Rent the Runway left red-faced after WMS mishap

Fashion rental service Rent the Runway has been forced to refund and apologise to disgruntled customers following a botched warehouse management system roll-out. It also isn’t accepting any new subscribers or new event rentals until 15th October.

“I’m reaching out to further update you on delays that some of you have experienced in receiving your orders over the last few weeks. The delays, which began 13th September, are due to unforeseen issues associated with a significant software transformation that we are executing in our fulfilment operation,” Co-founder and CEO Jenn Hyman said in an email to subscribers.

“Our technical team is working to fix these issues as quickly as possible. We expect this upgrade to be completed by 15th October or sooner, at which point you will experience much improved availability of styles.”

The startup, which is valued at over $1 billion, deployed a new WMS at its New Jersey warehouse in early September. Roll-out, however, impacted the number of orders that could be shipped each day.

Ultimately, the new software should be “the most significant transformation in our company’s history,” said Hyman. It will allow the company to make items available faster, thanks to a new racking system for inventory.

Meanwhile, the company’s Head of Supply Chain, Marv Cunningham, who previously worked at Target and Amazon, is stepping down amid the turmoil.