A Newcastle firm which is reinventing the fashion retail sector has expanded into new city centre offices as it launches a new tech product.
Hirestreet was launched three years ago by former investment banker Isabella West who wanted to disrupt the fast fashion market by encouraging women to rent clothes rather than buy them.
Initially starting with just a few dresses, Hirestreet now rents out outfits by the thousands.
Customers book outfits in advance and hire them for four to 16 days before they are returned via Royal Mail to Hirestreet’s warehouse in Glasgow.
With more than one million site users, the firm is working with the likes of French Connection, Whistles, Lavish Alice and Ghost , making it the go-to website for affordable and sustainable outfits.
Having grown the team since launching the venture on her own three years ago, Ms West’s firm now employs more than 20 across the 海角视频, triggering a need for more space.
The team has just moved into a new base in Haylofts, the former St Thomas Street Stables in Haymarket which have been transformed into 22 offices, meeting rooms and lecture space by HyHubs, the business centre chain that includes Hoults Yard in Byker.
The move coincides with Hirestreet, which acquired Manchester rival Hire That Look two years ago, launching a new tech product.
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It has launched the country’s first white label fashion rental platform, which gives fashion brands the chance to rent out their clothing instead of buying.
Using her experience as a trends expert with Selfridges, Ms West analysed consumer trends and designed the platform to make rental accessible to all retailers - and Zoa can do everything a brand needs to launch a rental service, including the technology, warehousing, cleaning and reporting.
Emily Ling, head of operations at Hirestreet and Zoa, said: “We’ve been working on Zoa for some time and have launched the product with two clients – both 海角视频-wide menswear companies.
“One of the fundamental objectives of Hirestreet was to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
“Isabella’s mission is to stop unwanted outfits ending up at landfill. Rental combats the environmental impact of wearing something once and increases the lifecycle for that garment and means it doesn’t sit in someone’s wardrobe having only been worn once.
“Zoa is a continuation of that philosophy and we want to encourage more fashion brands to reduce their impact on the environment by introducing a rental option.”
Ms Ling and Ms West met at what was Newcastle Central High School and kept in touch, with Ms Ling joining Hirestreet in April 2019 as head of content and customer strategy. She became head of operations later that year.
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Hirestreet pivoted during the pandemic to introduce more casual pieces to remain relevant to a lockdown lifestyle. Its largest market is young professional women looking to rent one-off outfits for special occasions including weddings, race days, christenings and holidays.
Ms Ling added: “Hirestreet makes fashion more accessible as well as more sustainable – our customers can rent a £300 dress at a fraction of the cost. The company is doing really well and we’re also excited about Zoa. We think it’s a great way to lower the barriers to a circular economy in the fashion sector.
“Hirestreet is where Asos meets Booking.com, but Zoa is more like Shopify for sharing.”