of jeans in need of modification along the way. Crafty minipreneurs: time to stock up on expandable fabric for a similar service of your own...?

Website: www.denimtherapy.com/maternity-jeans/
Contact: info@denimtherapy.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

We've covered a few examples of businesses that allow consumers to buy, sell, rent and trade used clothing, including OURthreads and Closet Infinite. Providing a slightly different twist on the notion, however, is thredUP, which uses a Netflix-like model with prepaid envelopes to help users swap the clothes they don't wear for some they will.

Currently focusing just on shirts, thredUP is free to join. Users begin by setting up a virtual closet to keep track of the clothes they'd like to exchange, using descriptions of the brands, sizes, colours and patterns—no photos are required. Users also tell thredUP what they'd like to get in exchange, including the brands, sizes and styles they prefer. Next, members purchase prepaid envelopes—a special offer currently has a package of three half-priced at USD 12.50. thredUP then looks for good matches in the virtual closets of other members to find items that might be suitable. It sends them one such item for each envelope they've purchased, along with an address to send one of their own items to. The result, as the site puts it: "out with old-to-you, in with new-to-you." If the recipient of an item likes it, they simply keep it; otherwise, they list it as an item they'd like to trade. Members can assign each other "stylie" points as tokens of appreciation for particularly nice items received, and those are redeemable for free stuff on thredUP along with qualifying them for special promotions.

Billed as "a refresh button for your closet," Massachusetts-based thredUP plans eventually to expand beyond just shirts to include all clothing items, including kids' clothes. It also plans to sell targeted advertising and to begin offering premium services for better matching precision, according to a report on Vator.tv. In the meantime, thredUP already ties in nicely with the sellsumer trend, giving recession-weary consumers a way to make the most of what they have. One to try out—or get involved in? (Related: IKEA organizes furniture swap — Amazon trades gift cards for used video games.)

Website: www.thredup.com
Contact: support@thredup.com

Spotted by: Treehugger

Much like socks, gloves have the tendency to lose their other halves. In the spirit of 'waste not, want not', environmental group Green Thing has launched a venture that pairs up single gloves and sells them to new owners. Matched by size but not colour, Glove Love offers unique pairs for GBP 5. Single gloves are washed, repaired and (re)paired by Green Thing, which also adds recycled labels, nametags and letters of introduction.

Last winter's strays were harvested from lost and found boxes through donations from The Natural History Museum, Transport For London and other organisations, and Green Thing is asking people to send in unpartnered gloves to keep its online store stocked. Profits go to Green Thing Trust, which is a registered charity.

As Green Thing points out, each sale keeps single gloves out of landfills and avoids manufacturing a new pair. It's a fun and practical approach to sustainability, and one that Green Thing hopes will be copied by people in other parts of the world. Not just for gloves, but for "all sorts of single things that can be put together in new, creative and aesthetic ways". Get cracking before temperatures drop! (Related: Doing the green thing — Leather jackets remade into designer bags.)

Website: www.dothegreenthing.com/glovelove
Contact: hello@dothegreenthing.com

There are countless brands of jeans in the world, most of them actually *made* all over the world, with components sourced from multiple countries and manufacturing done in others. Aiming to present an alternative at the polar opposite on that scale is Raleigh Denim, a North Carolina company whose jeans are reportedly 98 percent local.

Run by a husband-and-wife team, Raleigh Denim uses nearly all local materials, with everything from thread to denim produced within 200 miles of its workshop. Its distinctive selvage denim, for instance, comes from Cone Mills’ White Oak plant, a 100-year-old local mill that weaves the fabric on the only original shuttle looms still working in the US today. All of Raleigh Denim's design, pattern-making, cutting, sewing, washing and finishing, meanwhile, are carried out by hand in the company's Raleigh workshop. No automated equipment is ever involved; rather, the couple prefers to incorporate traditional construction methods and vintage sewing machines. Every pair of Raleigh Denim jeans is handcrafted and signed by its maker, with unique touches such as an x-ray of the hip joint printed on the inside pocket.

Priced from roughly USD 215 to USD 285, Raleigh Denim jeans are now carried in major retail stores across the US, including Barneys New York and Steven Alan, and have reportedly developed quite a following. Which just goes to show, once again, that even in tough economic times, a heaping helping of (still) made here appeal can help virtually any medicine—that is, price—go down. Time to bring Raleigh Denim to your neck of the woods—or, better yet, create a local version of your own...? (Related: For the first time, jeans to be made in North Korea — Luxury jeans tinted a long dormant blue.)

Website: www.raleighdenim.com
Contact: holler@raleighdenim.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Expiration dates are commonly found on most food products, but there is currently no law requiring similar labelling on cosmetics. Aiming to protect consumers from the potential hazards of out-of-date makeup and other like goods, Seattle-based Beauty Alert has developed a line of stickers to remind consumers when they're likely to go bad.

All cosmetics have a shelf life—essentially, how long they can stay good while unopened—as well as a home use life span, or how long they remain safe once opened. When either of those periods ends, spoilage can begin, Beauty Alert says, reducing a product's effectiveness and allowing bacterial growth that can cause irritations or infections. Targeting the home use life span is the company's new line of stickers, which come in versions specific to cosmetics that expire in three, six, 12 or 18 months after opening. Consumers simply write on the appropriate type of sticker the date on which they opened the product and affix the sticker directly to it. Then, they'll be reminded to replace the item once that time period has passed. Packages of 24 stickers—six for each type of home use life span—are available online for USD 8.50 each.

Innovation is all about scratching consumers' itches, so to speak; find an unmet need of your own, and your back will likely get scratched in return! ;-)

Website: www.beautyalert.biz
Contact: stacya@beautyalert.biz

Spotted by: Sarah Harlett