Kit Lender Review | Everything you need to know before you rent your gear

Below is our complete Kit Lender Review: Our honest thoughts after renting ski equipment for our family ski vacation.

Have you ever dreamed of a winter ski vacation but then start to doubt the idea because the cost of buying ski clothing, just to wear it all one time throws the travel budget out the window? Not to mention you’ll probably need extra suitcases just to pack it all!

If you are like us and live in a warm climate region or if you have multiple children that will no doubt out grow all the clothes before you ski again, then dreams of a ski vacation can quickly vanish with the reality of costly ski gear! 

For our first trip to Deer Valley, UT, we bought all the stuff—ski jackets, pants, goggles, gloves, buffs, hats and more. It costs us so much money and with our kids being 9 and 11 at the time, we skied for a week and a couple of years later (without skiing again) donated it to local charities and handed it down to friends because they outgrew it all. 

Six years later, when planing our next ski trip, we were going to have to start all over again but thanks to Kit Lender, that all changed! 

The following review is my personal experience. We were not paid to use their products nor am I paid to post this. This is an honest review in hopes of sharing about a company I enjoyed discovering and to continue my mission to share about small businesses that I want to support. 

I discovered Kit Lender thanks to someone I follow on Instagram. I had never heard of them before but there were EXACTLY what we needed for our once in a decade ski trips. 

My two teens decked out in Kit Lender ski gear

Who is Kit Lender and what are they about? 

Kit Lender is an online rental company that rents outdoor equipment & apparel.  Based in Stowe, Vermont they ship your rental items to you (or the place you are staying) so they are ready when you arrive! That means no extra luggage, shipping your own boxes beforehand or having to buy things when you arrive on vacation. 

Thanks to their free two-way, trackable shipping, your rented items are waiting for you when you arrive and you’ll get email updates through the whole process. 

There are three rental categories; Snow & Ski, Tri & Swim and Hike & Camp. They will ship to anywhere is the US. If you are traveling outside the US, you would have to ship it to yourself before leaving and bring it with you, which may add a couple extra days to your rental. 

Free shipping, both ways! Is that too good to be true?

Nope, it’s real and it gets even better! Some of the things I was most impressed about our Kit Lender experience was the logistics around shipping. 

First, you need to be sure to have an address for your rental stay that is not a PO Box and where someone can someone can accept the package on your behalf. In other words, no drop off locations or risking leaving it unattended for hours or days. They even offer sending it to nearby FedEx locations. 

The best part is, they will help you confirm all this. They will double check addresses to ensure your package arrives safely. In our case, we had to ship it to the manager’s house and we were charged $50 from the rental agency to collect it and bring it to our unit because our unit did not have a secure drop-off location. Knowing what I know now, if we were to go to Whitefish again, I would send it to the local Walgreens and pick up there since we drove right by it and actually stopped in, but we didn’t know that then. 

Kit Lender will even send you an email a few days before the kits are sent in case you need to make any adjustments. 

Speaking of Walgreens, when we were there, we grabbed packing tape because I thought we might need it for the returning of the box. I was wrong!! Kit Lender even takes care of that. In your perfectly packaged box, you will find a free return label and packing tape. Brilliant! 

Our box fit four kits, three of them included Sorel boots and it was packed perfectly, each kit bundled together and in a manageable size box. 

What is a kit from Kit Lender and what all is included? 

As I mentioned, Kit Lender offers kits for triathlons and swimming, hiking and camping and ski and snow sports. For the sake of this review, I am focusing on only ski and snow since that is what we rented. In addition to kits, they do sell apparel and rent other add-ons like pants and jackets only, in case you want to use some items you already own. With Kit Lender, you can truly build it to suit your needs and not feel like you have to get extras for the sake of a bundle. 

Since we were skiing in Whitefish, we needed the basics; jackets, pants, goggles, gloves and three out of four of us needed boots. 

For snow and ski, they offer kits that include boots and ones that do not which was perfect in our case. 

Kit Lender rents so many familiar brand names such as The North Face, Burton, Spyder, Helly Hansen and Obermeyer. 

Once you choose a kit you like, you will choose your size, color and in some cases can choose between brands offered for a specific category, for example one kit might offer pants from The North Face and Obermeyer or different styles, such as bib pants and regular ski pants. 

I also appreciated that they offered short and tall lengths in most pants. My 5’4” legs were grateful to find short length and my 6’3” husband had the option to choose tall, though he did not and was fine.

More on fit soon. 

Once you choose your sizes, you add it to the cart and move on to your next traveler. It’s that easy! Everyone can pick a style and color kit they prefer! 

If you find your items and have them in your cart, do not delay!

We learned this lesson the hard way! If you are traveling during peak seasons, things move fast at Kit Lender. One night I had picked out everyone’s kits and went back the next day (after I confirmed a few details) and two of the kits were no longer available, so I had to start again for two of us. The other two stayed in the cart and it was fine. 

Once I had the revisions made, I quickly finished the order so I wasn’t doing that again. 

In addition, by the time our items shipped, my original jacket color was no longer available, so they sent me a different color, same brand. Not a big deal and they quickly let me know about the change. 

When we got to our unit and unpacked our box, each kit was in its own separate pouch, making it so easy to know what belonged to who! 

My husband and I in (almost all) our Kit Lender gear…more about that below.

Concerns about sizing & quality? Not trying on before you go can seem risky.

This is a legitimate concern and was really the only small problem we had. Let me explain! 

So we ordered four kits, we are a family of four with two teens. 

Two female adults; we each ordered a jacket, pants, googles and glove and one kit with boots, one without.

Two male adults, both with jackets, pants, goggles, gloves and boots.

I will just say that the quality of all the items was excellent. Everything arrived in clean, pristine condition. Everything was a name brand and while not new, felt very close to it, maybe worn once before? 

My husband’s kit was all North Face and his jacket, goggles, Sorel boots and gloves all fit very well. His pants were a bit snug but he made them work. 

My son’s kit fit perfectly, everything was spot on. 

My daughter’s kit fit exactly as she had hoped. We were a little concerned about the jacket she picked because it did not seem water-resistant (it was down-filled). Thankfully it wasn’t a problem because she didn’t fall much but if you have a new skier or someone that likes to play in the snow, be sure to read the descriptions and choose waterproof or water-resistant items. 

The problem lied with my kit. My jacket color was switched from red to black, which did not bother me at all and I actually loved my jacket from The North Face. It was soft, had a removable insert and fit very well. If I lived in a cold-weather place, I’d buy it. 

Googles and gloves were fine.

It was the pants that were the problem.

First I really thought I had ordered pants from The North Face and I typically where the same size in all brands so that’s what I ordered. I received Obermeyer pants and they were too tight. Like could barely squat in them tight never mind ski in them. Had I tried to wear them, I would have ripped them. 

So there I was in Whitefish with no ski pants.

Since we had never been there before, we weren’t sure if the resort sold pants and if they did, would they cost a fortune? We didn’t want to get up there to find out they did not and most retailers in the area didn’t open until 10am (we were wanting to be at the resort around 9am). So my only other choice was to buy a pair from Tamarack Ski Shop where we rented our equipment. 

Their only options were $300 or $375 dollar pants.

So despite trying to save money renting, I am now the proud owner of ski pants that cost almost half of our entire rental. It was painful. 

When we got to the resort, turns out they did sell pants but I couldn’t bring myself to look at the price. Have you ever felt that way? Sometimes you just don’t want to know, right?

In full transparency, I didn’t call Kit Lender to inquire about my options. It was 7pm in Whitefish, MT and we were skiing the next morning at 9am. I felt that I just had to solve it on my own.

So the lesson here is double check the brands you order and if you are unfamiliar with them, use the size charts to compare measurements. If you are still unsure, size up because almost all ski pants have adjustable waistbands and with layers, even if they are a little big, you can make it work. Too small is not as forgiving. 

We all know Customer Service is important, what’s it like to work with KitLender? 

This is where Kit Lender shines—their customer service agents and their procedures are awesome. 

First, when they needed to confirm my shipping address they gave me the option to call or email them to give confirm the address. I chose to call and I’m glad I did because it was only then that an ordering error on my part was discovered. 

Turns out, I listed my end rental date incorrectly. I listed it as the day we were leaving, not the day we were done skiing.

I thought for sure, I’d be out a day of rental costs but that was not the case. Christian was quick to help me adjust my order and immediately credited my credit card for one day’s rental for each kit! 

On top of that, all their communications were quick, helpful and notifications about delivery and arrivals, as well as the return shipment process, were sent on a regular basis. 

I was always aware of the status of my order and was confident that I could call them and talk to a kind human if needed. 

What if we lose or damage something? 

We did have a situation where my daughter dropped one of her gloves off the ski lift, never to be found again.

A replacement pair was purchased on the slopes so she could continue skiing but we weren’t sure what to do about it as we prepared to send our kits back. 

This was another small hurdle we faced. I texted the help number and it took a while to get an answer back. I asked, should I send my replacement item or not? If I do not, is there a fee or would this be covered in the damage fee included in the order? 

Answers were slow and we needed to send the box back, so I included the new gloves. I knew they were similar in quality and the same color but it was a risk. If they did not approve of the replacement we sent, we were out a new pair of gloves and would likely have to pay fee to replace them. 

We got an reply after I sent the box saying we could send them and they would review them upon arrival. Lucky for us, they were approved and we were not charged anything extra. 

If it were to happen again, I’d call instead of text. Texting does not seem to be the fastest way to communicate with a Kit Lender agent. 

Our overall experience using Kit Lender for the first time.

If we were to ski again or if we plan to go camping in near future, I would definitely use Kit Lender again. Not only are they a US based small company that has great customer service, quality products and simply a great concept but using Kit Lender, saved us money (even with buying a pair of pants), helped us pack lighter and we were not forced to buy anything we didn’t need or wouldn’t use again in the near future. 

It’s also a fun way to try new products without the commitment and try new outdoor fashions. I love the idea that it eliminates the pressure or need to buy fast fashion or rely on cheap brands sold on Amazon. I feel what they are doing is great for our environment, the clothing industry and helping travelers travel better and lighter. 

We certainly learned a few lessons on our first experience, I know which questions to ask next time and I won’t have to rent pants because I have my own. Trying to look on the bright side! So I guess that means we need to plan another ski vacation.

Speaking of a ski vacation, if you are curious about visiting Whitefish, MT, be sure to read my blog post about all things Whitefish. It’s truly a dream winter destination!

I appreciate companies that are customer focused, reliable and offer a quality product. Kit Lender marks all those boxes and I now consider myself a loyal customer going forward. 

To check them out for your next adventure, you can find them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and their website lists their entire catalog of items—so much to choose from. 

If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them! 

Celebrate Small business, Explore Kit Lender! 

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