Have you ever wished you could rent the perfect wardrobe, rather than spending hundreds of dollars each year on new clothes? Of course you have! And now a new LA-based startup called
Borrowed Closet is hoping to make those wishes come true. Borrowed Closet is an online fashion rental service that provides women with access to their "ultimate dream closet" for a monthly subscription fee of $29.95.
{Screenshots show some of the products that members can rent.}
Members can rent up to 100 credits worth of designer clothing, accessories and handbags for nights out on the town, weekend trips or everyday. Each item is assigned points, so if a dress is 50 points and a necklace is 15, you could potentially rent one complete outfit per order. Members can keep the items for as long as they'd like and then ship them back, individually or together, to choose new rentals. Borrowed Closet takes care of the cleaning and, just like Netflix, rentals can be exchanged as many times as desired per month.
{A selection of clutches available for renting}
Borrowed Closet has a lot of potential, but also a lot of potential problems. The biggest hurdle? Inventory -
Borrowed Closet's so-called "ultimate dream closet" falls short. While they do offer brands like DVF, BCBG, and Theory, I didn't really see any stand-out pieces. For now, I'm passing on the free press trial but I'll probably check back in a couple weeks to see if they've added new things.
{A selection of dresses available for renting}
You can request an invite at borrowedcloset.com if you want to check it out for yourself - do you see this site changing the way you shop and dress?
http://lavieenliz.com
http://shopaholicundercover.com
I wonder what the shipping costs are, or are they included in the 29/month?
Personally, I don't think I would use this. If I wear an outfit, I like the idea that it BELONGS to me, as weird as it sounds. I'd get attached to the clothes and feel bad to have to give them back. Haha! Also, I was never a fan of borrowing stuff or lending any of my own, lol
deuxchambres.blogspot.com
Borrowed Closet ships all items out the same day that it is ordered so shipping should take 3-5 business days to arrive.
I requested an invite so I can check out what they have.
I remember Bag, Borrow, or Steal, where you could rent designer bags. I never rented from them because I feared something would get lost in the mail or damaged by me wearing it, and I would have to pay thousands for a luxury item I didn't even want to purchase in the first place.
So that's the problem, if the inventory is too cheap, it's not worth the subscription price. If it's too expensive the risk is too high.
I guess insurance could be a possibility... or having items that are not necessarily very expensive, but that are really beautiful, unique or exclusive, adding value to the product some other way.