MILAN — A new rental service has bowed in Milan with a clear formula that looks to international competitors, including Rent the Runway, but aims to become an accessible source of high-end fashion and build a community around it.

Hesse was launched this month by a group of fashion professionals and entrepreneurs with diverse skills and backgrounds, ranging from fashion technology, marketing and communications, to art direction and development. of products.

They include Marcello Gamberale Paoletti; Giorgio Racagni; Alice Will; Mattia Scaltrini; Niccolò Zompello and Manuel Turchetti. All of them have personally invested in the start-up, which is now in its start-up phase, with the support of banking institutions.

Based on a three-tier subscription model – priced at 49, 99 and 149 euros – the app offers fashion and accessories from 98 brands available for hire.

Unlike other similar services that offer multiple items as part of a subscription package, Hesse only offers one item per month. Customers subscribe to the service, rent the fashion piece and then can decide whether to exchange it for something else in the same level after 30 days or keep it by renewing the subscription.

An additional service called “lease-to-own” allows customers to repurchase the property after a given “payback time” which is based on the acquisition value of the products and other variables, as if were fashion pieces in or out of season or that they had already been purchased. rented several times. It de facto assimilates the service to installment payment platforms.

“This kind of service was missing in Milan and Italy, which are key destinations for haute couture,” said co-founder Gamberale Paoletti. “Our ambition is to challenge the perception that fashionistas cannot be aware of sustainable principles… [Hesse’s] business model offers a chance to overturn this idea,” he said.

According to Racagni, the app takes an inclusive approach to luxury shopping, allowing fashion enthusiasts to embrace high-end items they could hardly afford to buy at retail price and opening up the market to a wider audience, fighting against fashion elitism.

A mix of heritage brands, including Bottega Veneta, Prada, Balenciaga and Loewe, mingle with up-and-coming names, such as Botter, Staud and Casablanca.

“The first objective was to have a varied assortment,” said Gamberale Paoletti. He explained that the supply comes from Maltampi, an Italian multi-brand retailer, as well as showrooms and wholesalers.

The aim is to forge more links in the future, including with luxury brands.

“Before we connect with brands, we need to reach larger volumes,” the entrepreneur said. “We are clearly convinced that this business model is indispensable and complementary to the fashion industry, so we believe that as the first players in Italy, we could encourage brands to adopt it”, he said. he said, explaining that Hesse may in due course sell their technology expertise to third parties aiming to launch rental programs.

According to Racagni, the fashion industry is still skeptical of rentals and entrenched in a traditional model where, under current policies, even unsold inventory cannot be paid for and released back into circulation through a service like Hesse.

“When we’re broad-shouldered, we’ll be knocking on brand doors,” he said. “Hesse was also intended as a solution to unsold inventory.”

As a start-up with a still limited inventory (each item is available in one piece per size) and currently only available in Milan, the growth and scalability of the business is still difficult to predict. The most immediate goal is to have 50 active users by the end of the year and 1,000 adopters by the end of 2023.

“Our growth must align with supply,” said Gamberale Paoletti. “The goal is to keep our customers engaged, which is why product refunds are tied to subscription renewal, for example. It’s about valuing them as recurring customers rather than one-off” , did he declare.

For the same reason, Gamberale Paoletti plans in the future to accompany the existing service with a date-to-date rental option.

Continuing its eco-responsible business, Hesse has partnered with Blink Last Mile, an Italian start-up dedicated to same-day delivery with a time window service that uses only cargo bikes and electric vehicles for its operations. . The company has also partnered with Mama Clean to do laundry and sanitize returned items.