Curtsy (YC S16) lets women borrow dresses from their neighbors | Hacker News Reader

Curtsy (YC S16) lets women borrow dresses from their neighbors

themacro.com

27 pointsstvnchn55 comments

This model seems flawed. A simpler model would be a service that buys back any dress from a curated list of labels paying attention to dress release dates. A user buys this dress http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1060049&... for $178. They wear it once or wear it five times, but the buy back is only on offer while it is on the curated list. The service could have a wish list of users waiting for that dress in that size. The original owner says goodbye to the dress forever. Isn't the seasonal lifetime of a new dress only something like nine to eleven weeks?

The flaw in your model is, that it still takes too long (or too much money) to deliver the dress.

The second owner pays for delivery when they buy the dress used. The point of the service would be to send a pickup box to the first owner. It would all be accounted for in the margins

My question would be what happens when accidents happen, spills stains, rips, etc. The other services have central warehouses staffed with tailors and seamsters, menders, etc.

Do they have a solution to this?

With my model, you don't need that. The second or third owner is the last owner. The dress leaves the curated list and it is no longer part of the system

I'm not sure this is how women shop. Women don't buy dresses with the intention of re-selling it. They have more of an emotional connection to the style and how it makes them feel and they want their friends to look good in it too. There are niche markets where this isn't true like bridesmaids dresses, so maybe your model would work there. However vast majority of women probably view their dresses as collectors items.

The assumption of this app already starts with a high level of unattachment.

"Curtsy is a mobile app that lets women rent dresses from other women in their neighborhood. Women can browse nearby closets and post their own dresses to make money"

With either model a person walking down the street in their neighborhood or near their workplace risks their friend saying to them, "Sarah, that's the same dress you have."

This seems about as well thought out as:

"Nip Alert is a GPS-driven app designed to give users "the location of a woman with erect nipples." It was created by Big Head, and is Erlich's example to Richard of "showing promise."

The stripper Mochachino, who shows her nipples for a living, finds the app uncomfortable to use and sexist. "

I just don't see women doing this. I get students participating because they don't value their belongings.

But as an adult woman, I just cannot imagine being part of this... ever. It just seems like an idea that will not scale. I'd be interested in being proved wrong though.

This was the same conventional thinking about people's comfort level sharing their apartments that let many investors pass on AirBNB.

Most Airbnbs that I've used aren't someone "sharing their apartment". They're dedicated Airbnb properties. It'd be interesting to see an actual breakdown.

Also, renting a space during a trip was something people were already doing. People were already paying money to stay in a strange place, like a hotel.

As far as I know, the vast majority of people don't currently rent clothing of any kind on a regular basis.

But people often have friends and family stay in their home. How often do adult women actually share clothes? I don't mean teenagers or students, I mean actual adult women.

People's comfort level is going to be lowest the more invasive a product is and clothing is probably an order of magnitude more invasive than a living space. But, as you said, maybe this becomes the next airbnb. I doubt it, but maybe.

> How often do adult women actually share clothes?

I've seen my wife share clothes with her best friend in the last week. (They have similar size/tastes and frequently shop together.)

>> How often do adult women actually share clothes? >I've seen my wife share clothes with her best friend in the last week. (They have similar size/tastes and frequently shop together.)

If they already know each other and are friends, why would they need another entity in the trade?

Huh? People have been renting out rooms in their homes for centuries if not longer. Renting on a short-term basis is even easier to get people to do since it's easier to put up with a roommate for a week for some extra cash than to have to put up with him indefinitely.

>I just don't see women doing this.

I'm not a woman but that was my first thought as well

Yep. To make it even less likely, I get my nicer clothing tailored for me, making it less likely to fit others and a far higher replacement cost if damaged. But who'd want to wear my less-nice clothing? No one.

Guys, can you truly see yourselves renting a suit from the guy down the block? If not, why assume someone else would?

It concerns me when I see a company that solves an alleged problem that women have and NONE of the active founders are women.

a very close friend who happens to be very petite (5'1") would always know when her equally-small roommate would wear her dresses and tops without asking - they were stretched out.

to my (albeit analytical) eyes, they looked the same size and could wear their clothes interchangeably. I've certainly wore clothing my 6'2 roommate has worn, and vice versa, being a few inches shorter.

Without women founders to address this problem in the first place, I have to wonder if concerns for fabric used in womens clothing ever crossed their minds.

What's up HN! I'm David, one of the founders. Happy to answer any questions you guys have and would love to hear any feedback on the app, our marketing or anything really.

Hi David, just curious - why did you not also bring a woman founder on board to replace Sara? This seems like a critical piece of DNA to have on your team for the problem you are solving, no?

Users can request a dress and meet up with the owner in a matter of hours.

My question is meet where? Are these people verified to be legit? Isn't meeting physically before getting the dress going to pose a problem / bias?

As a woman, personally I don't want to meet the buyer/seller for fear I might not be that open-minded after meeting either for many many reasons.

$5 seems like way too low of a fee for a dress worth > $100 to prevent potential damage. That's going to be less than the cost of the drink that I spilled on it.

Definitely, I think it's still too early to know for sure. Interestingly we only had one incident out of the 300 or so rentals in our first semester. The damage wasn't permanent so we just paid to have the dress dry cleaned. Our policy regarding cleaning is "use good judgement." Because it's peer to peer, there seems to be social pressure; you're much less likely to ruin a dress after you've met the owner in person. And on the flip side, owners won't want to hand over a dress that isn't in good, rentable condition

This tickles my funny bone. Fantastic idea and the whole operation is 3 dudes which is even more surprising.

Ours too! We definitely didn't plan on it turning out like that. William's sister just joined us after graduating Ole Miss and will be a big part of the team going forward. We're very grateful to have her!

I seem to remember reading about a service almost exactly like this not that long ago (~1 year maybe)? It failed.... Am I going crazy?

Definitely not going crazy. There is a graveyard of startups with similar models to ours. We're going after the college market first because we think we can reach profitability faster than in cities like LA and NYC. No one has taken this college-first approach

What happened to Sara? She's mentioned as a founder initially and then nowhere else.

Sara graduated from Ole Miss last month and is headed to med school this fall to pursue lifelong dream of becoming an OB-GYN. We're very sad to lose her!

Seems like https://www.renttherunway.com but peer to peer and for less affluent users. Rent the runway is still not cheap but it's much cheaper than buying a dress and only wearing it once.

I have an interesting idea for a market for you to consider, based on my experience.

So some people move through sizes, in a shockingly fast period of time. After I saw a reddit text post I had to google 5'6" 196 pounds since I have trouble picturing different heights and weights and couldn't follow them along, I got as a result a self-post showing a large size change over a relatively short period[1] -- notice that just 13 months are between the first and second-to-last picture; that's nothing! Also it seems thousands of people encourage each other along such journeys, both men and women, which is presumably why they posted it.)

Okay now on to the reason I'm writing this comment. I've known this is possible and suggested that an overweight friend work out and stick with it, and she did. But check this out, I hadn't considered something. After just a couple of months she didn't own a stitch of clothing she could wear anymore. (she was too fit for the clothes she had owned.) She needed to buy new clothes.

So what are people supposed to do if they start exercising hard for a few months, if they had long been over-weight and simply don't own any intermediate sizes? Especially if they're continuing to steadily move down in size? I would think borrowing attractive clothes that are your current size would be a good solution. It's like the opposite version of a hand-me-down! :) There are thousands of people doing this and supporting each other. One thing though is that there's no reason this would be limited to women, your current approach is very gendered. Borrowing cute clothes in any size is a great thing to do for someone moving through a size but not for that long. Buying new clothes every few months must suck. Just a thought!

[1] I've moved these two a footnote: this self-post https://imgur.com/a/XdFW9#uQXfAu6 [this shows someone who posted stats in their underwear], for equality here is a male similar example https://www.google.com/search?q=196+male+5%276"&tbm=isch - this is not about people's bodies but changes in dress sizes, and I had only just searched for height and weight.

EDIT: Another thought. Someone in this thread mentioned apprehension over meeting someone - but if you were meeting someone because they're now too fit for the size you want to borrow from them, that would be a great reason to meet them as you could very briefly discuss exactly how they did it. I'm male and if I were trying to really bulk up (become very muscular) and borrowing designer clothes from someone whose biceps were too big for their old shirt (bear with me) that would be a reason to meet them I imagine.

---

EDIT2: I'm getting downvotes, even though I had a friend complain that she needed new clothing. If this isn't a market based on the above, where am I going wrong? Lots of people start gaining weight and outgrowing all their clothing or start losing weight and becoming too small for all their clothing. Perhaps I should add that nobody is responsible for their weight, nobody has any obligation to change it, and also possibly genetics mean that some people cannot move up or down in weight by any extent over any appreciable period of time.

This comment is just about a market that I've heard complaints from, where there is a natural need for temporary clothing. . . I've also seen my friends selling old clothes on facebook based on their former sizes. . . .

I think you're getting downvotes because your point could have been stated much more concisely. However, I agree with you that there is a market for temporary clothing. Clothing subscription companies like Gwynnie Bee[1] are attempting to also solve this problem.

[1] https://closet.gwynniebee.com/

I probably edited my comment by the time you saw it, no idea where the downvotes were from but I tried to address any possible concerns and it's okay now, thanks.

are there any apps that aren't based on borrowing/"sharing" stuff?

Yes https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panu&hl=en

eww. gross. Either I dont understand millenials or there is such an overwhelming desire to create some sharing economy 2.0 that bad ideas are allowed to be funded. Im sure that are both of my above statements are true.

Consignment and second hand stores have been around for well over a dozen years.

That is not what this is though.

I so hope this service won't be abused by creeps.

i remember a time when you didnt need an app to borrow something from your neighbor. you just asked.

not saying Curtsy is not a good product. Just an observation

You're able to list off the wardrobes (and availability) for your entire neighborhood?

This is great though because things have moved on to the extent that you might now have 1000 people who qualify as neighbours, any number of whom you've never met and don't know.

Totally. Cool stat here -- 80% of the borrows in our first semester occurred between people that had never heard of each other. 12% were acquainted or familiar with the person but not friends. Certainly women can still ask friends to borrow "offline!"

Do you also have any memories of paying to borrow ? :)

I'm a 16 year old entrepreneur; any advice?

Stay in school.

Keep building and trying new things. School (college and high school) is a great way to be surrounded by other young ambitious people, even if it might not always keep your interest.

Build stuff you want and you think others like you will want. Basically explore and do things that interest you. There's a lot of value in that.

Get an internship or mentorship time with someone you admire and learn as much as you can.

Get off the internet and go make awesome shit.

Don't wait to be told what you can and can't do. You can do anything. The world is clay. The most successful people figure that out soonest.

Have fun!

Drop out of school.

HN... the only forum of highly educated people where "stay in school" is a negative message worthy of downvotes.

Please don't do the bogus-generalization thing and please don't go on about downvotes: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11923736 and marked it off-topic.

All my recent comments got downvoted, I'm going to assume it was just collateral damage from one of my other posts.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com