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Kids grow awfully quick, and clothing for kids takes up so much money. And even worse: closet space.
But I love kids’ clothing, especially all the niche labels. There’s always some new version of whimsical perfection pulling at my heart strings.
Many Moons, formerly known as Borobabi, is the solution. Rent high-end organic, slow-fashion brands for babies and kids up through size 7y.
Rent as many (or few) items as you like each month. Rental starts at around $4 per garment. And you can choose the garment condition: pre-loved or brand new.
An Affordable Way to Maximize Variety and Style
I love this. I love variety in my kids’ wardrobe, with lots of style options. Like rustic Puritan milkmaid, SoCal minimalism, or quirky and colorful Mini Rodini and Nadadelazos.
But those labels are spendy, and run counter to my mindful-consumption goals.
Over the past year, I’ve tried to focus on careful precision-consumption. Buying fewer pieces that are ultra-versatile, high-quality, and made of sustainable materials — textiles that are endlessly recyclable or fully compostable.
But keeping to a strict capsule wardrobe of inter-matching pieces, for a 4-year-old who loves to sparkle, just isn’t fun. It feels like a fashion diet (I’ve been guilted into) and fasting forever is a losing proposition.
So I decided to explore children’s clothing rental.
>>> You can save $5 off your first order of $10 or more with the Many Moons coupon code for House of Henmar. The Many Moons coupon code is ref9195576
Borobabi: Many Moons Children’s Clothing Rental
With my love of children’s fashion at odds with my love for planet, children’s rental, I’ve opined, may be the solution.
1. Cheaply rent a variety of stylish items each month or each season, and change it up as often as I want.
I discovered Borobabi from a Google Search. It’s now called Many Moons, but there’s more searchable info for its former name.
I have found a handful of other clothing rental options, too, but so far Borobabi has best met my criteria.
2. Flexible pricing. I don’t want to pay $xxx every month for a set number of garments. I want to pick and pay for what I need, whether it’s one vest or 20 jumpsuits.
3. No worries about stains. (Or about re-sale value: the art of consigning your kids’ used name brand clothes on resell apps and Buy Sell Trade Groups.) This rental service understand stains happen and will launder through.
4. Wide selection of luxury and high-end organic brands for everyday wear. Burt’s Bees, for example, is an organic brand I can readily and affordably acquire new or used. I want options for the spendy, inaccessible brands like Bobo Choses, Oeuf, Fin and Vince, The Middle Daughter, and Misha and Puff.
5. Rental window of at least two (2) weeks. I’m not interested in renting sequin flounce dresses and 3-piece suits for 1-time events. I want my kids to be able to wear the garments on the daily.
6. Ability to style myself. I want to pick what I get, and not get a box full of a stylist’s choices. Or if I can’t pick the clothes, I want to least be able to pick the brands. (There also is an option for Many Moons to style your child with seven garments each month that you can buy, rent, or return.)
Many Moons delivers.
I recently rented nine items for a month for my 4-year-old-daughter and 2 year-old son.
With rental fees, tax, and shipping (both ways), I paid just over $67.
What is Many Moons?
Many Moons is a women-owned start-up that launched nearly 3 years ago. The company launched as Borobabi before changing names. Many Moons sells and rents new and pre-loved children’s fashions from a curated selection of ultra-high-quality, ethically-produced brands.
Describing their company as the first ever fully circular apparel retailer, Many Moons offers parents an opportunity to save money and save the planet.
Parents can acquire stylish clothing for their children, and then keep the garments until the end of the season or their child has outgrown them. Then, Many Moons offers an easy way to trade up for the next size or season’s wardrobe needs.
- Parents can buy garments pre-loved or brand new. Parents will get a 20% credit for selling new clothes back to Many Moons once their kids have outgrown them.
- Parents can rent garments in pre-loved or brand-new condition. It’s cheaper to rent items pre-loved. Garments are rented by the month.
This system means less clothing in circulation and maximal wear of garments before they reach their end-of-life. It can also be a more affordable for parents who are constantly up-sizing.
There are actual store locations in San Fransciso, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
What I Rented from Many Moons
I rented nine (9) items from Many Moons.
For my 2-year-old son, I rented a flannel button down, a tee, and 2 pairs of pants.
The brands were:
- BonMot: baggy toucan pants, green cord trousers
- The New Society: button-down shirt
- PiuPiuChick: T-Shirt
For my 4-year-old daughter, I rented two dresses, a cardigan, a short-sleeve knit shirt, and a pair of jeans.
The brands I rented for my daughter were:
- The New Society: jeans
- FUB: lavender dress, cardigan, short-sleeve knit shirt
- Bebe Organic: Paloma knit dress
How Renting from Many Moons Works
The process to rent was pretty simple. No style quizzes or surveys to find out my kids’ favorite animals or how often we vacation on the beach.
1. Select the option to “Rent” (you can also buy garments).
2. Select Baby or Kids.
3. Look through the available listings. You can filter by size, gender, or designer.
4. Add your rental or purchase selections to the cart. Provide your billing and shipping address.
5. Check out with a debit or credit card.
That’s it. There are additional filters on the product listing page. Like you can select if you want to rent a pre-loved garment or brand new one.
I went through all available items in all sizes, and it took 10 minutes to skim through.
The checkout process didn’t really take any longer than it does for a regular retail purchase online. But there are additional terms to agree to (i.e. You have to pay to replace a rental garment if you don’t return it.)
What sizes does Many Moons carry?
Many Moons carries sizes NB to 18-24M for babies and sizes 1-2Y to 6-7Y for kids.
Many Moons also carries some women’s sizes for matching looks. The adult size range is limited, with sizes small to large offered for blouses and dresses that coordinate with kids’ and babies’ styles.
What brands does Many Moons carry?
Many Moons carries a curated selection of premium labels, selected for their quality, sustainable materials (organic cotton, wool, and linen fabrics, low-impact dyes).
Many Moons brands include:
- Gray Label
- BonMot
- FUB
- The Simple Folk (About the brand Simple Folk)
- The New Society
- Bebe Organic
- Winter Water Factory (About the made-in-Brooklyn, New York Winter Water Factory brand)
- PiuPiuChick
- Buho
- Kid Wild
- Petits Vilains
- Sproet & Sprout
- Mori (About the brand Baby Mori)
- LiiLu
- Monkind
- Nature Baby
- My Little Cozmo
- Sleepy Doe
What other products and services does Many Moons offer?
In addition to their monthly a la carte children’s clothing rental, Many Moons offers other ways to shop the brand.
- Shop new
- Shop pre-loved
- Mommy & Me rentals
- Bundle (get a monthly 7-item bundle curated for you by Many Moons stylists. Choose what you buy, rent, or return. Pay a $1 style fee.)
Is Many Moons worth it?
For me, yes. But maybe not every month. Many Moons has pros and cons.
Pros
- Incredible flexibility. Rent as little or as much as you want. Handpick the garments.
- A greener way to indulge. Garments are made of eco-friendly materials, well cared for, and well worn. Most garments in the US are worn only 7x before being discarded. I don’t have to feel guilty about my kids not getting enough wear out of a given item.
- Affordability. For around $70 a month, my kids can always have cute new digs.
- Brand discovery. While very well-versed in kids’ brands, Many Moons has a number of labels in its line-up that I had never tried before like The New Society and PiuPiuChick.
- Scalable variety. Many Moons offers the variety I crave, but I don’t have to buy dozens of new pieces. Which means I don’t have to worry about storing, cleaning, and consigning dozens more garments each month.
- Long rental times. Garments are priced for monthly rental, but you can extend your rental time for a whole season or longer.
- No worries about stains. Many Moons will professionally launder and mend all garments. Garment destruction, over time, is built into the cost model.
Cons
- Limited brand selection. Many Moons has a good assortment of premium labels, but I wish there were more in the lineup. I wish they had more brands – ones I want to know better: Millk, The Middle Daughter, Appaman, Bobo Choses, Go Gently Nation, and Tutu du Monde.
- Short on funk. Most of the garments have a retro yet modern Anne of Green Gables vibe. The color palette is largely earth-toned. I like this vibe. But I also love color and funky prints. Many Moons is short on funk.
- No outerwear options. I’d love to be able to rent winter jackets, snow pants, and snowsuits but they aren’t available.
- No formalwear options. There are dresses and outfits you could wear to the grocery store or a barefoot wedding. But they don’t have anything sparkly or poofy for rental, or suits or tuxes.
- Popular styles can be out of circulation for months. The average family rents garments for three (3) months or an entire season. Popular styles go first. If you want month-to-month variety, your choices could be more limited.
>>> You can save $5 off your first order of $10 or more with the Many Moons coupon code for House of Henmar. The Many Moons coupon code is ref9195576
Many Moons is Best for…
Many Moons seems ultimately built for parents who value stylish sustainability and want to rent rather than buy the bulk of their children’s wardrobe.
It’s also a good choice for parents who want to add variety without acquiring more stuff.
While I wouldn’t switch to Many Moons as the exclusive source of my children’s wardrobe, it’s an affordable, eco-friendly way to add variety. I hope they keep adding more brands.
If you’ve ever dreamt of being able to check out adorable kids’ clothing, library-book-style, Many Moons fits.