Eddie Bauer Does a Big Ole’ Cannonball Into the Gear Rental Pool

We ran an article a few years ago asking readers if they would consider renting outdoor gear when they needed it, rather than buying it and always having it around. The overwhelming response was “Hell yes, I’d rent.”

Maybe Eddie Bauer read that piece. Today, they debut their new gear and apparel renting service, and after a quick perusal, it’s pretty well sorted. Short of a sleeping pad, you can rent pretty much all the big cornerstone (read: expensive) pieces you’d need for a camping adventure, whether car camping or backpacking.

Tents, sleeping bags, camp chairs, coolers, backpacks, lanterns, jackets, shirts, boots, pants—they’re all there. Prices seem reasonable. For about $30 per day, you can rent a big tent, two sleeping bags, two camp chairs, a cooler, and a lantern as part of a set. If you just want to try out one of Eddie Bauer’s premium sleeping bags, that’ll run ya about $13 per day. A nice 3p tent is about $20 per day. But they have cheaper options at half those prices too.

They’ll ship anywhere in the contiguous United States. Planning a Glacier National Park excursion, but don’t wanna schlep a bunch of dirty gear to and fro? Well, why not simply have what you need from the big EB delivered to your hotel, or Airbnb, or, if you’re strictly camping, any FedEx you like, where you can swing in and pick it up.

You can reserve things for free, too. A few minutes toying around with the site revealed that everything but the camping set for two was available next week. Perhaps not surprising, considering this is the first day Eddie Bauer is offering the service. But still, it’s an easy site design, the process seems straightforward.

Only thing that wasn’t clear was the shipping cost. The site doesn’t specifically mention shipping costs, but if you add items to your cart, a shipping cost reads $0.00, which we presume will be calculated at checkout. It is free to return your items when you’ve gotten them good and filthy.

Speaking of, a gear rental company called Arrive is handling the actual nuts and bolts of shipping. They claim to clean things as per CDC guidance, when it comes to Covid-19, and, we presume, just run of the mill dirt.

Yeah, organizing a gear storage shed is fun, but so is not having to.