NC State grads Emmy Weiland and Amelia Zahn turned a shared love of fashion into a thriving business that now has two locations.
by Rachel Simon

Two and a half years ago, Emmy Weiland and Amelia Zahn were in their sophomore year at North Carolina State University when they found themselves dealing with the same problem that plagues countless college students worldwide: they needed to make some money.

Unlike many of their peers, neither woman had any interest in spending their weekends babysitting or tutoring for extra cash. Instead, they decided to put their shared love of fashion together with their marketing major skills: they used Instagram to rent their friends’ dresses out to classmates and took a percentage of the fee for themselves.

The response, says Weiland, was “immediate.” “We realized that we tapped into a market that no one had yet before,” adds Zahn. The primary reason their business model appealed to customers was that shoppers could try on as many dresses as they wished before renting them.

This ensured that customers didn’t end up with gowns that didn’t fit or look like the photos, a frustrating experience both Weiland and Zahn had numerous times through well-known rental companies like Rent the Runway or Nuuly, which operate largely online and often require pricey subscriptions. “We would waste $100 dollars on something that we couldn’t even wear,” recalls Weiland.

Once the duo realized there was such high demand for try-on rentals, opening a storefront was the clear next move. So in the summer of 2022, Weiland and Zahn used their prior earnings and investors’ funds to launch TrenLend, an in-person rental boutique that started operating out of a small warehouse in Cary.

Initially, they focused on renting out dresses (bought wholesale) to fellow college students who, like them, often needed formalwear for events but had limited budgets to work with. Shoppers could come into the store to try on and rent stylish options from high-end designers like Nicole Miller or Runaway the Label for as low as $10 or $15.

With the launch of TrenLend’s website, customers could also order looks online and have them shipped directly to their homes. After they wore the rented pieces, they returned them to the store, where the clothes got washed and inspected before going back on the racks for new customers to borrow.
Despite little advertising (“We honestly have not spent a single dollar on marketing,” Zahn says) it wasn’t long before word about TrenLend got out.

In the months following the warehouse launch, droves of shoppers — including high schoolers readying for prom, college girls looking for outfits for formals and women looking for dresses to wear to weddings, galas and other events — found their way to the store. Business boomed enough that, in August 2023, Weiland and Zahn left the warehouse and opened a true storefront on Cary’s Chapel Hill Road. The space is manned solely by the founders, who do everything from cleaning to accounting.

Here, customers can browse hundreds of dresses (along with some tops, jumpsuits and rompers) in a large number of styles and an inclusive size range. “Right now, we have the widest variety of special occasion wear that’s not bridal and pageant in the area,” Zahn says proudly.

Shoppers can also take advantage of TrenLend’s backup dress service, which allows them to rent a second style or size for a significant discount, as well as purchase optional insurance to cover potential damage. Anyone looking to rent several items for the same time period can create a bundle that’ll give them a percentage off their order.

“I’ve had women drive from South Carolina or Virginia and come in and say, you’re the only store on the East Coast that offers this,” says Zahn. “We definitely try to offer a little bit of everything for everyone,” Weiland adds.

Olivia Martin, a college student and frequent TrenLend shopper, says she often rents from the store when she’s “in need of a wow moment” for parties and vacations. “The dresses are always so unique and pieces I would not find myself,” says Martin, adding that the rental outfits’ low costs are another key draw. “I love not having to commit to the full price of a dress that I will only wear once.”

TrenLend’s success has not come without its challenges, of course. The women had to balance full-time careers with schoolwork while they were students. They graduated this past spring, and now work full time on the business. Their age and lack of experience have also garnered plenty of skepticism from those who don’t believe — or appreciate — that the duo know how to run a business.

“I cannot tell you how many times people came into our store and looked at me and said, So what do you want to do after college? And I’d have to be like, Oh, this,” Weiland says with a laugh. “They were so taken aback by it.”

“Because of our age, people just automatically assume that this is just something we’re doing for fun right now,” Zahn echoes. But the founders have big plans for TrenLend’s future. They’ve already outgrown the Cary location and just opened a second location in August in the Makers Alley in the North Hills Innovation District.

“The exposure from this location will finally allow us to make the kind of money where we can grow and invest in ourselves while continuing investing in the company,” says Zahn. They’d also love to expand the types of clothing TrenLend offers and feature some items for sale, an option customers have frequently expressed interest in.

“When we first started, we didn’t think it was gonna be anything serious. We thought it was gonna be just a little side thing we did,” Zahn reflects.

But, she continues, “every day, we have people coming in for the first time, and they’re always like, We had no idea this existed, this is so cool, and we can’t wait to tell people about it.”

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of WALTER magazine.