Here\u2019s a fashion rental startup with a twist: London, U.K.-based Curated Loop<\/a> \u2014 which soft-launched a high-end fashion rental marketplace last week after bootstrapping to launch an MVP \u2014 is sourcing statement pieces from independent designers\u2019 sample stock to style itself as an edgier alternative to more conventional rivals.<\/p>\n Its approach means items available for rent on its marketplace may be literal one-offs (samples), or come from an indie designer\u2019s prior season\u2019s collection (aka, dead stock) or otherwise \u2018stand-out\u2019 in the sense that you won\u2019t be able to source these garments in high street stores \u2014 or even, the startup\u2019s co-founders contend, on other fashion rental platforms. So the promise is access to unique high-end designs.<\/p>\n The startup argues there\u2019s a gap for a luxury fashion rental marketplace focused on emerging independent designers and the cutting edge looks they\u2019re stitching \u2014 which, on its marketplace, translates into a selection of bold pieces (and suggested outfits) picked to catch the eye of its target style-seeking young urban demographic (see, for example, this leather-look corset top<\/a> \u2014 paired in one of its styling shots with bold-printed baggy \u2018boyfriend\u2019 jeans: \u00a346.60 to rent the look).<\/p>\n Curated Loop is calculating that its target users might be looking for a high-end outfit for special events (parties, job interviews, ski holidays etc) but also as statement daywear (perhaps to spice up their Instagram feed) \u2014 or even for \u2018date-wear\u2019 (it\u2019s working on a Valentine\u2019s Day tie-up with a dating app).<\/p>\n Changing the economics of wearing a designer outfit opens up a whole new set of opportunities for dressing up, especially for budget-conscious younger shoppers who seem increasingly comfortable giving fashion rentals a whirl \u2014 fuelled by concern over the environmental and ethical costs of fast fashion.<\/p>\n The U.K. has seen a blossoming in fashion rental startups in recent years, with the likes of Hurr (founded 2017), Hirestreet (2018), My Wardrobe HQ (2019), By Rotation (2019) and Rotaro (2019) popping up to offer fashion-conscious consumers a more sustainable way to stay on trend by renting high end.<\/p>\n Some high street clothes retailers have also got into the rentals game<\/a>. So there\u2019s competition aplenty \u2014 and, for new founders seeking an \u2018in\u2019, that means they face the age-old challenge of standing out in a crowd.<\/p>\n Curated Loop\u2019s co-founders, Anna Caldana and Rachel Mcluckie, bring a background in (and passion for) fashion to what they hope will be badged as a fresh approach to designer rentals. They\u2019re drawing on their own industry contacts, plus years of scouting for fresh design talent by scouring the pages of fashion magazines, to amass a database of indie labels they want to bag for their curated marketplace. (The business model they\u2019re starting with is a per transaction fee but they say they plan to develop the model as they grow.)<\/p>\n Mcluckie describes the look they\u2019re going for with their garment picks as \u201ceclectic, city, cool, definitely unique\u201d \u2014 arguing: \u201cIt\u2019s got an edge to it over our competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n Existing (non-P2P) fashion rental platforms had failed to impress the two co-founders with a more conventional (and\/or cautious) approach to the clothes they ranged for rent. \u201cBoth of us felt we would go onto rental sites and it was all quite similar \u2014 specific wedding events [etc]\u2026 it definitely has a kind of tone,\u201d Mcluckie suggests. \u201cAnd I think that doesn\u2019t necessarily align with Anna and I, what we were after in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n Feeling an itch for edgier stuff to rent, the pair got together to establish Curated Loop last year.<\/p>\n Mcluckie previously founded a subscription-based peer-to-peer fashion rental startup, at the start of 2019, with the idea of getting users renting out their own wardrobes (\u00e0 la By Rotation<\/a> and others). But her earlier startup had a focus on live events \u2014 which the pandemic quickly put paid to \u2014 hence she began casting around for other business ideas in fashion. Then, with her friend Caldana on board, the pair hit on offering a curated pick of indie designer garments and building a marketplace that aims to cater to the needs of up-and-coming designers \u2014 helping them build brand awareness while generating a passive income by renting out stock that might otherwise be sitting in a warehouse gathering dust. (Or, even worse, tossed into landfill.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to create a product that felt modern, inclusive and elevated in line with our target audience of Gen Z and millennials,\u201d Caldana tells us. \u201cThat\u2019s why it was really important for us to launch with a mobile (as well as desktop) platform. It\u2019s very intuitive and we have plans to build out gamifications to keep our Gen Z\u2019s engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n The co-founders: Rachel Mcluckie (L) and Anna Caldana. Image Credits:<\/strong> Curated Loop<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As well as mining their contacts books and attending fashion shows to source new designer talent, Curated Loop is working on establishing an ongoing partnership with the arts-focused London\u2019s Central Sant Martins University \u2014 so it\u2019s positioning itself to spot (and support) emerging talent at the student designer stage.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in the industry for over ten years\u2026 Anna[\u2018s] worked with independent designers forever. And I think that is definitely our strength,\u201d adds Mcluckie in a video call with TechCrunch to dig into their approach. \u201cWe have got an immediate network but we also have a kind of peripheral network of designers \u2014 we\u2019ve been able to go to fashion weeks, we\u2019ve got a nice connection with Central Sant Martins. It\u2019s really sort of building out that network \u2014 and that network effect to grow the customer and designer base.\u201d<\/p>\n As with other fashion rental startups Curated Loop hinges on leaning into circularity \u2014 as an opportunity to sell the user on a way to expand their wardrobe (more) sustainably \u2014 and without having to invest huge sums of money to buy new clothes. Per the website, the cost of a Curated Loop rental starts at a tenth of the (listed) RRP of each garment. A savvy bit of product marketing that packages the price as a bargain by default.<\/p>\n On the sustainability side, they argue their focus on designer samples and dead stock helps reduce textile waste \u2014 a high percentage of which they say comes from prototyping and sampling.<\/p>\n Still, fashion rentals aren\u2019t guilt free; they do entail a lot more shipping and cleaning than a garment might otherwise get if it stayed with one careful owner \u2014 so there are environmental costs to this kind of fashion-driven consumption.<\/p>\n To help with that, another of Curated Loop\u2019s partnership is with London-based eco laundry startup, Oxwash<\/a>, which does dry cleaning without solvents and uses e-bikes and electric vehicles for pick-ups to minimize carbon emissions. But the pair say they hope to do more on the emissions shrinking\/offsetting front as the business develops.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re obviously not in the business of greenwashing and we understand that there are emissions associated with shipping \u2014 so it\u2019s something we are really focused on,\u201d says Mcluckie. \u201cThe beauty of also starting a company from afresh is you can put those circular practices and plans in to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n As noted above, Curated Loop\u2019s target customer is urban and on the younger side (Alpha, Gen Z, Millennials etc) \u2014 so brands are chosen for their likely style appeal to this demographic. And while there is a limited number of labels on the platform at launch the co-founders tout a pipeline of designers they\u2019re working to add as they seek to expand the collection and scale rentals. Asked what they\u2019re aiming for, Mcluckie says they have a rough target of hitting at least a couple of thousand rentals per month by the end of their first year running.<\/p>\n The choice to offer a curated edit of brands and unique pieces is not only a way to appeal to a fashion-forward, self-brand-building youth demographic that wants to wear stuff that helps them stand out (not blend in), it\u2019s also a conscious strategy to attract more indie designers into the marketplace \u2014 with the pair suggesting up-and-coming designers will feel more comfortable showcasing their designs in a carefully curated digital space where they\u2019re not being ranged alongside lower end and\/or more conventional styles that could pose a perception risk to the brands these indie fashion labels are also working hard to establish.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we started speaking to designers we [identified] certain issues \u2014 we had designers [tell us] \u2018we\u2019re not happy in the platform I am right now, on the rental side, because I don\u2019t know that I align with the rest of the designers on the platform\u2019,\u201d explains Caldana. \u201cSo that was one of the reasons why we decided to do this curated selection of designers \u2014 and emerging, independent and sustainable. Because we wanted to have every designer on our platform happy with the aesthetic their designs were sitting next to.\u201d<\/p>\n Garments available to rent on Curated Loop\u2019s edited marketplace run the gamut from dresses and skirts to tops, jeans, jackets and suits \u2014 and also span a range of price-points (with rentals available from \u00a3200+ at the high end to just over a tenner at the bottom).<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Curated Loop<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some of the items available at launch include this Custom Tapestry corset<\/a> (listed as RRP: \u00a3350; the rental price is from \u00a335 for four days); this Downfilled Ski Jacket with Hood<\/a> (from \u00a353.90 for four days\u2019 rent); these Screen Printed Jeans<\/a> (\u00a335.40 for four days); and this Alba Candy Silk Dress<\/a> (\u00a3120 for three days).<\/p>\n Currently all the stock is what would (classically) be labelled as \u2018womenswear\u2019 \u2014 but the founders say they\u2019ll expand to offer \u2018menswear\u2019 soon too.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s no option at present for Curated Loop users to pay to buy an item they\u2019ve rented (i.e. if they\u2019re really fallen in love with a piece), the startup says it\u2019s working on adding the option for a user to pay to permanently add a rental to their wardrobe at a discount on its RRP.<\/p>\n They also suggest they may expand the platform to allow peer-to-peer rentals in future \u2014 which would mean letting Curated Loop users rent out their wardrobes to each other (which could, in turn, drive purchases of rental items once that\u2019s opened up as savvy users might seek to cash in on popular pieces by buying them to rent to their peers). So there are concentric loops that can be hooked onto to amplify this kind of circular commerce.<\/p>\n If Curated Loop adds P2P rentals it would replicate the core offering of some of their more style-eclectic rivals (such as By Rotation) \u2014 so the gaps between startups in this space look set to blend further (if not entirely blur).<\/p>\n Potential fluidity around functionality puts a big focus on community building \u2014 and on pulling in a user-base that\u2019s really engaged with and excited by what the platform offers them. So being able to serve up unique styles and looks (vs more conventional rental platforms) may help Curated Loop win over style-savvy users and turn them into loyal followers. Just so long as these cool kids dig its designer picks. So that means a lot rests on the co-founders\u2019 style edit if they\u2019re going to hit the sweet spot where every returned garment is circled smoothly and swiftly back into a fresh rental.<\/p>\n To this end, they note they\u2019re focused on producing lifestyle content as part of the community building piece \u2014 emphasizing that their marketplace isn\u2019t just going to dryly range inventory but will seek to serve users with advice and inspiration for putting together unique outfits and looks, and even offer access to events and third party partnerships (so, again, it\u2019s picking up the baton of the traditional fashion mag to wrap glossily around the commerce component and, er, make everything more sticky).<\/p>\n Curated Loop is consciously labelling itself as a \u201cfashion-tech\u201d company. The plan is to build the MVP into a more fully featured product by adding things like gamification to drive engagement. But they\u2019re also keeping a weather eye on whatever \u201cweb 3\u201d might mean for youth fashion \u2014 whether that\u2019s NFTs or some other form of tokenization (potentially tied to live events), or virtual clothes for dressing up avatars, or even \u201cmetaverse fashion weeks\u201d (which is apparently a thing some folks in the fashion industry are working on making happen). So they\u2019re shooting for the startup to be trend-led on the tech side too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve not even dipped our toes [in web 3] but we\u2019ve been to a few events. A lot of our friends are in that world,\u201d notes Mcluckie, saying this emergent tech concept is an area they\u2019re curious about right now \u2014 without being sure exactly what it may mean for the future of fashion. \u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting space and I know at the moment it\u2019s kind of gimmicky\u2026 \u201d she continues, before scattering a few more caveats about spending personal time on such stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we know it\u2019s probably going to be the future,\u201d finishes Caldana, adding a little Gen Z conviction to Mcluckie\u2019s Millennial \u2018reserved judgement\u2019 on metaverse.<\/p>\n So while the pair are currently (and for the near term) working with a tech agency, which built the MVP to their bootstring budget, the plan for later on is to take the tech piece in-house and build an engineering team so they can develop proprietary IP and reactively adapt the platform\u2019s capabilities to mesh with howsoever tech intersects with fashion and\/or reshapes demand for humans being stylish in the future.<\/p>\n Before then, the order of the day is more prosaic: Scaling usage of the marketplace by tapping up and into more networks (of designers and users), and working to get the word out in other ways, including reaching out to select social media influencers to raise some buzz.<\/p>\n The co-founders will also be looking to raise a seed round later this year \u2014 they say they\u2019re targeting ~\u00a3300,000 \u2014 so they\u2019ll be taking some time for fundraising over the coming months. And if all goes to plan, they want to expand the service to other U.K. cities and also hope to launch into the European Union \u201csoon\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a clear pipeline and roadmap for growth, and our seed investment will help us achieve this,\u201d they suggest, adding:\u00a0\u201cWe have a number of ongoing conversations with early stage investors as well as Angels, it\u2019s obviously so important to find the right fit for the business. We had an offer from an oversees Investor pre-launch but knew it wasn\u2019t the right step for our business at that moment. Through (a lot) of hard work and determination we self funded our MVP and now can\u2019t wait to start scaling!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Curated](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image_e25a4e8b-d436-4af9-848c-82205d0e4c10_1024x1024@2x.webp?w=451\")
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