This startups wants to change how women think about fashion

This startups’s just raised $4.2m to help change how women think about fashion

Clothes sharing is taking off around the world as a new means to wear affordable, sustainable and quality pieces. GlamCorner, created by a husband and wife team in Sydney, has just raised $4.2 million in a Series A funding round led by AirTree Ventures to help take a greater slice of the massive market. Angela Castles reports. 

Founded by husband and wife duo Dean Jones and Audrey Khaing-Jones (pictured above) in 2012, GlamCorner allows users to rent designer dresses for between 10-15% of the cost of purchasing those dresses off the rack.

“We’re providing a platform that allows women to consume fashion in a different way, and what we believe is a better way,” Dean says.

“We realised that Australian women have been getting a bad deal for quite a long time when it comes to certain elements of the fashion and apparel space, particularly when it comes to event wear; they’re buying once and throwing items out.”

Dean adds that the rise of the sharing economy has meant an “increasing proportion” of women are looking to rent instead of buy their one-off event wear, indicating a “long-term and permanent shift” in consumer habits.

“We’re putting a real dint in the $9 billion women’s apparel market in this country,” he says.

The clothes sharing economy has taken off both in Australia and internationally, with Rent the Runway offering a similar service in the United States and raising a $US60 million ($75 million) in Series E funding late last year. Closer to home, offerings like Your Closet, HerWardrobe, SomethingBorrowed and DesignerX sit alongside GlamCorner, however the Sydney-based startup says its “significantly larger” volume of inventory offers a key point of differentiation from its competitors.

“We’ve got 3,000 dresses available for hire now — ten times more than our next best competitor,” Dean says.

GlamCorner is attempting to set itself apart from its competition by acting as a “customer-centric organisation” and logistics platform that offers for next-day shipping across Australia, and delivery within three hours in Sydney.

GlamCorner has grown 500% in last 12 months in terms of revenue and new customers, according to Jones, and now boasts a customer base “in the tens of thousands”.

The company now plans to use its latest funding to “give a greater level of scale to the already successful formula”, which includes expanding its inventory and investing in logistics and technology to ensure faster delivery.

This is the third time AirTree Ventures has invested in GlamCorner, and Dean nominates good communication and a metrics-driven approach as key factors in maintaining investor relationships.

“Understanding investors want you to succeed, keeping communications lines open, and keeping a focus on profitability” are crucial to keeping investors coming back through seed, Series A, B and C funding rounds, says Dean.

He also emphasises the importance of finding investors that mix “profit with purpose” to build meaningful long-term relationships, suggesting startups should “meet investors way ahead of time” leading up to funding rounds to allow time to find investors who “see the value in supporting your vision”.

 

A sustainable model

GlamCorner now has over 40 employees and has processed the retail equivalent value of $20 million in designer fashions through the site, according to Dean. That amounts to 2 tonnes of clothing being used and re-used per week, or 8-10 tonnes a month of sustainable, shared fashions.

“We’re really proud of that — it’s part of our DNA,” says Dean.

“Given Australian consumers send six tonnes of clothing to landfills every ten minutes, sharing clothing alleviates the environmental impact [of the fashion industry] significantly by allowing many different women to share the same item.

“Collaborative consumption is not just about being great for people’s back pocket, but also great for the planet and society.”

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