If your
glamour budget doesn't stretch to the tens of thousands, a site that
rents high-end accessories might be right up your street, writes
P.Ramakrishnan (ramakrishnanp at hotmail dot com!)
From
SCMP. com
It isn't a novel idea, but it's a good one: a website that offers luxury
designer bags for rent at a fraction of their retail price.
LuxTNT.com launched
in November and is the secret of savvy sartorialists, local celebrities
(or their stylists) who use it to pick up rare baubles such as the
Swarovski Dragon Minaudière by Judith Leiber (retail price around
HK$33,000) for HK$627 per day. Others include a dual-beaded leather
clutch from Valentino that usually retails for about HK$20,770 but can
be rented for a mere HK$395 per day or HK$2,405 per week.
The owners of these glamorous accessories are fashion purveyor Bobo
Rok, model and celebrity Rosemary Vandenbroucke and Tim Kau, a
businessman with a hi-tech backgound.
Having seen a similar site in New York (and more notably in the film
Sex and the City,
which name-dropped the site Bag Borrow or Steal and nearly broke it
with a click avalanche), co-founder Bobo Rok says: "When we first
launched, we thought why isn't there a similar site and why hasn't
anyone done this in Hong Kong?"
The company's office and storage unit in Kennedy Town houses a
breathtaking array of accessories from Chanel, Givenchy, Alexander
McQueen, Elisabeth Koch and enough other emblematic labels to make any
fashionista salivate.
Their Judith Leiber assembly is a prized collection in itself.
"Leiber stopped making bags in 1998 and there are only 50,000 bags in
the world she herself made. When we buy rare pieces online, we've found
ourselves competing with the House of Leiber, which is buying back
pieces for a museum retrospective in New York," says Rok.
But do the brands frown on this "borrow, don't buy" platform?
"Hardly," says Vandenbroucke. "We are not cutting into their market - we
are helping these brands, educating our audiences and manually curating
this collection. We buy the bags at full cost. We are showcasing the
fine 'it' bags - the most trendy and seasonal bags for the consumer -
for them to try it out. If they want to buy it, they can."
"It's like test driving a Ferrari," says Rok. "Guys do that all the
time. Look at a site like net-a-porter, an online portal which sees 40
per cent returns. People try [something], but if they don't like it they
return it. When the site stopped the return policy, the trial option,
they saw a dramatic drop in overall sales. We've seen that ladies who
particularly like a piece will go out and buy their own after trying it
out."
Vandenbroucke says: "We buy unique pieces from the fashion houses and
they are aware of it. We even collaborate with brands that are perhaps
not as well known and they are using this site as a platform to launch
their brand into Hong Kong or Asia."
European fashion houses clearly like their business, as Rok has been invited to Paris to speak at the Luxury Conference.
"Hong Kong might have not have been savvy in fashion a decade ago but
... now consumers are well versed. They are looking for the experience,
not just the brand and logo. It's educational for our audience as well
as the suppliers," she says.
"Initially, people came to the site as they were attracted by the
brand names. But designers they are not familiar with, such as the many
brilliant European brands who don't have the advertising budget of a
Louis Vuitton or Dior, want to expand into Asia. They have beautiful
designs and quality to match the deluxe brands. And a banner on a site
is a fraction of the cost of a billboard."
The
biggest surprise they've seen? "The mighty pink dollar," says Rok. "I
never expected men to come and rent clutches. With my past in the mining
industry, the fashionably fabulous wanting to rent clutches or request
'murses' [men's purses] has been a pleasant surprise. They've requested a
men's line. That's something we will have to expand into - clearly,
there's a demand for it."
Indeed, expansion plans are ongoing. "We already have hats, jewellery
is next and we've opened an office in Shanghai," says Vandenbroucke.
Kau continues: "Hong Kong is our home base and we will actively
expand more product lines here. We are also soon to launch in major
cities in China. The great part about spreading our vision of trying new
fashion is that it's a global concept and not limited to one place."
With fashion's ever-changing trends and a constant need for the new,
the trio need to keep stock of what's in style and sell stock that is no
longer considered the 'it' bag or accessory. "The other surprise is
once people have been photographed with a particular bag or accessory,
they won't be seen wearing it again," Rok says.
Surely you mean the celebrities in tabloids?
"No. Everybody. We're in the era of Instagram, everybody is a
celebrity who's been photographed and 'selfied' - and no one wants to be
seen wearing the same thing on their own account. It's a new online
world out there."
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as From bags to riches
