According to U.S. News, prom cost the average U.S. teen $978 in 2014. This is 25 percent less than what the average Canadian teen spends, according to the website. Ticket prices, nice dinners, shoes, hair, makeup and, most of all, clothing, contributes to this high total. However, new ways to cut the cost, such as rentals, are becoming more popular.

Rent the Runway, a new company, allows students to rent dresses at a lower price than buying. Rentals often come in hundreds of dollars lower than retail prices. Such businesses are becoming increasingly popular.

“Rent the Runway allows you to browse hundreds of dresses from over 100 designers,” senior Effi Hertig said, “giving you the opportunity to wear a dress unlike any other.”

Rent the Runway sends shoppers two sizes of the dress they choose along with all of the shipping material and postage to send it back, all at a drastically reduced cost.

“The pros of renting a dress is that you aren’t bounded by a large price for a dress you are only going to wear once,” Hertig said.

While Rent the Runway does have a store in Georgetown to try on the dresses, shoppers might not have the means to get there. The day before the event is often the first time buyers get to see the dress in person.

“Sometimes the dress doesn’t fit the way you imagined it,” Hertig said, “and you’re left with an emergency situation.”

Hertig has used Rent the Runway three times, including for LB’s homecoming. She was satisfied with each experience, she said.
Other students, however, prefer buying over renting.

“I prefer to buy a dress over renting or borrowing because I’d like to say that it’s my very own dress,” senior Asrar Aljubouri said.
Aljubouri also prefers to see her dress in store instead of online.

“If you are set on a style,” Aljubouri said, “then you can try it on to see if it looks just as good as you thought it would.”