How this 32-year-old couple is redressing the multibillion-dollar fashion rental industry

When husband and spouse Chris Halim and Raena Lim noticed a possibility to redress sustainability points in the fashion industry, they wished to take action in type.  

And the duo behind garments rental app Style Theory definitely do not do issues by halves. 

“We did put in like $40,000,” the couple, who stop their jobs to take their start-up full time, informed CNBC Make It.

“Honestly, we do not know whether or not we’re silly or courageous.”

Lim and Halim are the co-founders of Style Theory, a Singaporean fashion rental platform that permits subscribers to mortgage limitless gadgets for a flat month-to-month price.

The SoftBank-backed start-up at present boasts greater than 200,000 registered customers throughout Singapore and Indonesia and presents an stock of fifty,000 garments and greater than 2,000 baggage. 

But when ex-Goldman Sachs banker Lim and guide husband Halim acquired the thought for the firm again in 2016, it was in response to a quite common conundrum — having nothing to put on.  

“The ‘aha’ second got here when Chris truly questioned me and he is like ‘why is it you could have so many garments and also you’re all the time complaining that you don’t have anything to put on?’,” recalled chief operations officer Lim.

“For somebody who got here from a finance background, utilizing logic and arithmetic, it simply all of a sudden felt like wow, that is actually a really illogical response that I must fashion,” she stated.

Having spent her early profession working for a non-profit in Kenya, Lim was eager to start out a challenge that allowed her to do good. And with the environmental harm of quick fashion coming to the fore, the alternative was clear. 

Textile manufacturing is considered one of the world’s largest polluters, producing international emissions equal to 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year — greater than all worldwide flights and transport mixed. 

That inefficiency has spawned a bunch of latest clothes rental platforms in search of to fulfill aware customers with a guilt-free various to quick fashion. 

Pioneered in 2009 by U.S. platform Rent The Runway, the round fashion industry has bloomed over the previous decade, inspiring different manufacturers comparable to My Wardrobe HQ in the U.Okay. and GlamCorner in Australia. Yet, the logistical challenges of Southeast Asia made it a tricky market to crack. That led beginner entrepreneurs Lim and Halim to undertake a test-first technique.  

“We began with a waitlist first, so we had sufficient variety of garments and sufficient capability for patrons,” stated chief govt Halim. “As the prospects are available, we’re both confirmed proper or confirmed unsuitable after which we constantly iterate from there.”

The couple’s data-driven method noticed them swap from proudly owning all the stock in-house to a consignment mannequin in 2019. 

Under the new construction, Style Theory holds inventory on behalf of designers and people, paying them every time an merchandise is rented. The firm then takes a lower of the $95 limitless month-to-month subscription price for the administration, courier and cleansing of products. 

That perspective, in flip, has attracted buyers, together with SoftBank, Alpha JWC Ventures and Indonesian actual property firm the Paradise Group, which have invested round $30 million in the firm.

“The downside that they are fixing is undoubtedly for the customers and, in this case, numerous feminine customers. But this additionally gives options (to) the suppliers or designers to have the ability to attain this goal market in a extra direct method,” Jefrey Joe, managing companion at Alpha JWC Ventures, informed CNBC Make It.

The funding signifies an funding urge for food for the younger, however rising sector. 

The on-line clothes rental industry was valued at $1.2 billion globally in 2019. By 2027, that determine is anticipated to greater than double to $2.8 billion. 

Much of that progress could possibly be led by Asia-Pacific, the place the comparatively nascent clothes rental market is ripe for disruptive gamers like Style Theory. According to market analysis agency Research Nester, the area is forecast to account for almost a quarter (22.14%) of the general market inside six years.

“The market measurement of this section is nonetheless tiny … (however) we additionally see big potential,” stated Joe. “This round fashion market is large enough to create no less than a unicorn from Southeast Asia,” he stated, referring to start-ups with a valuation of $1 billion.

The duo goals to capitalize on that chance by tailoring their providing to the particular wants of customers in Asia. That contains curating garments to swimsuit native cultures and climates, in addition to providing assortment companies and private styling in pop-up shops.

However, the outlook for the fashion industry is not with out problem. The onset of the pandemic in 2020 struck a blow to retailers, denting income and shuttering shops. Meanwhile, with social engagements canceled and hygiene taking a precedence, clothes rental was hit laborious. 

“The pandemic is in all probability the most difficult time for us as an organization,” stated Halim, whose enterprise has till now solely recovered 75% of pre-pandemic customers.

“But it additionally introduced a ton of alternatives. The most enjoyable one for us was truly fashion resale,” he continued, citing a service that permits customers to purchase and promote pre-used gadgets. “(We) formally launched the platform final yr, and had been in a position to develop that enterprise 10x in like 12 months.”

Still, the founders are assured fashion rental is no fad. 

In its 5 years, they are saying Style Theory has facilitated greater than 2.3 million leases and saved greater than 600,000 preloved designer gadgets from prematurely coming into landfills. 

Now, they plan to focus on new markets and client bases, including males’s and youngsters’s put on strains and increasing into Hong Kong later this yr.

But regardless of the challenges, the husband-and-wife crew says they’ve discovered a superb match for his or her fashion outfit. 

“Basically, the enterprise is a child for us,” stated Halim. “The full belief, the 100% alignment, is actually, actually useful and tremendous necessary once you’re making key selections collectively.”

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