TrenLend offers curated fashion through a luxury rental experience
BY SOFIA LUJAN STYLING | PHOTOS BY JESSICA BRATTON
In a fashion world often dominated by fast trends and steep price tags, two North Carolina State University graduates are changing the way Triangle women approach style. Emmy Weiland and Amelia Zahn, both 23, are the founders of TrenLend—a boutique dress rental service with storefronts in Cary and Raleigh’s North Hills, plus a growing online presence. Their mission? To make high-end fashion more accessible, sustainable and confidence‑boosting. What began as a side hustle in their college house has quickly become a polished brand with racks full of designer looks and a loyal customer base. We spoke with Emmy and Amelia to learn more about how their friendship turned into a full-fledged business and what inspires their vision for TrenLend’s future.
How did you two meet?
Emmy: The summer before our sophomore year of college, our friends Nic and Connor introduced me to Amelia. We started hanging out and have been best friends ever since!
I know you are recent graduates of NC State. Can you tell me what you studied, and if it didn’t relate to business or fashion, how do you feel you are able to apply it to this?
Amelia: We both graduated with our BS in business administration with a concentration in marketing from NC State.
Emmy: I also earned a minor in arts entrepreneurship, which helped me develop a creative mindset alongside my business skills.
Are you from the Triangle area? If so, can you tell me a bit about growing up here and what it means to have a successful business in the area? If not, what made you want to stay here after college and keep the physical stores in the area?
Amelia: Yes! I was born and raised in Cary, and graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 2020. I chose to attend NC State for college, though I was initially hesitant to stay in the Triangle since I had lived here my entire life. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Both growing up in this area and being part of the NC State community have given me a deep sense of connection and support. That foundation made it incredibly meaningful and ultimately rewarding to open our first storefronts here. The Triangle has truly felt like the right place to grow both personally and professionally.
Emmy: I’m originally from High Point, but by the time I graduated we had already opened our first store, so staying in the area was an easy decision. I truly love living in Raleigh and won’t be leaving anytime soon!
Have you always had an interest in fashion?
Amelia: My passion for fashion really began during college. It was the first time I truly experienced how people use clothing as a form of self-expression. Attending numerous events and having the chance to dress in ways that made me feel confident was a transformative experience. However, I quickly realized that quality fashion can often be expensive. That inspired Emmy and I to create a solution that makes fashion more accessible and affordable, allowing women to feel comfortable and confident in what they wear every day. Through building TrenLend, we’ve fully immersed ourselves in the fashion industry and have developed a deep appreciation for it.
Describe how this idea came about. I know you both were disappointed with similar rental businesses, but how did it go from that initial disappointment to a full-fledged business?
Emmy: Amelia first approached me with the idea of renting out our personal dresses to make a little extra money on the side. We started out as The College Closet, inviting girls to our college house where they’d try on dresses in our spare bedrooms. Through this, we realized how much people loved being able to try things on before renting—something we had always wished for ourselves after frustrating experiences with other rental companies. The concept just clicked. With the support of our families and a genuine passion for what we were building, we took the leap and officially launched our business as TrenLend. Instead of just renting out personal dresses, we started working directly with designers to build a diverse and growing collection with a wide range of sizes, styles and price points. This helps us offer an inclusive and thoughtful rental experience, so every customer who walks into our store or shops online can find something that works for them.
Do you find most people take advantage of your storefronts so they can try on the dresses beforehand, or is most of your business online?
Emmy: Definitely! Most of our customers love the in-store experience and take full advantage of being able to try things on before renting, it’s a huge part of what makes TrenLend special. We’ve even had customers travel from out of state just to visit our stores and try on a range of our styles, so they know exactly what they like when placing future online orders. That said, our online business has really taken off this year and we’ve already shipped to almost all 50 states, which is so exciting to see!
How long did it take for the business to get up and running?
Amelia: It took us about six months from the initial idea to launching TrenLend on social media in early 2023. From there things moved quickly. By August 2023, we officially opened our first storefront in Cary. Exactly one year later, in August 2024, we expanded with a second location in North Hills!
What is your approach to the clothing you choose to stock? Do you get requests for certain designers?
Emmy: Our approach to selecting clothing is all about offering pieces that feel special, unique and truly flattering for a wide variety of ages and body types. From casual daytime attire to elegant options for black-tie events, we aim to provide wardrobe solutions for every occasion. We deeply value the relationships we have with our brands and are continuously working to expand our brand offerings for our customers. Additionally, we love getting feedback from our customers on what brands they would like to see in store and always try our best to research each brand and see if it would be a good fit for our model.
What plans do you have for the future?
Amelia: TrenLend today looks quite different from our original vision, which is one of the most exciting aspects of our journey. The business is continually evolving, and while the future remains uncertain, our commitment is clear: to provide an affordable, accessible and sustainable approach to fashion for our customers and community. We have plans to expand both our physical storefronts and our online offerings. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities, especially in the rapidly evolving clothing rental industry. Our goal is to remain adaptable and pursue steady growth. At the core of our success will be broadening our product offerings to appeal to a wider audience while refining our processes to make the rental experience as seamless and convenient as possible. Staying true to our company values and focusing on delivering an exceptional customer experience will be essential to our continued growth.
There is a fundamental tension at the core of textile design. Home-use fabrics don’t need to meet the impenetrable standards required for health care sites, but they are meant to withstand kids’ dirty hands, cats’ claws, dogs’ shedding, wine spills and chocolate smears. At the same time, how do these ultra-durable textiles fit in a closed-loop business model? The point of furniture textiles is to withstand, and the point of recycling is to tear apart and reuse.
McKenzie’s deep dive into textile recycling led him to the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University, one of the few textile colleges in the country. While the college doesn’t offer recycling services, McKenzie found experts eager to solve the same puzzles he grapples with.
Everyone at the Wilson College of Textiles is multitalented and multidisciplinary. “You have to be,” says Professor Karen Leonas, who has a PhD in textile chemistry, physics and polymer engineering, and now focuses on sustainability. “This industry is constantly changing,” she says, “and you have to be forward-thinking and able to move deftly between art, design and science.”
From a technical perspective, Leonas says recycling textiles depends on fiber content, and determining a textile’s fiber content requires near-infrared technology. “If I know what it is, I can shred it, break it into monomers and then repolymerize and reuse it,” Leonas explains. She adds that a simple cotton versus a blended fabric can’t be recycled the same way, and that for upholstery, it’s most eco-friendly to avoid mixed-material fabric.
Leonas studies the development and recycling of sustainable materials at the Wilson College of Textiles and she brings her interdisciplinary thinking to Wilson’s sustainability committee, where she interacts with like-minded colleague Professor Janie Woodbridge. A textile designer with a background in fine art and over a decade of textile industry experience, Woodbridge approaches technical sustainable design with a focus on visual appeal.
“I love that there’s always a puzzle to solve,” says Woodbridge, who is fresh off of winning one of N.C. State’s Outstanding Teacher Awards. “We always design from within a box, whether that’s a hospital waiting room or a public lobby or a high-performance material for sports.” For Woodbridge, the center of any puzzle is figuring out how to make fabric durable and sustainable, but also visually interesting.
A talented artist, Woodbridge likes to start her projects with a “hands on” approach, sitting down at a loom and weaving original designs in the most ancient way. “Textile design is such a primitive thing,” she says, “but I think mixing in the engineering, chemistry and CAD side is paving the way for a more sustainable future.”
While Woodbridge works to make beautiful, sustainable fabrics, and Leonas works in the lab to make and break the perfect fabric, both professors see the need to think like an economist to incentivize people not to toss furniture into the dump. “We need to work together to extend the life of a product,” says Leonas. “We want to help people learn how to use the recyclable market for furniture: to donate, to resell, or to reupholster and reuse.”
Woodbridge offers some practical tips: “Choose furniture that leans more traditional than fashion-forward; something that won’t be noticeably outdated within a year or two. Instead, rely on pops of color, like pillows or throws. Strive to be conscientious about not cycling quickly through big items.”
Perhaps professors at the Wilson College of Textiles are getting their message out, as McKenzie sees one encouraging trend over the past few years: the age of his clients. “We’re seeing a lot more young people,” he says. “These are savvy consumers who find well-built older furniture on Facebook Marketplace or at garage sales, and come to us to have it customized.” McKenzie hopes this shows the younger generation’s commitment to the environment and their recognition that reuse is key to a circular economy.
