
Curtsy (YC S16) lets women borrow dresses from their neighbors - stvnchn
http://themacro.com/articles/2016/06/curtsy/
======
glibgil
This model seems flawed. A simpler model would be a service that buys back any
dress from a curated list of labels paying attention to dress release dates. A
user buys this dress
[http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1060049&...](http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1060049&vid=1&pid=176792002)
for $178. They wear it once or wear it five times, but the buy back is only on
offer while it is on the curated list. The service could have a wish list of
users waiting for that dress in that size. The original owner says goodbye to
the dress forever. Isn't the seasonal lifetime of a _new_ dress only something
like nine to eleven weeks?

~~~
mc32
My question would be what happens when accidents happen, spills stains, rips,
etc. The other services have central warehouses staffed with tailors and
seamsters, menders, etc.

Do they have a solution to this?

~~~
glibgil
With my model, you don't need that. The second or third owner is the last
owner. The dress leaves the curated list and it is no longer part of the
system

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parsnipsumthing
I just don't see women doing this. I get students participating because they
don't value their belongings.

But as an adult woman, I just cannot imagine being part of this... ever. It
just seems like an idea that will not scale. I'd be interested in being proved
wrong though.

~~~
jaxomlotus
This was the same conventional thinking about people's comfort level sharing
their apartments that let many investors pass on AirBNB.

~~~
parsnipsumthing
But people often have friends and family stay in their home. How often do
adult women actually share clothes? I don't mean teenagers or students, I mean
actual adult women.

People's comfort level is going to be lowest the more invasive a product is
and clothing is probably an order of magnitude more invasive than a living
space. But, as you said, maybe this becomes the next airbnb. I doubt it, but
maybe.

~~~
erichocean
> _How often do adult women actually share clothes?_

I've seen my wife share clothes with her best friend in the last week. (They
have similar size/tastes and frequently shop together.)

~~~
slackstation
>> How often do adult women actually share clothes? >I've seen my wife share
clothes with her best friend in the last week. (They have similar size/tastes
and frequently shop together.)

If they already know each other and are friends, why would they need another
entity in the trade?

------
jaxomlotus
It concerns me when I see a company that solves an alleged problem that women
have and NONE of the active founders are women.

~~~
FilterSweep
a very close friend who happens to be very petite (5'1") would always know
when her equally-small roommate would wear her dresses and tops without asking
- they were stretched out.

to my (albeit analytical) eyes, they looked the same size and could wear their
clothes interchangeably. I've certainly wore clothing my 6'2 roommate has
worn, and vice versa, being a few inches shorter.

Without women founders to address this problem in the first place, I have to
wonder if concerns for fabric used in womens clothing ever crossed their
minds.

------
deoates
What's up HN! I'm David, one of the founders. Happy to answer any questions
you guys have and would love to hear any feedback on the app, our marketing or
anything really.

~~~
jaxomlotus
Hi David, just curious - why did you not also bring a woman founder on board
to replace Sara? This seems like a critical piece of DNA to have on your team
for the problem you are solving, no?

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pavornyoh
_Users can request a dress and meet up with the owner in a matter of hours_.

My question is meet where? Are these people verified to be legit? Isn't
meeting physically before getting the dress going to pose a problem / bias?

As a woman, personally I don't want to meet the buyer/seller for fear I might
not be that open-minded after meeting either for many many reasons.

------
theleftfielder
$5 seems like way too low of a fee for a dress worth > $100 to prevent
potential damage. That's going to be less than the cost of the drink that I
spilled on it.

~~~
deoates
Definitely, I think it's still too early to know for sure. Interestingly we
only had one incident out of the 300 or so rentals in our first semester. The
damage wasn't permanent so we just paid to have the dress dry cleaned. Our
policy regarding cleaning is "use good judgement." Because it's peer to peer,
there seems to be social pressure; you're much less likely to ruin a dress
after you've met the owner in person. And on the flip side, owners won't want
to hand over a dress that isn't in good, rentable condition

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dkarapetyan
This tickles my funny bone. Fantastic idea and the whole operation is 3 dudes
which is even more surprising.

~~~
deoates
Ours too! We definitely didn't plan on it turning out like that. William's
sister just joined us after graduating Ole Miss and will be a big part of the
team going forward. We're very grateful to have her!

------
calgaryeng
I seem to remember reading about a service almost exactly like this not that
long ago (~1 year maybe)? It failed.... Am I going crazy?

~~~
deoates
Definitely not going crazy. There is a graveyard of startups with similar
models to ours. We're going after the college market first because we think we
can reach profitability faster than in cities like LA and NYC. No one has
taken this college-first approach

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klinskyc
What happened to Sara? She's mentioned as a founder initially and then nowhere
else.

~~~
deoates
Sara graduated from Ole Miss last month and is headed to med school this fall
to pursue lifelong dream of becoming an OB-GYN. We're very sad to lose her!

------
seanconaty
Seems like [https://www.renttherunway.com](https://www.renttherunway.com) but
peer to peer and for less affluent users. Rent the runway is still not cheap
but it's much cheaper than buying a dress and only wearing it once.

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logicallee
I have an interesting idea for a market for you to consider, based on my
experience.

So some people move through sizes, in a shockingly fast period of time. After
I saw a reddit text post I had to google 5'6" 196 pounds since I have trouble
picturing different heights and weights and couldn't follow them along, I got
as a result a self-post showing a large size change over a relatively short
period[1] -- notice that just 13 months are between the first and second-to-
last picture; that's nothing! Also it seems thousands of people encourage each
other along such journeys, both men and women, which is presumably why they
posted it.)

Okay now on to the reason I'm writing this comment. I've known this is
possible and suggested that an overweight friend work out and stick with it,
and she did. But check this out, I hadn't considered something. After just a
couple of months she didn't own a stitch of clothing she could wear anymore.
(she was too fit for the clothes she had owned.) She needed to buy new
clothes.

So what are people supposed to do if they start exercising hard for a few
months, if they had long been over-weight and simply don't own any
intermediate sizes? Especially if they're continuing to steadily move down in
size? I would think borrowing attractive clothes that are your current size
would be a good solution. It's like the opposite version of a hand-me-down! :)
There are thousands of people doing this and supporting each other. One thing
though is that there's no reason this would be limited to women, your current
approach is very gendered. Borrowing cute clothes in any size is a great thing
to do for someone moving through a size but not for that long. Buying new
clothes every few months must suck. Just a thought!

[1] I've moved these two a footnote: this self-post
[https://imgur.com/a/XdFW9#uQXfAu6](https://imgur.com/a/XdFW9#uQXfAu6) [this
shows someone who posted stats in their underwear], for equality here is a
male similar example
[https://www.google.com/search?q=196+male+5%276"&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=196+male+5%276"&tbm=isch)
\- this is not about people's bodies but changes in dress sizes, and I had
only just searched for height and weight.

EDIT: Another thought. Someone in this thread mentioned apprehension over
meeting someone - but if you were meeting someone because they're now too fit
for the size you want to borrow from them, that would be a great reason to
meet them as you could very briefly discuss exactly how they did it. I'm male
and if I were trying to really bulk up (become very muscular) and borrowing
designer clothes from someone whose biceps were too big for their old shirt
(bear with me) that would be a reason to meet them I imagine.

\---

EDIT2: I'm getting downvotes, even though I had a friend complain that she
needed new clothing. If this isn't a market based on the above, where am I
going wrong? Lots of people start gaining weight and outgrowing all their
clothing or start losing weight and becoming too small for all their clothing.
Perhaps I should add that nobody is responsible for their weight, nobody has
any obligation to change it, and also possibly genetics mean that some people
cannot move up or down in weight by any extent over any appreciable period of
time.

This comment is just about a market that I've heard complaints from, where
there is a natural need for temporary clothing. . . I've also seen my friends
selling old clothes on facebook based on their former sizes. . . .

~~~
parsnipsumthing
I think you're getting downvotes because your point could have been stated
much more concisely. However, I agree with you that there is a market for
temporary clothing. Clothing subscription companies like Gwynnie Bee[1] are
attempting to also solve this problem.

[1] [https://closet.gwynniebee.com/](https://closet.gwynniebee.com/)

~~~
logicallee
I probably edited my comment by the time you saw it, no idea where the
downvotes were from but I tried to address any possible concerns and it's okay
now, thanks.

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grillvogel
are there any apps that aren't based on borrowing/"sharing" stuff?

~~~
nix0n
Yes
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panu&hl=en](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panu&hl=en)

------
S_A_P
eww. gross. Either I dont understand millenials or there is such an
overwhelming desire to create some sharing economy 2.0 that bad ideas are
allowed to be funded. Im sure that are both of my above statements are true.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Consignment and second hand stores have been around for well over a dozen
years.

~~~
S_A_P
That is not what this is though.

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bayesian_horse
I so hope this service won't be abused by creeps.

------
wayn3
i remember a time when you didnt need an app to borrow something from your
neighbor. you just asked.

not saying Curtsy is not a good product. Just an observation

~~~
dave2000
This is great though because things have moved on to the extent that you might
now have 1000 people who qualify as neighbours, any number of whom you've
never met and don't know.

------
markuslock
I'm a 16 year old entrepreneur; any advice?

~~~
DanFeldman
Keep building and trying new things. School (college and high school) is a
great way to be surrounded by other young ambitious people, even if it might
not always keep your interest.

------
chetanahuja
HN... the only forum of highly educated people where "stay in school" is a
negative message worthy of downvotes.

~~~
dang
Please don't do the bogus-generalization thing and please don't go on about
downvotes:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).

We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11923736](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11923736)
and marked it off-topic.

