灰姑娘的魔法衣橱 RENT THE RUNWAY= 女人+互联网 | 经济学人全球早报精选

文 / 王不留（微信公众号：考研英语笔记）

2021年10月28号的清晨，来杯“经济学人浓香咖啡”，提神解困。

Dressed up: Rent the Runway’s IPO

Rent the Runway hopes to strut its stuff when it floats in New York on Wednesday. The fashion company, which hires out luxury clothes to subscribers, is aiming for a valuation of as much as $1.5bn. It’s a lofty goal for a firm still rebounding from a covid-induced dip. Homebound consumers saw little need to dress up during lockdown, and Rent the Runway’s active-subscriber count tumbled from over 130,000 at the end of 2019 to fewer than 55,000 a year later.

Things are picking up: the active-subscriber base edged close to 100,000 by the end of July. But the company’s valuation relies on dolled-up accounting. Rent the Runway excludes product depreciation from its profit calculation—by that tailor-made metric it is profitable. Yet replacing distressed dresses and battered bags is a core cost. Fancy accounting will not hide a net loss of $171m last year.

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Dressed up: Rent the Runway’s IPO

盛装打扮：Rent the Runway的IPO

王不留(wbliu85)注：

1. 

Rent the Runway由Hyman和Jennifer Fleiss二人共同创建于2009年，旨在为女性提供重要场合的知名设计师服装租赁服务，如婚纱和礼服，从而避免花大价钱购买这些只会穿一次的服装。

Rent the Runway尚无正式的中文名。

2.

IPO，首次公开募股（Initial Public Offering），是指一家企业第一次将它的股份向公众出售。

通常，上市公司的股份是根据相应证监会出具的招股书或登记声明中约定的条款通过经纪商或做市商进行销售。一般来说，一旦首次公开上市完成后，这家公司就可以申请到证券交易所或报价系统挂牌交易。

Rent the Runway hopes to strut its stuff when it floats in New York on Wednesday. The fashion company, which hires out luxury clothes to subscribers, is aiming for a valuation of as much as $1.5bn. It’s a lofty goal for a firm still rebounding from a covid-induced dip. Homebound consumers saw little need to dress up during lockdown, and Rent the Runway’s active-subscriber count tumbled from over 130,000 at the end of 2019 to fewer than 55,000 a year later.

当Rent the Runway周三在纽约上市时，它希望能大显身手。这家向用户出租高档服装的时尚公司，目标估值高达15亿美元。对于一家正从疫情导致的生意惨淡中恢复的公司来说，这是一个崇高的目标。隔离期间，居家的客户几乎不需要打扮，Rent the Runway的活跃用户数从2019年底的13多万跌到一年后不到5.5万。

strut its stuff 大显身手

float 发行股票；使上市

as much as 多达 

lofty 崇高的

rebounding 弹回 ;  反弹 ;  报应 ;  反作用于 ;  回升 ;  rebound的现在分词 

dress up 盛装打扮 ;  打扮 ;  装扮 ;  给…打扮 ;  给…装扮 ;  修饰 ;  美化 ;  粉饰 

lockdown 活动限制 

tumbled 跌倒，摔倒，滚落，翻滚下来 ;  倒塌 ;  坍塌 ;  暴跌，骤降 ;  tumble的过去分词和过去式 

at the end of 在…的结尾 ;  在…末端

Things are picking up: the active-subscriber base edged close to 100,000 by the end of July. But the company’s valuation relies on dolled-up accounting. Rent the Runway excludes product depreciation from its profit calculation—by that tailor-made metric it is profitable. Yet replacing distressed dresses and battered bags is a core cost. Fancy accounting will not hide a net loss of $171m last year.

情况正在好转：活跃用户数到七月底接近10万。但公司估值依赖于美化后的账目。Rent the Runway将产品折旧从其利润核算中排除，按照盈利的定制指标计算。然而，更换旧衣服和破旧包是一项核心成本。花哨的会计核算掩盖不了去年1.71亿美元的净亏损。

close to 接近 ;  在近处;凑近地 

by the end of 到…结束时 ;  在…尽头 

doll up  把……打扮的花枝招展

profit calculation 利润核算 

tailor-made 量身定制 ;  为…特别制作;专为…制作;为…量身定做 ;  特制的 ;  订做的 ;  专门设置的 ;  非常合适的 ;  tailor-make的过去式 

battered 破旧不堪的 ;  受到严重虐待的 ;  受到重创的 ;  连续猛击 ;  殴打 ;  batter的过去分词和过去式 

Fancy accounting 粉饰结算，非真实的核算 

net loss 净亏损

今天的经济学人全英文早报请看 ->> “The Economist Espresso 20211028” 。

科普帖：什么是The Economist Espresso？