06/10/2019

They See It. They Like It. They Want It. They Rent It.

Owning nothing is now a luxury

Many young American urbanites have resigned themselves to a life of non-ownership, abandoning the dream of their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents before them, often out of financial necessity. But renting isn’t just a matter of necessity these days. It’s become almost posh.

While paying to borrow décor, clothing and offices is nothing new, the options have grown substantially in recent years. Now, one can fill a temporary home with rented coffee tables and sofas from Crate & Barrel and West Elm, and refresh a wardrobe with rented outfits from clothing lines like Theory and Vince or mall chains like Loft and Express. Some of those garments can even be returned to special drop boxes at WeWork, where their short-term wearers might also rent office space.

It doesn’t end there: Fancy camping tents, Vitamix blenders, Dyson vacuums and Oculus Rifts are all up for lease, too. Some would say we’re living in the Gilded Age of renting.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The New York Times.