Rentez-Vous

Imagine a world where you could get your hands on all of the amazing designer clothes that you lusted after without the accompanying feeling of utter despair. A world here you could get that amazing Peter Piloto dress for that wedding that you’re going to in June without having to take out a bank loan.

Well Fiona Disegni might just be your new best friend. The young French entrepreneur has come up with an idea that could potentially solve all your sartorial woes. Her fledgling start up Rentez-Vous allows individuals to access to fantastic designer clothing that they otherwise couldn’t afford.

The idea is based around the idea of collaborative consumption and aims to revolutionise the way that women shop and see fashion forever. 

The concept behind Rentez-Vous a simple one, lending your rarely worn but much loved clothes to fellow fashion lovers, on a weekly basis for a reasonable fee. Every month an event is held where 40 to 50 people attend, you can bring clothes to rent or simply browse. Each person is charged a small entrance fee and if they wish to rent an item then they are charged 15% of the original price of the garment. Rentez-Vous takes a 20% cut every time a garment is hired.

Fledgling designers also have the opportunity to directly reach the consumer by hiring a stall at the events and renting out their designs. Rentez-Vous then takes a 30% cut followed by a further 20% if the item is then bought.

Because the idea of the company isn’t to stop people buying clothes, it is simply to avoid the waste that buying clothes that you don’t wear can produce. Disegni explains; ‘Women spend over £1,000 a year on their wardrobe but don’t wear 70% of their clothes’. She adds ‘There’s (an estimated) £1.6 billion of clothes in women’s wardrobes in the UK that they don’t wear but don’t want to throw out. These are exactly the type of clothes we want to target’.

We think the idea of renting clothes is a fantastic one, and with plans to expand the company into the online market the process of renting is set to become much easier. Disegni is in the process of partnering with a number of dry cleaners, so you would be able select the items you wish to rent, it is sent to you and then you simply drop it off at the dry cleaners who sends it back to the owner.

Disegni notes ‘It was always our decision to create a community first – for such a new concept you need the trust of people… they are now becoming our ambassadors.’

What do you think of the idea of renting someone else’s clothes? Would you trust strangers to look after your designer wears?