Flyrobe: Reasonable fashion on your doorstep

Flyrobe's 3-hour delivery time for western wear has made it a hit among fashion enthusiasts

Thirty-year-old Neha Pathak loves to hang out with friends and attend social events. Earlier, she used to struggle with what to wear, as she always fell short of choices. But, with Flyrobe, she insists she could now wear all the latest designer clothes at a fraction of their prices. "Flyrobe is a life saviour for me, as its collection is always up to date and the services are customer-friendly. It is very economical and there are no issues with the hygiene aspect of apparel, and that is the best part for me," she said.

FACT BOX

• Inception: September 2015
• Area of business: Online fashion rental platform
• Founders: Shreya Mishra, Pranay Surana and Tushar Saxena
• Funding: Series-A funding of $5.3 million, led by IDG Ventures; Seed funding of $1.7 million, led by Sequoia Capital in August 2015
• Market opportunity: $4-5 billion

The Mumbai-based start-up, which raised a funding of $5.3 million last month, is a fashion rental service which offers users access to premium apparels and accessories at 10-15 per cent of their original price.

Concept

Flyrobe rents out fashionable ethnic and western wear for all occasions. The customer can keep the outfit for three days, which includes free delivery and pick-up from the customer's door step. For ethnic wear, it charges 20 per cent of the original price. It also charges a security deposit, which is refundable. The company has a curated collection of apparels and accessories from designers such as Ritu Kumar and Masaba Gupta. It also has tie-ups with brands such as Quirk Box, Outhouse, etc. It has a collaboration with French company 5asec for dry cleaning.

The company provides a three-hour delivery service for western wear, which is booked by customers for more unplanned occasions such as parties and outings. It also provides custom-fitting service for ethnic wear, which is usually booked for occasions such as weddings and festivities. Flyrobe was founded in 2015 by Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay alumni Shreya Mishra, Pranay Surana and Tushar Saxena. "We were fascinated by the sharing economy model and fashion is one category where people pay a lot more than they should be paying. The most expensive clothes are worn less and ironically the cheapest - nightwears - are worn the most," said Mishra, chief executive officer.

More than 15 Bollywood celebrities including Parineeti Chopra, Sunny Leone and Aditi Rao have used Flyrobe's service. Recently, it announced its Series-A funding of $5.3 million, led by IDG Ventures; existing investor Sequoia India and Tokyo-based fund GREE Ventures. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, also backed the company.

Opportunity
The economics of the rental model help justify the longer term sustainability of this business. Online female fashion market is going strong and holds a lot of potential. Right now, we are making fashion accessible by using rentals as a model. Later, we might consider sale of gently used items, deep discount sales and even becoming a marketplace for other off and online rental services," said Mishra.

According to Karan Mohla, IDG's executive director, a rental platform for fashion and apparel products can disrupt the market, given the current transactional models. The challenge will be to continuously source leading products and the ability to offer a maximum number of choices, he added.

The real opportunity was also for the company to create a national brand for fashion rental - something that's missing currently. Albert Shyy, principal, GREE Ventures, said: "There is certainly a need to build awareness for this market, as it is still a new business model in India." The fashion rental space is complementary to the rest of the e-commerce market - there are reasons when renting an outfit would make more sense (for example, special occasions, trying out new styles/brands). It also opens up a broader potential consumer base to brands as well. Flyrobe needs to continue to build its brand equity along the lines of a Myntra or LimeRoad to solidify its position as the leading rental platform as the market grows, Shyy added.

Last August, it had raised a seed funding of $1.7 million, led by Sequoia Capital. Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, founders of Snapdeal, Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon, founders of Freecharge, and Zishaan Hayath, the chairman of Stanhope Capital, also participated in the round.

Road ahead
With this round of funding, the company has expanded to two more cities and also launched a men's wear category, besides providing with designer suit, sherwani and kurta-pyjama. It also plans to triple the designer count to 150 and launch in five more cities. Flyrobe also plans to open two offline stores - in Mumbai and Delhi - to better the customer experience. Currently, the delivery is in-house but the company plans to outsource it. The Mumbai-based firm aims to focus on bridal / groom's wear - a high-revenue generation segment.

EXPERT TAKE: Anil Joshi

According to Assocham, India's used goods market is about $20 billion and growing at a rate of 12 per cent annually. Flyrobe operates in shared economy or market space. While the used-goods market numbers might seem big, the shared economy in India is still on the cusp of entering a new age where marketplace economies disrupt the way traditional businesses are carried out. Traditionally, Indian consumers prefer to own the goods but the millennials (young adults born after 1980), who represent 65 per cent of India's population, are fuelling the market place. Hence, Flyrobe offers decent options to consumers who don't have the money to own but can afford to rent.

The shared economy market could be small but is showing decent growth in every aspect of business - be it renting a car through Zoomcar or white goods through GrabOnRent or furniture through Furlenco or renting fashion dress through Flyrobe. The millennials are the main factor for growth in this space, who are willing to try new products on rent. The shared economy also offers great flexibility, which is an established trend in the West and is fast catching up in India.

For the shared economy to be successful, one needs to work on every aspect of the business such as product, service, quality, trust, etc. In a shared economy, the customer rents goods or service either to experience the product or to meet their aspirations. So, if their "experience" is compromised, then it could be a big threat to the business. The current trend is showing good traction and companies need to keep the momentum. They should focus on unit economy, else business might not be viable. However, it is clear that consumers are looking for high aspiration products and are willing to pay for its use on rental. Hence, good product mix and unit economy would be important for growth and profitability of the business.

Anil Joshi, MD, Unicorn India Ventures