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Comment by glibgil | Hacker News Reader

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?

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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."

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

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. "

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