Curated Loop offers a unique take on fashion rentals by showcasing indie designers.

Here’s a fashion-rental startup with a twist: London (UK) Curated Loop After bootstrapping to launch an MVP, Soft-launched a high-end fashion rental marketplace last Wednesday. It is now sourcing statement pieces directly from sample stock of independent designers to make it stand out among its more traditional rivals.

This means that items you can rent from its marketplace could be one-offs (samples), come from an independent designer’s previous season’s collection (aka dead stock), or are otherwise unique in the sense that these garments won’t be available in high street shops or, as the startup’s founders claim, other fashion rental platforms. This promise promises access to exclusive high-end designs.

Startup argues that there is a need for a luxury fashion rental platform focused on emerging designers and their cutting-edge looks. This marketplace offers a selection bold pieces (and suggested ensembles) to appeal to its targeted style-seeking urban youth (see, for instance, this leather-look corset top — paired in one of its styling shots with bold-printed baggy ‘boyfriend’ jeans: £46.60 to rent the look).

Curated Loop believes its users may be searching for high-end outfits for special events (parties and job interviews), but also for statement daywear (perhaps for their Instagram feed), or for ‘date-wear’ (it’s currently working with a dating app to tie up Valentine’s Day).

The economics of owning a designer outfit can be changed. This is especially true for younger shoppers, who are more comfortable renting fashion items than they buy.

In the UK, there has been a boom in fashion rental startups. Companies like Hurr (founded in 2017), Hirestreet (2018) and My Wardrobe HQ (2019), By Rotation (2017), Rotaro (2009) have emerged to provide fashion-conscious customers a sustainable way to keep up with fashion trends by renting high end.

High street clothing retailers also offer these services. got into the rentals game. This means there is plenty of competition. And for new founders who are looking to be ‘in,’ that means they must face the old challenge of standing out amongst the crowd.

Co-founders of Curated Loop, Rachel Mcluckie and Anna Caldana, have a passion for fashion and bring that experience to their new approach to renting designer clothes. To build their curated marketplace, they’re drawing upon their industry contacts and years of searching for new design talent through fashion magazines. The business model they are using is per transaction, but they intend to expand the model over time.

Mcluckie describes Mcluckie’s look with their garment choices as “eclectic city, cool and definitely unique”.

Existing fashion rental platforms that aren’t p2p had failed to impress the co-founders. These sites were more conservative and/or cautious in their approach to clothes for rent. “Both of our co-founders felt that we would both go on rental sites, and it was all very similar — specifically for wedding events [etc]Mcluckie says that it does have a certain tone. “And I believe that it doesn’t necessarily align Anna and me, what we wanted in the market.”

Curated Loop was founded by Curated Loop in 2013.

Mcluckie was the founder of a peer-to-peer subscription-based fashion rental startup. At the beginning of 2019, Mcluckie had the idea to let users rent their own wardrobes. By Rotation Others. However, her previous startup had been focused on live events. The pandemic put an end to that. So she started looking at other business ideas for fashion. Caldana, her friend, joined the team and they began to offer a selection of indie-designed garments. They also created a marketplace to help up-and-coming designers build brand awareness. This will allow them to generate passive income while renting stock that may otherwise have been sitting in a warehouse. (Or worse, thrown into a landfill.)

Caldana says, “We wanted to create an innovative product that felt inclusive and modern in line with our target audience, Gen Z and millennials.” “That’s why it was really important for us to launch with a mobile (as well as desktop) platform. It’s very intuitive and we have plans to build out gamifications to keep our Gen Z’s engaged.”

Rachel Mcluckie (L), and Anna Caldana are the co-founders. Image credit: Curated Loop.

Curated Loop is also looking to establish a partnership with London’s Central Sant Martins University, an arts-focused university. This will allow Curated Loop to identify and support emerging talent on the student designer stage.

“I have been in the industry over ten years… Anna[‘s] For years, I have worked with independent designers. Mcluckie says that this is our strength. He spoke with TechCrunch via video to discuss their approach. “We have an immediate network and a kind of peripheral designer network — we’ve been to fashion weeks, and we’ve got a nice relationship with Central Sant Martins. It’s about building that network, and that network effect to increase the designer and customer base.

Curated Loop, like other fashion rental companies, is based on the idea of circularity. It offers a way for users to increase their wardrobe (more), sustainably and without spending huge amounts of money on new clothes. Curated Loop rentals start at one-tenth of the listed RRP. This clever product marketing package makes it seem like a bargain by default.

They also argue that their emphasis on dead stock and designer samples helps reduce textile waste. A large portion of this is due to prototyping and sampling.

However, renting fashion is not always a good idea. They require more shipping and cleaning than garments that were rented if they were stayed with a single owner. This means there are environmental consequences to fashion-driven consumption.

Curated Loop has partnered with eco laundry startup Eco Laundry in London to help you achieve that goal. OxwashThe company uses electric and e-bikes for pickups, and does dry cleaning without the use of solvents. They say that they are working together to reduce emissions and offset them as the business develops.

Mcluckie states, “We’re not in greenwashing. But we do understand there are emissions associated shipping. So it’s something that we’re really focused on.” “The beauty about starting a business from scratch is that you can implement those circular plans and practices right away.

Curated Loop’s target audience is urban and younger (Alpha, Gen Z etc.). Brands are selected for their style appeal to this group. Although there are only a few labels available on Curated Loop at launch, the co-founders boast a growing list of designers they plan to add to the platform as they expand their collection and scale rentals. Mcluckie said that they aim to reach at least a few thousand rentals per month within their first year.

It’s a way to appeal and build a brand for fashion-forward youth who want to stand out. The pair also suggested that indie fashion labels should offer a carefully curated selection of brands and unique pieces. This will allow them to showcase their designs without being grouped with more established brands.

“When designers started talking to us, we…” [identified] certain issues — we had designers [tell us] Caldana explains that “we’re unhappy in the platform I’m currently on, on the rental-side, because I don’t know if I align with other designers on the platform’.” This was why we chose to curate a selection of emerging, independent and sustainable designers. We wanted every designer to be happy with their design.

Garments available to rent on Curated Loop’s edited marketplace run the gamut from dresses and skirts to tops, jeans, jackets and suits — and also span a range of price-points (with rentals available from £200+ at the high end to just over a tenner at the bottom).

Credits: Curated loop

Some of these items are available for purchase at the launch: Custom Tapestry corset (listed as RRP: £350; the rental price is from £35 for 4 days); this Downfilled Ski Jacket with Hood (from £53.90 for 4 days’ rent); these Screen Printed Jeans (£35.40 for 4 days); and this Alba Candy Silk Dress (£120 for 3 days).

The stock currently available is what would (classically), be called ‘womenswear. However, the founders claim they’ll soon expand to offer menswear.

Curated Loop users are unable to purchase a rental item (i.e. The startup said that if a Curated Loop user falls in love with a piece, they will be able to purchase it at a discount off the RRP.

They also suggested that the platform may be expanded to allow peer-to–peer rentals. This would allow Curated Loop users to rent out their wardrobes to one another. It could lead to purchases of rental items once this happens as savvy users might try to cash in on high-demand pieces by renting them to their peers. To increase this type of circular commerce, there are concentric loops which can be connected to.

Curated Loop could add p2p rentals to their core offering, which would mirror some of their more fashion-electic competitors (such as By Rotation). This will make the differences between startups in this sector look even closer (if not completely blurred).

The potential fluidity of functionality means that Curated Loop is focused on community building and on bringing in a user base that is really excited about the platform. Curated Loop may be able to offer unique styles and looks, which is a big plus for style-savvy users. This could help them become loyal customers. As long as the cool kids love its designer picks, that’s all that matters. If they want to find the perfect balance where each garment is quickly and smoothly returned, it will depend on the style edit of the co-founders.

They note that they’re focusing on creating lifestyle content as part the community building piece.

Curated Loop is conscious of being a “fashion-tech company”. It is aiming to make the MVP more feature-rich by adding gamification to increase engagement. They are also monitoring what “web 3” means for youth fashion. This could be NFTs, some other form tokenization (potentially tied with live events), virtual clothes that can be dressed up avatars, or “metaverse Fashion Weeks” (which some people in the fashion industry are trying to make happen). They want the startup to be a leader in tech.

“We’ve not even dipped our toes [in web 3] But we have been to some events. Mcluckie says that many of their friends are in this world. She notes that they are curious about emerging tech concepts, but not sure what it means for fashion’s future. “It is a really fascinating space, and I know at this moment it’s sort of gimmicky…,” she says before adding some caveats about how much time they spend on such things.

Caldana says, “But it’s probably the future,” and adds a little Gen Z conviction Mcluckie has added to his Millennial’reserved judgment’ on metaverse.

While the pair are currently working with an agency that built the MVP, their plan is to bring the tech part in-house. They will also build an engineering team to develop IP and react to changing fashion trends.

The order of the day before then is more mundane: Scaling use of the market by taping into more networks of designers and users, and working to get word out through other means, including reaching out select social media influencers in an effort to generate buzz.

The co-founders will also be looking to raise a seed round later this year — they say they’re targeting ~£300k — so they’ll be taking some time for fundraising over the coming months. If all goes according to plan, they hope to expand the service into other UK cities as well as launch into the European Union “soon”.

“We have a clear pipeline and roadmap for growth, and our seed investment will help us achieve this,” they suggest, adding: “We have a number of ongoing conversations with early stage investors as well as Angels, it’s 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’t 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’t wait to start scaling!”