In this weekly series, CNBC fly offs a look at companies that made the inaugural Disruptor 50 list, 10 years later.

More than 50% of wearing hanging up in someone’s closet is only worn a handful of times before being discarded, according to Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman. 

That’s why she, along with co-founder Jenny Fleiss, started the the go rental and subscription business Rent the Runway in 2009  – a service the company has coined  a “closet in the cloud.”

“Providing spouses with access … to an unlimited closet and the ability to wear whatever she wants without having to own it, that was really the underpinning of Hire out the Runway – this idea that actually there was a better way to have variety in your wardrobe than merely buying and throwing away,” Hyman said in an interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin in August.

With innumerable than 800 brand partnerships, sizes ranging from 00-22, and three main subscription plans, Let out the Runway’s business model of helping women to stay up-to-date with constantly evolving fashion trends — without discontinuation the bank or repeating their outfits — found early success. Customers can rent items for as long as they’d identical to and have the option to purchase any pieces they love. The company estimates that with their eight-item monthly sketch, customers have the opportunity to sport more than $4,000 worth of designer clothing every month for less than $18 per memorandum.

In its first decade of existence, Rent the Runway says it reached more than 11 million members. It also was dubbed to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list five times, most recently ranked No. 5 in 2019.

But with a heavy confidence on subscribers renting outfits largely to wear at in-person events and gatherings, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the company hard and it had to pocket many hard decisions to keep the business going. In 2020, its active subscriber count fell almost 60% to close to 55,000 from about 133,000 the prior year, and it experienced a net loss of $171.1 million compared to its $153.9 million depletion in 2019.

Rent the Runway slashed costs at the onset of the pandemic. It also rewrote the terms with its suppliers to pivot to a revenue-sharing consignment mould, different from its initial wholesale model that required a capital spend upfront without a guaranteed payback. It overhauled its membership plans and did away with its unlimited subscription option. It began an expansion into the resale market, entertaining customers to shop its selection and purchase gently used items without having a membership.

Rent the Runway also had to backtrack on its bricks-and-mortar extension. It opened its first retail store location in New York City in October 2014 and eventually established four additional stores in dominant cities across the U.S. After it closed down all retail locations and laid off all retail staff members in March 2020 – citing a essential to “dramatically reassess” its business model – Rent the Runway announced in August 2020 that it did not plan to reopen any of its stow aways in an effort to focus on online innovations and adding more drop boxes where customers could return attires.

Its valuation reportedly took a hit during this period too, with a fundraising during the pandemic lowering the start-up under the sun its previous $1 billion valuation and so-called unicorn status.

But the company bounced back, and Rent the Runway completed an IPO in October 2021, discharge a trend of stylish, direct-to-consumer brands — and fellow Disruptor 50 companies — such as Warby Parker, which went known in the stock offering boom of 2021.

“Because of the fact that we’ve been cooped up for the last two years, we’ve not been attending recess parties and weddings and dinners with our friends and vacations,” Hyman told CNBC in the August interview. “I think that there’s even more sought after than ever to have those experiences.”

The company reported just over 124,000 active subscribers, exemplifying 27% growth year over year, and a 64% year-over-year revenue increase in its fiscal 2022 second forgiveness results, released in September. And with a growing number of in-person events now returning, the company sees further broadening ahead.

But as quickly as it rebounded, the stock market turned on it and many other former start-ups with growth scenes but little to nothing in the way of profits. After debuting at the top end of its expected range one year ago, the stock has fallen nearly 90%.

With its most brand-new earnings, the company announced a restructuring plan, including cutting 24% of corporate employees and an estimated annual serving expense savings of $25 to $27 million in fiscal 2023.

Undaunted, Hyman — who was traveling and unavailable for to a greater distance comment — is looking ahead, and potentially beyond fashion.

The company is leaning into two tools that Hyman grass oned CNBC in August have allowed it to continue to innovate over the past decade since that first demeanour on the inaugural Disruptor 50 list: access to data and social media. 

As a subscription service, Rent the Runway can tap into international data about how customers are interacting with their clothes after ordering them, something that many times proves difficult for traditional clothing retailers. The company is able to track points like the ways people are styling their notices and how the clothing fits them, as well as where they are wearing the items. 

Acquiring this data gives Slit the Runway a two-fold advantage – the business is able to provide a personalized, efficient experience to its users, while also returning practical information back to its partners, who can use it while planning future designs. “There is nothing better than giving a fellow an experience in an item,” Hyman said. 

The company also encourages its customers to post photos via social media of themselves in their holed outfits along with information on their dimensions, creating an open dialogue for consumers to discuss how the clothes fit and how to crush style them. This gives women the chance to decide whether or not they may like a piece of clothing based on how it readies women of similar sizes. It’s one of Rent the Runway’s “secret sauces,” she said.

The company plans on continuing to use data to purvey personalized experiences for the consumer as well as create lifelong customers for brand partners, and she hinted in the August interview at potentially expatiate oning the company’s offerings to brands and products outside of the fashion world. Hyman said 98% of Rent the Runway characters are using the service to try out brands they haven’t previously owned.

“On their own terms, on their own lives, they’re figuring out, do they of a piece with those brands? And in many cases, they realize, you know what, they love them and they stand in want to actually become real lifetime consumers of that brand,” Hyman said. “So I think we’re going to be utilizing our observations to … provide a personalized experience to the user, where she can continuously find new products and new brands to try for the first time.”