In Pickle’s early days, founders Brian McMahon and Julia O’Mara made more than 4,000 subway rides throughout New York City, hand-delivering rented clothes to early users of their peer-to-peer fashion app. The grind paid off. Today, Bickel says one in four Manhattanite women ages 18 to 25 have used the platform, which has gained traction among social media influencers and everyday renters.
The company has long outgrown those hand-delivered orders. Hundreds of thousands of Pickle users now exchange items in person, via courier, or by shipping. More than 350,000 items are listed on the app, which — unlike traditional rental services that maintain inventory — relies on users loaning items from their own closets and charges a per-rental fee rather than a subscription fee.
McMahon, 31, Pickle’s CEO, and O’Mara, 28, its chief operating officer, launched the project five years ago after working at Blackstone as assistant vice president and product manager, respectively. Named for its utility when someone finds themselves “in trouble,” the startup has emerged as a rising player in the business world. The clothing rental market is rapidly growing.
Last year, the founders raised $12 million in a funding round led by FirstMark and Craft Ventures, capital they plan to use to expand their 18-person team and take the platform outside the United States.
They’re also looking beyond women’s clothing. While today’s most popular Pickle rentals revolve around vacations, weddings, birthdays and ski trips. Dresses, in particular, have proven popular. The most rented item last year was A Green guest wedding dress by Manning Cartel. Other categories are gaining traction as well. Pickle’s second most popular item last year was the Canon PowerShot G7 The founders say demand is growing for hair tools, luggage and other loanable items.
Observer spoke to McMahon and O’Mara about their ambition to build an Airbnb-style fashion marketplace while unlocking untapped items in people’s closets and promoting a more circular approach to consumption.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you tell me about the origins of the pickle? You two met at Blackstone first, right?
McMahon: Yes, we met at Blackstone. We were working together on a couple of different projects while we were there, and then left in the spring of 2021 to start a company with a different concept than we have today. The original idea was to help people make better purchasing decisions through social surveys. So, if you’re in the market for something new — whether it’s a new dress, some shoes, or a suit — you can post some options in the form of a poll to a community of users with similar style preferences, and they’ll essentially be able to recommend or vote on what you should buy.
We ran with this idea for about a year. We were looking for ways to make it more consistent and potential pivot opportunities. And what we noticed is that in the comments of a lot of these surveys, people were recommending things that they already owned, and that’s just kind of an electric spark: What if we allowed people to rent and lend and borrow and buy from each other?
We were able to pivot the company in about a week and launched what we are today, Pickle, a rental and resale marketplace. We describe it as a kind of Airbnb for the things you own.
What makes Pickle stand out among its competitors?
O’Mara: When compared to some of the other players in the rental space, we have very little assets. We don’t have any in stock. It’s truly a peer-to-peer model. And what the peer-to-peer aspect does is it allows the view to be quite dynamic.
Someone will post something on Instagram — let’s say they’re a creator, or let’s say they’re just a regular user — and their audience and followers will immediately be like, “Hey, this is really cool.” I would love to see it in your pickle cabinet. I’d love to borrow it from you.
How big a role did social media influencers play in spreading the word?
O’Mara: You have to build up a lot of supplies before you can ask people to come to Pickle and rent from other women there, and influencers have a surplus of clothes in their closets. They are on the cutting edge of fashion, setting those trends, and they are also excellent at wearing a lot of clothes because they are always going to events.
Right now, we see that influencers have a really strong motivation to share their coffers with their audience for a few different reasons: Monetization, of course, is a great additional source of income for them. And they have this kind of recurring feedback from their audience that is really excited to be able to wear this item that they just wore on their trip, whether it’s something they participated in when they were in Paris, or something they decided to wear in Aspen or to their own birthday party.
One caveat about influencers is that they’re great at brand awareness and everything, but they’re a very small portion of the people who actually use Pickle. Most people are everyday women who are really interested in trends but want to participate in a circular and affordable way, rather than resorting to fast fashion.
What are the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
McMahon: The hardest thing is helping people understand how it works and the value it provides. IIt’s definitely a new concept. While the sharing economy itself isn’t new — we’re sitting in the back seats of people’s cars, or staying in their homes — using people’s things is entirely new, and helping people understand that concept is probably the most challenging part yet.
Are there limits to where you can expand beyond fashion?
McMahon: Homes and cars are probably where we’ll set the limit. I think these things are being done well now by some of the early pioneers of the sharing economy, like Airbnb, Uber, and Turo, and we’ve learned a lot from them.
Especially around the holidays, people wanted KitchenAid mixers to bake cookies or mixers and things like that. If they’re hosting a party or gathering, you don’t need to stock up on several long tables, a bunch of chairs and coolers when others around you have some, and you can borrow or take advantage of that supply. Ski wear is very popular on the platform, and a lot of people say, hey, I’d like to rent skis and snowboards too. You can take it a step further and think, oh, what if they’re waiting in their Airbnb when they get there?
I don’t think there are limits to the things we can bring to this market. Ultimately, it will be driven solely by consumer demand. Our job is to listen and understand what our customers want and then go out and make it happen on both the supply and demand side.
How much can a typical Pickle lender earn?
O’Mara: Some of our top lenders earn thousands of dollars a month. One of our favorite quotes is hearing someone say, “I pay my rent with my Pickle earnings.” This is always a good idea.
What does the process of maintaining and cleaning items look like?
O’Mara: We have a few things in place to make sure it’s a smooth and great experience. Firstly, obviously we have a full pickle protection policy so you are protected on both sides as a lender or tenant. When you loan an item, you are expected to handle it with care, and return it in normal worn condition, with no damage. And you are fully protected: if something happens, the tenant will pay for those damages. On the other hand, it is expected that the renter will be able to obtain an item that is clean, ready to wear and as described in the market.
And then, within the app, we looked at other marketplaces that have amazing review systems that keep people really accountable within the community. So everyone on the platform is reviewed, and if you don’t handle someone’s item carefully, you’ll get a bad review, and no other lender will accept your rental.
What are the most popular places in Pickle, and what explains their growth in certain cities?
O’Mara: New York was our first focus. Then Los Angeles, then Miami – all these other communities started to grow, I think, because of the way people were talking about Pickle. It is an oral product. You’re wearing a beautiful dress, I congratulate you and ask where you got it, and you tell me all about Pickle.
We’ll see some great young bucks growing up, whether it’s sorority girls at SMU in Dallas or young professionals in Chicago getting their MBAs. And we’re seeing some of that density happening between the different programs that we’ve launched through Growth Fellows and Ambassadors.
Will you expand outside the US?
McMahon: Absolutely. We plan to do so in the future. I won’t say much now, but we’re very excited about it. I think there are a lot of markets within North America, but also in Europe and other regions as well. We are very excited to do this, and hopefully very soon.
What are your main goals for 2026?
McMahon: We’re working on a lot of great new product features and are just improving the speed, personalization, and entire experience processes — both the shopping and discovery experiences, as well as the actual exchange process. We’re excited to continue to grow more and more in all these different markets across the United States, which we think is going to be really great.
I think the No. 1 thing we want to do this year is just enhance the customer experience and make sure that a lot of people leave saying, wow, this was great, or this was great, or this was really helpful, and they talk about it with their friends. This is our number one focus for the year, overall.
