Clothing rental as an alternative to 'fast fashion': Clothify, the Spanish startup that makes brands can lend their garments

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world: clothing production represents 10% of CO2 emissions globally, an amount equivalent to what the European Union (EU) releases alone, according to dataof Greenpeace.The same organization draws attention to the pollution generated by the process in general, from the washing of the fabrics to its transportation.

To this is added the burning of surpluses, a very common practice, with which companies want to avoid the discredit of the brand and the costs of fixing the garments and creating new ones.However, this has the days counted.In June of last year, the Government approved in the Council of Ministers the processing of a draft that prohibits this destruction of excellent.

But Fast Fashion has left much more sustainable alternatives that, little by little, attract more and more consumers: second -hand clothes, for example, it is an upward business, just like the least known clothing rental.

A Thred UP report reveals that, in the next 5 years, buyers will opt for the second hand more than any other channel, while a growth of the garment rental and a fall in the consumption of these textiles is also expectedIn department stores, among others.

"The fashion consumer already bets 100% for responsible consumption, because he is beginning to prioritize the fact of giving him a second life," says the CLOTHIFY CEO, Pablo Candau, who considers that it is a great advance in the industry andA very positive trend.

The startup offers a rental solution for B2B clothing garments, that is, it is responsible for the brands that want to rent their clothes have the infrastructure to do so."We make it possible for any fashion ecommerce at national or international level to offer its rental product," Candau explains.

Clothify nació en mayo de 2020 como un B2C, una plataforma de alquiler directa al consumidor, pero en verano cambiaron la estrategia después de que H&M empezase a ofrecer la opción de alquiler en su web.The founder says that at that time, several clients approached them proactively to ask if it would be possible to collaborate in this other way and the company accepted the challenge.

"We had the technology and the very optimized operational process," he says.The new business model was launched in September, although technology did not end up developing until mid -October.

If a consumer wants to rent a garment of a Clothify customer, the process is almost the same as when a purchase is going to be made.The first thing is to choose the product and size.Next, a calendar appears in which the days are marked on which you want to have that garment and pay.

According to Candau, the package arrives exactly the same way as if it is purchased, since they try to make the user experience the same.The user enjoys the product the days he has established and the last one, a Clothify worker goes to pick it up to take it to a dyer where he is hygienized.

As for the type of companies with which the startup works, Candau says that the first brands are not very large, with a turnover between 500.000 and one million euros, and had their commitment to sustainability in common.

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The CEO says that they are currently in conversations with other brands, especially luxury, that they want to reach another mass of customers that do not want to spend so much or create a new loyalty strategy for what they are already buyers.

They are also negotiating with international companies in countries in which the clothing rental business is already known, and for this they are looking for partners and storage points closest to the potential market, in addition to working on the optimization of the routes with theSearch for new hygienization points.

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To compensate to rent a garment, it must have a sale price of approximately 150 euros and the rent must cost around a fourth or fifth of this, although it is a suit for an event, it can rise dueto the temporal use that the client will make.

That discount on the price made Clothify initially calculated that its average user had between 18 and 24 years, but it has turned out to be a little older and is between 25 and 40, an age in which the purchasing power is a bitelderly.

The rental of clothing, an upward business

This business model first appeared in 2009 in the United States, from two Harvard students who thought it would make sense to rent designer dresses and accessories and founded rent the runway.This company focused directly on consumers and little by little other similar ones were leaving, until 2018, when the first B2B is founded.

Candau explains that the consumer was not used to renting clothes, but that little by little platforms of this type directed to the final consumer have appeared, which has made the latter assimilate the idea.

"Spain is not the best market when Fashion Renting at European level, but the consumer begins to understand us," says Candau, although he explains that brands are more up to date with this trend and are becoming more interested.

While this type of service is usually more focused on events, something that could play against the interests of the startup, the CLOTHIFY CEO emphasizes that people are "more reluctant to consumption".

"They have realized that they really do not need to spend so much in new clothes," Candau affects."What need do I have to spend 150 euros for 3 uses?".

The company's biggest challenge for 2021 is to make payment for use begin to be in the top of the brands, both nationally and internationally, as well as reach 85 clients, which in 2022 intend to increase until 200.

Candau and the other co -founder, Ramón Borruel, founded the company with 10.000 euros of own funds.Clothify hopes to lift 250.000 euros in a financing round that they just launched with the aim of climbing sales and technology and thus adapt to any type of trade, regardless of the CMS they have, as well as optimize operations and increase the marketing budget.

Also, Clothify hopes to achieve profitability in August 2022.

The startup is being accelerated by the Andalusia Open Future telephone program - an initiative of the Junta de Andalucía - and explain that it gives them professionalization at all levels.Candau explains that they applied to several accelerators, where they made a pitch and were selected by several, among which they chose Telefónica.

Before founding Clothify, Candau worked in Amazon as a manager of operations and left its job in January 2020 to go on a trip to the Philippines for a year, but the COVID-19 truncated its original plans.On the way back, he began preparing the company's foundation.From his experience in the multinational, Candau highlights learning when working under pressure and people management.

Currently, the company has a team of 5 people and 2 advisors, although they expect it to grow this year, and are based in Barcelona and Seville.

The fashion industry is the second most polluting

Russian Russian, the Marketing head of Clothify.And not only in environmental terms: it also has great personal costs, since in the vast majority of occasions companies do not respect the labor rights of their workers.

This is what really happens with the garments that you throw to your city's clothing container

Not long ago, 25 workers died in a clandestine textile factory in Tangier due to the entrance of a water track in the workshop, which caused them to be electrocutosen.In Morocco, 54% of leather and textile activities fall in Morocco within the so -called "informal sector", that is, spaces that do not meet the appropriate conditions, explain sources of the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies (CGEM) to EFE.

The 2019 decent salary report prepared by the NGO Clean Clothes affects that no worker who manufactures clothes in Asia, Africa, Central America or Eastern Europe is charging enough to live with dignity and highlights the absence of clear plants so that networks that networksof suppliers provide decent salaries.

Of 20 brands analyzed, only one, Gucci, paid an adequate salary to 25% of the employees of the supply chains, while the other 19, among which are companies such as Amazon, Inditex, Primar and highlights the absence ofclear plants for supplier networks to provide worthy salaries.