I worked in the tuxedo industry for almost a decade. It's full of exploitation top to bottom, and I want to tell you why you shouldn't support it. Let's start with the price. That tuxedo you payed $200 or more to rent? It usually costs the company about that much, possibly less, for the whole head to toe outfit. And they're going to dry clean it and rent it out at least a hundred, possibly a hundred and fifty more times before they get a tax write off for donating it. Every rental after the first is almost pure profit. All they have to do is dry clean it and press it before renting it to somebody else next weekend.
Speaking of dry cleaning, let's talk about the chemical used to dry clean your rental garments. It's called perchloroethylene, and if you Google it, this is the first sentence you'll see: “Perchloroethylene (PERC) is the most common solvent used for dry cleaning in the United States. PERC is a reproductive toxicant, neurotoxicant, potential human carcinogen, and a persistent environmental pollutant.”
The workers dry cleaning your garments are exposed to this chemical all day, every day, because 99% of dry cleaners and tuxedo shop owners don't properly maintain their equipment. Or they'll overload the machine so that the garments don't completely dry before they're pulled out of the machine for pressing. Not to mention the shoe scuff remover used to polish your rental shoes. I don't know what that chemical is called, but it is extremely harsh smelling and will fuck up your hands. I'm sure it's just as bad for you, if not worse than dry cleaning fluid.
Not to mention that every tuxedo rental/dry cleaning shop I've worked in was owned by a petty tyrant who thought he was god because he took over the family business that his Italian-American father started fifty or sixty years ago. The last shop I worked in was owned by one of these. I was salaried at the time and didn't realize he was required to pay overtime. During prom season I worked 80 hours per week for months on end. I earned $32,000 per year. My boss made six figures and went on vacation to his second house in Florida at least three or four times per year. Not to mention him buying a new BMW or F150 every other year. Sometimes both.
The owner was also extremely manipulative and emotionally abusive. And based on the decade I spent working in the industry, he was not an outlier.
The bottom line? Don't rent a tuxedo, don't give money to these greedy assholes that always talk about how they're a family business and blah blah fucking blah, because whether you're a customer or an employee behind the scenes, everybody except the owner is getting exploited by the entire process.