A Site To See: Le Tote Lets You Rent Unlimited Clothing For $49 A Month
Around here, we’re endlessly fascinated by the wide world of online shopping, and it seems that every week brings with it a brand-new e-commerce site to be obsessed with. Since keeping track of ‘em all can be a feat of epic proportion, we’ve decided to feature “A Site To See” each week, highlighting a cool retail website you’ll definitely want to bookmark. This week: an incredibly useful new site called Le Tote.
Why You Should Bookmark It: For most women who grew up with a sister or close girlfriends, sharing clothes wasn’t a novelty, it was a necessity. This idea is something that just-launched website Le Tote understands, as the site’s goal is to help you diversify your wardrobe by utilizing the clothing swap phenomenon.
“The idea came to us when we saw our girlfriends and wives facing the problem every day of having a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear,” the site’s co-founder, Rakesh Tondon, told us. “We thought about how many women grew up sharing clothes with sisters and close friends, and the lightbulb sort of went off.”
Tondon’s business partner, Brett Northart, adds that the statistics support this observation. “The average woman is buying 62 new pieces of clothing each year,” he cites. “We think that’s insane, because women only use about 20% of their closet. Women grew up sharing clothes; it really spans age ranges and socioeconomic status. We thought that would be a much better way to amp up the variety.”
The site works with a professional buyer to ensure there’s always chic finds (usually ranging in value from $30 to $150) from up-and-coming boutiques in New York and San Francisco, among other cities.
How It Works: Head to LeTote.com, request an invite, and, once you’re invited, you can simply start shopping. Previously, you told the website’s team of experienced stylists what look you were going for, and they shopped for you; but the site’s creators recently added a feature that allows you to curate your own collection of pieces.
“You set up a style profile focused on style and size, and we essentially send you three garments and two accessories in a tote, and you can keep it as long as you want,” Rakesh explains. “All you pay is $49 a month, and you can do this as many times a month as you want. The whole idea is to provide you with variety in everyday wear.”
It’s interesting that women are able to hang on to the clothes for as long as they want—think of the service like the Netflix of fashion—since there’s no time limit on the clothes you choose to borrow. You can wear them once for a party and then return them the next day, or if you fall in love with the pieces you borrowed, you can keep them for months at a time. You can also return garments separately, so if you rented a blouse and a necklace and want to wear the necklace again but return the top, you can do so.
“The great thing about it is that maybe you can get things that you wouldn’t buy for yourself,” Brett adds. “It’s great for discovery, and a lot of women are using it for a try before you buy sort of thing as well.”
And don’t worry about the cleanliness of the items you’re renting; all garments are properly cleaned between wears. The only two pieces not currently on offer on the site: shoes and pants.
Bonus Feature: The site very recently added the ability to buy the clothes you borrow. In other to purchase something, you simply don’t return it. If you send everything from your tote back but don’t send back a top, they’ll know you want to keep it for good.
Check It Out: LeTote.com
MORE SITES TO SEE:
Lollipuff
Hukkster.com
Mavatar.com
Magnetique
