Shining from Florida State University, this company saves students’ closet space and cash by allowing users to rent out their clothes…
“We Make Borrowing Better” – Raide
🎬 Behind the scenes
- Founders Kennedy Joy, Noah Romo, and Wesley White launched this company just over a year ago.
- With over 1,700 users and 100+ transactions, FSU students have been the first focus group of users with plans to expand as clarity in product market fit is affirmed.
- With a micro-grant from FSU to kick off their efforts, a search for more funding is on the horizon as expansion occurs.
🌍 Problem
With fast fashion being a popular component of younger generations’ wardrobes, it’s not surprising to see that the global market for these mass-produced, low-cost items is anticipated to expand from $94 billion in 2022 to $168 billion by 2030.
However, these inexpensive clothes come at a greater cost to the environment, with a single cotton t-shirt consuming ~700 gallons of water to produce, and a pair of jeans demanding 2,000 gallons.
This shifting culture towards “single-use” clothing is prominent on campuses around the globe where more than 40% of students purchase outfits for events, likely to be worn just once.
This opens a gap in the market for a more sustainable approach that benefits both students and our environment’s future.
🤖 Solution
Raide presents a unique approach to sustainable fashion by introducing a consumer-to-consumer clothing rental platform.
This concept directly combats the issue of clothing waste and the environmental damage caused by fast fashion by allowing students to rent out their attire, whether it’s sporting, formal, or casual.
This is especially attractive for students who continuously run into the question, “What am I going to wear?” that is asked by thousands of students every Friday.
Raide in the App Store…
📈 Catalysts
Campus Presence: Having founders on campus allows for direct access to users which creates a seamless feedback loop and naturally occurring word-of-mouth marketing.
Sustainable Approach: By actively fighting the environmental sustainability challenge society faces today, there is a fulfilling incentive for more students to get involved.
Fostering a Community: By embracing the communal closet concept, users emit a sense of relatability and empowerment by being involved with other peers who share similar values.
🛒 Market
Looking at the clothing rental market shows an absence of direct competitors, most of the alternatives offer subscription packages in which users commit to a certain number of clothes per month at a fixed cost.
- Rumie: (student-focused clothing rental platform with 320k+ users)
- MatchesFashion: (designer and formal attire, subscription model)
- FriendsWithA: (marketplace for a wide range of sporting attire/gear)
The market for clothing rental on college campuses is relatively untapped, presenting a great opportunity for Raide. Previous attempts at this concept have fallen short of expectations by expanding too quickly, offering mediocre experiences to a broad audience rather than exceptional ones to dedicated users. Raide aims to address this gap by focusing on quality over quantity for users’ experience.
📈 Path Moving Forward
Moving forward, Raide is on a path to take over the clothing rental market at their university. As of now, they’ve limited the amount of users that can sign up by requiring an FSU email, which is a strategic move on their end.
This is seen famously in Facebook’s original go-to-market strategy which started on a single campus and allowed for a natural (exponential) rate of growth across colleges in the U.S.
This idea ensures that product market fit is clearly defined and any hiccups in their rental process are addressed and resolved now instead of later.
Also, with a growing student-aged user base, various opportunities for partnerships arise in which local businesses could provide a “wear before you buy” option for potential customers.
These mutually beneficial partnerships (which are in the works) will create immense network effects that equate to new users across the U.S.
💡 Studentprenuer Insight
A word from our founders:
“Starting a company in college has had its benefits and challenges for sure. One benefit is the power of community, especially whilst living within our target market. College students are very open to testing new ideas, products, and are still in a very open-minded place in their lives, making barriers to entry for a start-up low.
The greatest challenge would arguably be time management, where you have to make sacrifices to focus on building something sustainable while others are out having fun. We believe it’s worth it though, and with a healthy work/life balance, starting a company in college has only bolstered our collegiate experience overall.” – KJ & Noah