The Uber & Airbnb of the Clothing Industry

[tajdin]

THIS IS JUST AN IDEA

I want to disrupt the clothing retail industry more than ecommerce and online shopping has already. I want to bring the Sharing economy or some call it the peer to peer economy into the clothing retail space, such as how Uber has totally disrupted the taxi transportation industry or how Airbnb has reshaped how we look at Hospitality.

Imagine that you are one of two types of people:

TYPE A) shopaholic, you have a closet OVERFULL with clothes you barely find time to year - even the latest outfits
TYPE B) you HATE retail or online shopping, you barely find time to do either - but you want to still look good and up-to-date

My Goal is to provide a service that brings the access & supply of TYPE A people's closet to the demand of TYPE B people. The platform will allow TYPE A to lease out approved items from their closet, so that TYPE B can rent these items out for 7 to 14 days, while TYPE A earns money from every item they have rented out. We, the service providers, will handle the Dry Cleaning and Logistical aspect of the service, seamlessly connecting those with clothes to lease out, with those interested in renting out those clothes, and vice verse.

Current competitors already in this market are:
https://closet.gwynniebee.com/
https://www.themscollection.com
https://www.letote.com/
https://www.renttherunway.com/
https://www.stylelend.com/

We have identified Style lend as being the closest to our services, due tot he fact that they are the only service out at the moment that rent out other people's clothes. Although they focus primarily on High-end designer women apparel, while we aim to be mainstream.

That is the gist of the idea - so please all honesty, i'm here for the constructive criticism. Let me know what you think about the idea, is it something you could see yourself using, if not, why? Do you have a customer in mind? any other competitor out there that i am miss or have you tried any of their services --- yeah just ROAST IT UP!

THANK YOU!

 

[crazysis]

@tajdin So what's in it for the type B person? Looks like I still need to go through some kind of website and lease the clothes I want? It also sound like I need to do this more often than I did when I bought the clothes. Every other week? That sounds like a hassle.
How much am I paying for this? Got to be cheap right? But how are you going to afford to wash the clothes after two weeks? Am I paying for that too?

 

[tajdin]

@crazysis Thank you for your comment - type B person rents the clothes, this doesn't generally mean that they have absolutely no clothes of their own. But for 7 or 14 days they have items that they previously did not own or are unable to afford outright and they can wear it as much as they want during that duration rented out. It will be cheap, generally cheaper than buying the clothes itself. There is a mandatory insurance that will cover damages to the item, buy if you lose it or damage it beyond repair, you will pay the retail price for the item. Dry cleaning is covered by us, the service provider - we have already started contracting out reputable dry cleaning services at a very advantages price fro commercial bulk items.

 

[crazysis]

@tajdin Ok perhaps I understood your description wrong.

TYPE B) you HATE retail or online shopping, you barely find time to do either - but you want to still look good and up-to-date

This is me. I hate it, but to me it sounds like I have to do a lot more shopping this way, pay the same and also be careful with my clothes.

It sounds like this product is for Type C.

But for 7 or 14 days they have items that they previously did not own or are unable to afford outright and they can wear it as much as they want during that duration rented out. It will be cheap, generally cheaper than buying the clothes itself.

Someone who has the time to do a lot of shopping online (or leasing online), want to look good but can't afford it. That's not me.

 

[tajdin]

@crazysis Thank you so much! your input is so appreciated. If you don't mind me asking two questions:

1) what is your age range & what do you do for a living (don't need the specifics)?

2) how do you feel about buying second hand clothing - such as goodwill or more trendy Plato's Closet: http://www.platosclosetedison.com/how-it-works

 

[crazysis]

@tajdin

1. 25-30. (Can't really disclose this, but I own a company)
2. So, I am not from the US, I don't know anything about those stores. Generally I don't buy second hand clothing, I don't mind it but when I do buy clothes I prefer to do it online and it's hard to find good reputable online vendors of second hand clothes where I am from.

 

[beldog]

@tajdin This runs into problems for individual execution. Say I have a nice closet, and am willing to loan some clothes out.

For you to come and try my shit on, you have to physically come to my closet and try shit on. That means I have to actually be present and talk to you about clothes and stuff, so you'll MAYBE take something that we're just pretending you're going to return.

That means I have to take time off work, cancel whatever bullshit I'm doing with the kids, clean the house, so you can come play dress-up at my house.

The alternative is that I leave my door unlocked so some stranger can come take shit out of my closet.

Unless you're paying your closet folks by the hour AND per item, this isn't going to fly. You would also need a way of compensating folks for stolen/late returned items, because that's not going to burn your suppliers real fast.

 

[tajdin]

@beldog Thank you for your comment - you as Type A person, all you have to do is select the individual items from your closet that you want to rent out. You would take a picture of your item and upload it, size and make, print a repaid shipping label and send the item(s) to us. We would connect your item(s) with the appropriate Type B person, the renter, that is looking to rent that particular item, in that particular size. No hassle.

 

[beldog]

@tajdin That's an interesting iteration, but then how is this different from traditional online stores?

Also, shipping 3-4 times per transaction is going to get expensive. It would probably be cheaper if you offered cash or store credit and simply bought the old clothes off of people.

But then again, this iterates closer to online stores the further you get from physical contact.

 

[tajdin]

@beldog Thank you again for all the insightful input - I'm liking I. please if you see any other problems or suggestions, please don't hesitate to comment again

 

[tajdin]

@beldog Is this a service you could see yourself using, either as Type A person (Leaser) or Type B person (Renter) or both?

 

[beldog]

@tajdin I genuinely don't know. It depends on price points. Personally, I think shipping costs are going to drive the price up to a price point very near buying the clothes myself.

 

[tajdin]

@beldog Thank you so much! your input is so appreciated. If you don't mind me asking two questions:

1) what is your age range & what do you do for a living (don't need the specifics)?

2) how do you feel about buying second hand clothing - such as goodwill or more trendy Plato's Closet: http://www.platosclosetedison.com/how-it-works

 

[tajdin]

Thank you for your comment - type B person rents the clothes, this doesn't generally mean that they have absolutely no clothes of their own. But for 7 or 14 days they have items that they previously did not own or are unable to afford outright and they can wear it as much as they want during that duration rented out. It will be cheap, generally cheaper than buying the clothes itself. There is a mandatory insurance that will cover damages to the item, buy if you lose it or damage it beyond repair, you will pay the retail price for the item. Dry cleaning is covered by us, the service provider - we have already started contracting out reputable dry cleaning services at a very advantages price fro commercial bulk items.

 

[albertacamus]

@tajdin So there was an episode of shark tank about this product where you get a box sent instead of pagging a luggage. And in the box has all the things you need. Anyway Daemon went on rant about his experience with a renting tux company. He talked about the tuxes would flip 5-7 times then it was no good anymore. But for him it wasnt that bad because the style is pretty consistent. But with all these "caspul" companies sending out things like this, they have wear and tear use as well as keeping up with fashion over time. For daemon it wasnt always repeating customers too. But you need a community of consistent shoppers. Like a subscription model but you have to have variety. And because of the variety and the high cost of that he did not invest in that box business on the episode. Kind of sound like a wantrepreneur quoting sharktank episode but he had a point. It is a high cost not really a lean start up (that is a book, read it).
I actually had a company in online retail. We were selling outfits and such with different local boutiques working with us. We had style quizes and recommendations, the nine yards. After a few months we got into a lot of problems with supplying and long story jumped ship. Was a bunch of college kids at the time just getting into the industry and its tough. I urge you to think about two things. 1. Logistics and 2. Differentiation.

Read Blue Ocean, Lean Startup, 24 steps of entrepreneurship.

 

[graceseeker164]

@tajdin I am a Type B. I am not a clothes horse. I don't want a new outfit every week or two. Renting clothes would be MORE of a hassle for me, not less. I will go to the store every once in a long while, or buy on Amazon.

 

[tajdin]

@graceseeker164 Thanks for the comment! this is definitely help towards identifying our target audience - few questions fro you:

1) what is your age range & what do you do for a living (don't need the specifics)?

2) how do you feel about buying second hand clothing - such as goodwill or more trendy Plato's Closet: http://www.platosclosetedison.com/how-it-works

3) how would you describe your sense of style, in very few words?

4) do you like to keep up with current fashion trends & styles, or are the type to define your own style?

LOL - THANKS!

 

[runestar]

@tajdin used clothes = ew