Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi and other top designer clothes are available for rent thanks to this Indian startup

Advertisement
Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi and other top designer clothes are available for rent thanks to this Indian startup
  • An Indian startup, Stage 3, rents out designer clothes for 3 to 6 days.
  • From Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherji, Rhea Kapoor it has over 15 designers on board who share their wardrobe collection, said Sanchit,
  • Stage3 is not just listing branded outfits from popular designers but from normal people also.

Advertisement
Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour recently urged shoppers not to dispose off designer clothes after a single use — as they are works of ‘craft’. But she was talking about the uber rich who can afford to buy and pass them on. The truth is that many crave for designer clothes they can’t afford them. Many Indians too eye a Balmain Pant Suit, Marc Jacobs ruffle gown or Manish Malhotra lehenga even.

But the heavy price tags keep possible fashionistas away. Now Indians no longer have to suppress their fashion instincts.

An Indian startup Stage 3 rents out designer clothes for 3 to 6 days to those who want to enjoy the ‘art of fashion’. Top designers like Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherji, Rhea Kapoor and 15 others share their wardrobe collection with the startup.

Renting out clothes is not a new concept. Several global startups like Rent the Runway , Nuuly, and UK-based Girl Meets Dress have been around for a few years now, offering designer clothes for everyday and occasion for a monthly subscription.

Similarly, US-based Armarium, lets you rent designer clothing from brands like Salvatore Ferragamo, Edie Parker, Marco de Vincenzo, Sonia Rykiel. However Armarium is an elite invite-only app.

Advertisement

But it is the first time in India all the famous Bollywood designers are sharing their collection through Stage3.

“Millennials have to spend so much on their dream closet. We started 3 years back with an idea to make fashion accessible to all. And, ever since we launched our numbers are off the charts,” Sanchit Baweja, co-founder of Stage3 told Business Insider India.

So what does it cost to rent them? For example, a Sabyasachi outfit that costs around ₹2 lakh can be rented for three days at 1/15 the cost at ₹12,999. However, in addition to rent, users will have to fork out ₹29,250 as refundable deposit.

Manish Malhotra, Ritu Kumar, Sabyasachi and other top designer clothes are available for rent thanks to this Indian startup
Credits:Stage3

Stage3 sources its clothes from normal people also and rents them out-- making it the Airbnb for designer clothes. Those who possess a vast collection can list them out on their website much like UK’s HURR Collective a peer-to-peer platform that allows people to share their wardrobe with each other.

“If you own a Sabyasachi Lehenga and you want to rent it out you can do so. And once someone rents the outfit we will share the decided proportion of the rent,” said Sanchit.
Advertisement

6x growth in consumer base

Over the past 3 years, they received close to 30,000 orders — mostly from Delhi and Mumbai. Stage 3 witnessed 400% annual growth in revenue and its customer base swelled six times over.

“We have an inventory of 2500 items and with a rising customer base we are planning to increase it by 100% over the next 3-4 months,” said Baweja. They are also planning to roll out work wear for both men and women and maternity wear. It also wants to open 35-40 offline stores in the next year.

Millennials are a generation of ‘renters’ who choose to rent homes and furniture. It is now true with clothes too.

Globally, the online clothing rental market was worth $1 billion in 2017, and is expected to grow to $1.8 billion by 2023. Most of this growth will come from Asia-Pacific market -- India and China in particular -- at a healthy rate of 11.5% , according to a report by Allied Market Research.

Advertisement
It comes as no surprise that Stage 3 believes that it will be able to garner $150 million revenues in the next five years.

See also:
The French billionaire whose company controls luxury giants like Gucci says brands should be taking 'bold public positions' against the mistreatment of women
{{}}