Owners of high-end fashion stores should begin to worry now, since Kyiv women have got an alternative to buyng their expensive clothes. That is, renting them.
Two online dress renting services were launched in Kyiv almost simultaneously. Rent a Brand started its work in early February and has already got a bunch of orders. Its competitor, Oh My Look, is working in a test mode and will be launched in early April.
Both services are offering high-end designer dresses, suitable for special occasions like social events, parties and important dates.
To rent a dress, one must pick it from an online catalog, and it will be delivered for the fitting. Oh My Look also plans opening a showroom.
Rent a Brand offers to rent a dress for an average of 10 percent of its price in a shop. Given that all dresses come from expensive brands like Alexander McQueen and Dolce & Gabbana, the rent is usually more than Hr 1,000 per day. Price goes from Hr 500 for renting a short cocktail dress by BCBG Max Azria to Hr 3,000 for a red lace Valentino dress and even Hr 6,000 for a posh long Lanvin dress. Prices goes up from the regular 10 percent when the dress fabric is unlikely to survive many dry cleanings, which it goes through after every customer.
Extra days would add to rent price, but not much.
In Oh My Look, the average rent would be Hr 450-500, says its founder Lera Borodina. Before starting work on the project in January, she conducted a poll and was surprised to know that brands don’t matter that much for the potential customers, so she decided not to go just for famous high-end brands.
Christina Nguyen, the founder of Rent a Brand, thinks differently.
“There is a certain charming effect you get when you’re wearing, say, Marni,” she says.
Rent a Brand offers about 50 dresses now, but that number could rise to as many as a hundred by summer. Oh My Look, according to Borodina, will give a choice of about 500, including some by Ukrainian designers offered together with famous brands like Michael Kors, Alice+Olivia and BCBG Max Azria. Both services are offering dresses in small sizes up to size M only (European 36-38).
One may think that cold Ukrainian winter is not the best time for dresses, but it turns out that it is. In Kyiv, February and early March were packed with social events, and women were craving for posh dresses to hit the red carpet. Oh My Look, still in process of launching, rented several dresses and got over 2,000 registrations at its website, and Rent a Brand was popular too. Both services rented dresses for Vogue Ukraine launching party, Viva magazine annual ceremony and YUNA music awards.
“February was more successful that we could expect, but this is not representative yet,” Nguyen says.
Their first clients came for Valentine’s Day dresses, some rented gowns for February 23, men’s day. Unexpectedly, women’s day on March 8 wasn’t popular.
Long pink lace dress by BCBG Max Azria was one of the hits of the month in Rent a Brand, being rented several times for Hr 800. Another one, short white one by Alice+Olivia with lace upper, offered for Hr 960 was popular too, although in general Kyiv women prefer dark colours, says Nguyen.
Both Nguyen and Borodina are investing their own money in renting projects, and both say that in case they fail they could always just leave dresses for themselves to wear.
“I noticed that when a woman is wearing a dress for the first time she feels gorgeous, very self confident. Next times could be good, but they are never like that first one,” Borodina says, explaining why women need to have a renting option for dresses.
“A man would never think of this kind of service. In fact, he wouldn’t understand it,” assumes Nguyen.
Nguyen says that the dress renting business is a risky idea, but Borodina finds something that speaks for its success.
“I believe that 2008 crisis changed something in people’s minds to make them think of renting dresses for special occasions, not buying them,” she says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at rudenko@kyivpost.com.
