It started as a Business of Fashion class project for Haley Rucker (Weinberg sophomore), Jane Weiss (SESP junior), Logan Elstead (Communication junior) and Madison Loew (Communication sophomore). Tasked with solving an “unmet business need in the fashion world,” the group came up with what is now Campus Closet, set to launch in September. Loew answers questions about the fashion business venture and Campus Closet’s future. Below are excerpts:
What is Campus Closet?
Campus Closet is a forum for people to rent clothing to and from each other. We did our initial market research. One of our questions in the survey was, what percentage of your closet do you wear most of the time? The average was 50 percent. People are sitting on tons of clothes they’ve paid to bring here. They are attached to them, and most of them are very stylish. But for some reason they’re not getting worn. Why not take that and make money off of it? We’re trying to market Campus Closet as the new Kellogg studies because you’re literally making money off of doing nothing. Sure, there are hesitations about how we are going to streamline the cleaning process, how and where are people going to pick up the clothing. That’s what we’re working on now, and we’ve come up some really good solutions.
Would you use Campus Closet?
Absolutely. I was saying to a friend the other day that it would not only enable me to buy more clothes and make back some of the money on that but it’s also the opportunity to expand your wardrobe in ways you wouldn’t have imagined, to be inspired by other people’s fashion sense. There are plenty of people here whose fashion sense I love, but the fact of the matter is, it’s difficult to find those people you can borrow clothes from. This website is bringing people together … we kind of unite people through fashion.
Best case scenario for Campus Closet?
We become synonymous with fashion on this campus. Definitely, we have the potential to grow. I watched The Social Network around the time we started, and we were all getting over-excited about it. We’re all very different, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, but we’re all big on ideas. So we’re all like, this is something that could get adapted on more than our campus. Best scenario is being able to expand, creating this business model that is able to withstand other college campuses.
How are guys being targeted?
We had guys respond to the survey. I think the main reason we can target guys is for crush parties, costume/theme parties. Just like girls, they don’t own that kind of stuff. You get an invite to a crush party and then you have to drop how much money on a costume. Hopefully there’s no stigma.
Can you see yourself continuing Campus Closet in the future?
I can definitely say we’d all be interested in operating at least through the time that we’re here and seeing it through future generations of people to take it over. Right now, we have some time and we’re just starting, so I’m really excited about it.
