Who Owns Nuuly? Urban Outfitters (URBN) and the Hayne Family

A lot of people search for this as "Nully." That is almost always a misspelling of Nuuly, the clothing rental service, and that is the company this page covers. I checked the answer against URBN's own SEC filings: the annual report for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, the 2026 proxy statement, the second quarter 10-Q filed September 9, 2026, and a Schedule 13D filed by Nuuly's president.

Quick answer

What is Nuuly?

URBN's annual report describes Nuuly as "primarily a monthly women's apparel subscription rental service." For a monthly fee, subscribers rent clothes from URBN's own brands, from third-party brands and from one-of-a-kind vintage pieces. They pick their items each month, wear them as often as they like, then swap into new ones the next month. If they want to keep something, they can buy it, and it ships with their next order.

When it went live on July 30, 2019, Modern Retail reported the price as $88 a month for six items. I have not seen a current price in URBN's filings, so check Nuuly's own site for today's plan.

Nuuly runs on its own custom-built software platform and has its own warehouses. According to the fiscal 2026 10-K, it uses a 1,024,000 square foot fulfillment center in Raymore, Missouri, which URBN leased until it bought the building in March 2026, and a 309,000 square foot fulfillment center it leases in Bristol, Pennsylvania. About 8% of URBN's roughly 31,000 employees worked in the Subscription segment as of January 31, 2026.

URBN also tried a resale marketplace called Nuuly Thrift. The company wrote off $6.4 million of its equipment in fiscal 2024 and wound it down in fiscal 2025, per the 10-K.

The Nuuly ownership chain

There is no outside investor between Nuuly and URBN in the filings I read. The chain is short:

Public shareholders + the Hayne family + funds such as BlackRock and Fidelity
 └── Urban Outfitters, Inc. (Pennsylvania corporation, Nasdaq: URBN, Philadelphia)
      ├── Retail segment: Anthropologie, Free People, FP Movement, Urban Outfitters, Menus & Venues
      ├── Subscription segment: Nuuly
      └── Wholesale segment: Free People, FP Movement, Urban Outfitters

URBN's 10-K lists Nuuly among the company's trademarks alongside Anthropologie, Free People and Urban Outfitters, and the company's own brand page counts Nuuly as one of eight brands in the portfolio (viewed October 22, 2026).

Who owns Urban Outfitters, Nuuly's parent?

Because URBN is public, anyone can buy a piece of Nuuly indirectly by buying URBN shares. But a small group controls a large block. The 2026 proxy statement reports these holdings as of March 11, 2026, based on 88,423,626 shares outstanding:

Two cautions on reading that table. First, the stakes overlap: Cherken's shares are largely trusts he co-manages with Margaret Hayne and David Hayne, so you cannot add the rows together. Second, the 32.1% insider figure counts directors and executive officers only, which is why it does not include David Hayne's 5.11%.

Richard Hayne co-founded Urban Outfitters in 1970 and has been chairman since the company was incorporated in 1976, according to the 10-K. The proxy says he asked for a base salary of $1.00 a year, and the board's compensation committee has kept it there; he remained eligible for a performance bonus for fiscal 2026. His Form 4 filed October 8, 2026 shows 17,358,215 shares held directly after he gave away 236 shares on October 7, 2026, plus shares held indirectly through a trust, the Hayne Foundation and his 401(k).

Who runs Nuuly?

Nuuly's president is Dave Hayne, whose legal name in SEC filings is David A. Hayne. His Schedule 13D, filed February 18, 2026, says he "serves as Chief Technology Officer of the Company and President of the Nuuly Brand." URBN's leadership page says he started in 2001 on the floor of the Urban Outfitters store in downtown Philadelphia and, as President of Nuuly, "developed the team, concept and plan to launch URBN's rental subscription platform in 2019."

So Nuuly is run by a Hayne, owned by a company the Hayne family controls, and reports up to Richard Hayne as CEO. That is about as close as a brand inside a public company gets to being family run.

How big is Nuuly, and does it make money?

Nuuly has gone from a money loser to URBN's fastest growing unit. These are the Subscription segment figures straight from URBN's segment tables:

The growth comes mostly from more people paying. URBN says Subscription sales rose in fiscal 2026 "primarily" because average active subscribers grew 45.3%, and in the quarter ended July 31, 2026 because the average number of active subscribers grew 30.4% year over year. URBN does not print an exact subscriber count in the filings I read, so I am not quoting one.

In context, Nuuly made up about 9.2% of URBN's $6.17 billion in fiscal 2026 net sales, and about 11.0% of sales in the six months to July 31, 2026, according to the 10-K and 10-Q.

Nuuly vs Rent the Runway

Nuuly's best known rival is Rent the Runway, which is a separate public company (Nasdaq: RENT). For the same quarter ended July 31, 2026, Rent the Runway reported total revenue of $97.7 million and 140,826 ending active subscribers in its September 11, 2026 release. Nuuly's sales for that quarter were $178.6 million, which makes Nuuly the larger rental business by revenue on these filings. The main ownership difference: Rent the Runway answers to its own shareholders, while Nuuly is one division of a retailer that can feed it inventory from its own brands.

Frequently asked questions

Is Nuuly owned by Urban Outfitters? Yes. Nuuly is a brand of Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN), reported as its Subscription segment in the 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026.

What is "Nully"? In almost every search it is a misspelling of Nuuly, URBN's clothing rental subscription. If you meant something else by Nully, this page does not cover it.

Who founded Nuuly? URBN launched Nuuly in 2019. URBN credits Dave Hayne, now its Chief Technology Officer and President of Nuuly, with developing the team, concept and plan for the launch.

Is Nuuly a public company? Not on its own. You cannot buy Nuuly stock directly. Its results are part of Urban Outfitters, Inc., which trades on Nasdaq under URBN.

Does Nuuly make a profit? Yes, at the segment level. URBN reported Subscription segment operating income of $34.9 million for the year to January 31, 2026, and $19.0 million for the quarter to July 31, 2026, after a $17.1 million loss in fiscal 2024.

What brands does Nuuly rent? URBN's own brands, such as Anthropologie, Free People and Urban Outfitters, plus third-party labels and vintage pieces, per the 10-K. URBN's brand page says Nuuly curates hundreds of designers and labels (viewed October 22, 2026).

For more on who owns fashion houses, see who owns Hermès and who owns Versace.