Got your eye on your favorite celebrity’s extravagant designer wardrobe but can’t really afford it? Well, this Indian startup has got your back!
Stage 3, an Indian startup rents out just everything fancy and designer ranging from 3 to 6 days to anyone and everyone who want to indulge in the art of fashion. Ace designers like Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherji, Rhea Kapoor among 15 others have collaborated with the startup and one can find their labels on the platform.
Stage 3 is not the first of its kind, in fact, many startups based on the same concept exist around the world which include Rent the Runway, Nuuly, and UK-based Girl Meets Dress. Similarly, US-based Armarium, lets you rent designer clothing Salvatore Ferragamo, Edie Parker, Marco de Vincenzo, Sonia Rykiel. However, Armarium is an elite invite-only app.
The platform has brought for the first time ever all the Bollywood designers to share their collections through it.
“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 Stage 3 said.
So how does it work? While at an average where an original Sabyasachi or Manish Malhotra lehenga cost around Rs.2 lakh, Stage 3 rents the outfit at 1/5th of its cost for 3 days. However, in addition to rent, users need to deposit a refundable amount as well.
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 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 you can do so. And once someone rents the outfit we will share the decided portion of the rent,” said Sanchit.
Growth Of Stage 3
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 custom base we are planning to increase it by 100% over the next 3-4 months,” said Baweja.
Along with this they also plan to roll out workwear for both men and women and maternity wear. Besides this, they aim to open 35-40 offline stores in the next year.
As per a report by Allied Market Research, the global 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%
Well, the startup surely has proven that the millennial generation is a big believer in rent and save.
Also Read: H&M Testing Out Rental Service
