How a Side Hustler Turned an Unused Camera into a $7,000 Monthly Income

When Kat Friday, a revenue operations professional at fintech firm Marqeta, downloaded the fashion rental platform Pickle, she wasn’t thinking about clothes. She had a Canon G7 X camera gathering dust—a $1,000 device she barely used—and decided to list it for $150 a week. The response was immediate: a flood of rental requests from people desperate for the hard-to-find gadget. “I immediately got a bunch of rentals for it,” Friday told Fortune. That single listing sparked a side hustle that now earns her roughly $7,000 every month.

Encouraged by the camera’s success, Friday began listing clothes she seldom wore, then started buying trendy outfits in multiple sizes specifically to rent. Eight months later, she is one of Pickle’s top lenders in New York, handling 25 to 30 orders a week, renting a 100-square-foot storage unit, and considering hiring her first employee—all while keeping her full-time job. Running the business means evenings spent steaming and packing inventory with a portable power station at the storage unit. “There’s always things to be cleaned. There’s always orders to be packed,” she said.

Friday is not alone. Pinterest employee Martyna Wiacek earns $2,000 to $3,000 monthly renting wedding dresses and occasion wear on the same platform. Many of her customers return because they prefer to rent an outfit they plan to wear only once rather than buy it. Pickle, founded in 2021, now operates across all 50 U.S. states and has raised $20 million in funding. The company says it is introducing young shoppers to designer brands they might later buy.

What’s Driving Gen Z’s Shift from Ownership to Access

The Access-Over-Ownership Mindset

Pickle co-founder Julia O’Mara notes that Gen Z increasingly values access over ownership, seeing fashion as something to try guilt-free for a single event rather than a permanent possession. The platform’s peer-to-peer model lets users experiment with a designer piece—feeling the fit, quality, and worth—before potentially committing to a full-price purchase. Co-founder Brian McMahon calls it a “gateway into luxury.” This shift is reshaping retail: instead of a one-time sale, brands may find a new funnel where rentals create future buyers.

From Closet to Commerce

The story of Kat Friday highlights how a personal item can become a micro-business. She didn’t need fashion expertise; she simply noticed what was in demand (the camera, then specific clothing styles) and scaled by buying multiples of popular pieces. Her monthly revenue of $7,000 suggests that what began as a casual listing can match or exceed a full-time entry-level salary, with relatively low overhead. However, the work is relentless: cleaning, packing, and fulfilling dozens of orders each week demands time and logistics, making it far from passive income.

How to Start Your Own Peer-to-Peer Fashion Rental Side Hustle

  • Start with what you already own. Before buying inventory, list unused items—cameras, occasion dresses, accessories—that you rarely use but others might want. Friday’s first success came from a dusty gadget, not fashion expertise.
  • Treat it like a business from day one. Once you spot a winning item, buy it in multiple sizes if necessary, and organize your inventory in a dedicated storage space. A steam iron and portable power can turn a storage unit into a mini clean-and-pack station.
  • Know your platform’s user base. Pickle attracts Gen Z shoppers looking for one-time wear and trendy pieces. Align your listings with what that audience values—new styles, wedding guest dresses, and hyped gadgets—to maximize rental frequency.