This article was taken from the August 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Want to dress in haute couture straight from the catwalk? Step forward Wish Want Wear, an online hire service that lets its users wear the latest designer clothes at a fraction of their cost. For a few days, women can rent outfits from that season's shows -- without breaking the bank.
The concept was born from a need cofounders Suruchi Bhargava, Suruchi Saxena and Uttara Parikh had as students in London. "We were trying to dress well on a tiny budget, and feeling the pressure on our wallets," says Bhargava, 33. "The idea hit us when we saw [handbag rental store] Bag, Borrow or Steal featured in the Sex and the City movie."
Inspired by the "rent, not buy" model adopted by UK companies such as LOVEFiLM and Zipcar, Wish Want Wear launched in London in September 2011, with £1.2 million from an angel investor based in India. <span class="s2">The site is free to join, open to all and has 25,000 registered users, according to Bhargava -- rising by 60 per cent a month. The dresses are from the current season and are available for about ten percent of the retail price for a four-day loan.
Brands available include Chanel by Vintage Heirloom, Temperley London, Just Cavalli, Red Valentino and M Missoni. At the end of each season, several styles are removed from the site and sold privately. The site is adding a host of new features in the coming months, including a wedding boutique. "We want our wardrobe to be an option for women with budgets of all sizes," says Bhargava. The days of Moss and Middleton stealing the limelight could be numbered.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
