Personal shopping boxes like Stitch Fix and Trunk Club are all the rage, but I haven’t had good luck with them. Several readers suggested that I try Le Tote. And once I Googled Le Tote, the social media gods decided that I should see nothing but Le Tote ads for weeks.
Le Tote is a monthly membership service that allows you to rent clothing. I chose the $79 box, which allows me 3 pieces of clothing and 2 accessories per tote. I can receive two totes per month, and customize the items that go in my tote. And if I want to add another item, I can do so for $9.99. I also pay the extra $5 per month for insurance.
My First Tote. Utter disaster. Not knowing how to customize the tote before it shipped, I clicked the wrong button and ended up with a tote that literally went back the day after it arrived. It had a running jacket (I don’t run), a pair of embroidered cropped jeans (so not my style), and a handful of other pieces that were a bad fit for my needs in my lifestyle.
But again, this was mostly my fault. The process of customizing the tote seems complicated the first time. You have seven days to customize your tote, so take your time to sort out the process for the best experience with your first tote.
My Second Tote. Better. Because I picked everything in it. So it had to be.
The clothes come mostly from mid-level brands like T Tahari, Vince Camuto, August 1 Eight, and BCBGeneration. There are also better brands like Kate Spade New York but the selections are more limited. Every piece that I received was in good condition. Some were in like new condition, others in gently worn condition.
Buying Clothing. You can buy the clothes that come in your totes for a discounted price. You can also buy pieces directly from the website. As luck would have it, a Rachel Rachel Roy dress that I wanted happened to be available on Le Tote even though it was sold out in my size at Nordstrom. So I snapped that up for 40% off retail. It’s in like new condition. And I’m very happy with it. But one word of caution, the shipping takes forever and it’s possible that the item you want may not be available (you’ll be refunded if they can’t deliver).
Overall Impressions. Le Tote turned out to be the perfect solution to my current wardrobe conundrum. I’ve gained some weight over the last year, and while it’s slowly coming off, I don’t want to invest in clothes that are 1-2 sizes larger than I will need when I lose the last of it. Second, my job with the legislature is temporary, and I don’t want to buy new clothes just because I feel like my wardrobe is feeling a bit stale.
Being able to rent a few nice pieces in the size I need now has made my life so much easier. A new blazer here, a dress there, just having a couple of new things has made getting dressed much more enjoyable. And if a piece doesn’t work — either because the fit isn’t right or I don’t like — I’m not committed to it.
Le Tote has also allowed me to try out a few pieces that I was looking at buying. I don’t wear pants often, but I wanted to see if a pair of wide leg trousers would be flattering. So I rented a pair. They were fantastic, and I’m considering keeping them.
Also, for those of you who are planning to have children in the near future. Le Tote offers a maternity wear service. So you don’t need to invest in pricey pieces to get you through a pregnancy. A great solution for both pregnancy and postpartum dressing.
Honestly, I’m really glad I tried Le Tote. It’s the best solution for my current situation. It would also be great if you were heading to a conference or had a one-off event to attend like a work dinner or a family reunion.
If you want to try Le Tote, you can get a free tote using this link. If you decide to subscribe, I’ll earn $25. It’s definitely worth a try if you want to be able to rent a few new pieces each month for less than the price of a new pair of jeans.
The rules for Saw it on Social are simple: I write an unsponsored and ungifted review of a product that’s promoted heavily on social media. I spend my own money because that’s the best way to know whether these heavily praised products are worth the money. Some are, some aren’t.
I’m on Le Tote Maternity for the second time in two years (wahoo), and I’m disappointed that the selection hasn’t changed all that much and I recognize most of the available pieces. However, I’m probably in the minority of women who use it multiple times in that time frame. Other than that quibble, Le Tote Maternity is great!
You are not alone, Friend (not this year but let’s just say I have 2 15 months apart….) it WILL get easier!!
Me too. Ditto to everything…mine will be 19 months apart. BUT still love Le Tote because I don’t have to invest in all this stuff.
As a warning for pregnant ladies, I immediately clicked through and asked for a professional maternity wardrobe option. I was then provided with a draft Tote including a denim skirt and a pair of cargo shorts (laughable, obviously). I clicked through to swap and was told there were literally no professional or business casual pants options. For a free Le Tote, its fine, but as a realistic maternity option, its as bad as anything else. Because I just don’t see cargo shorts flying in court.
I browsed through the available clothes in the maternity section and found this to be the case and decided not to try it. It seemed like most of the maternity clothes were too casual for work or were all form Motherhood Maternity which has major sales all the time.
I found very affordable semi-stylish maternity clothes at ThredUp.
Good luck, ladies!
If you’re looking to rent more professional items, try Rent the Runway Unlimited. I need to dress business formal for work most days and their selection is huge. They have some explicit maternity items, plus a lot of items that are stretchy/cut better for women who are pregnant (often times the reviews will include photos of women who are pregnant but wearing a regular item). Plus, RTR allows you to swap out more frequently than Le Tote, or you can also do the cheaper option.
I didn’t have good luck with RTR because I don’t live in a big city. The deliveries were always days overdue, sometimes got lost, and couldn’t be returned quickly enough to make it worth it.
For the pregnant mammas – I had a great experience with Rent the Runway Unlimited for my maternity wardrobe. I only bought a few staples and was able to use RTR for professional clothing. I actually didn’t end up wearing that many true maternity clothes from RTR because they had so many maternity friendly options (I did a lot of sizing up on dresses, blazers with maternity pants I own, etc.). They also let me freeze my account while I was on maternity leave since let’s be real I never changed out of leggings. Now that I’m back at work I’m equally as impressed with professional nursing/pump friendly options.
I tried Le Tote about 2 years ago and I am not a fan. I thought it was much too overpriced and the clothing that I wanted to try was often not available. Also, because you get so few items, it limits the number of times you wear something (at least for me, because I don’t tend to wear the same items of clothing repeatedly). I looked into it again recently due to pregnancy but, like another poster mentioned, I needed high-end professional pregnancy suits – not inexpensive casual clothing that I could get easily and cheaply at a chain store- and they had nothing like that available.
I’ve had one or two pieces that weren’t available. But not too many.
As for the maternity clothing, I’m sorry the selection is not better. That seems like a part of the market they could really capture. Have you tried Poshmark for suits?
How long do you keep the pieces for? And is there something that reminds you when it’s time to return them? I can see me putting them in my closest and forgetting all about it.
I usually keep them 8 days or so. I got last week’s box on Tuesday, I’m wearing one of the dresses tomorrow and then sending it back next day. My only complaint is that all pieces must be returned at the same time.
Agree Le Tote Maternity is great, but also agree with prior poster that the selection could be better. I’ve kept a couple of my pieces that have been deeply discounted so that was a nice perk as well.
I’m at a business casual leaning formal office and agree the work selection could be better. I bought a pair of black pants, grey pants, and a black pencil skirt. I also have a couple of basic work dresses and a couple of basic work tops, so I use LeTote to supplement my work wardrobe mostly with tops and dresses and that seems to be working well. I’ve rented a couple skirts that have worked for work as well.
Tried Le Tote based on your post and wasn’t impressed. The selection wasn’t great, and the size recommendations were consistently off to the point I couldn’t wear anything in the first box. When I cancelled after receiving two boxes filled with ill fitting clothing that I could never wear, they wouldn’t prorate or provide any option except paying for the full month. Was really hoping for something that would work while between sizes, but this was a pretty bad experience.
Oh I’m sorry to hear that. If you wear Ann Taylor frequently, you might look into their Infinite Style box.