I was toying with a similar idea though it's more akin to the Netflix model for clothes.
You'd basically pay an up front cost, say $XXX and then you would be able to order a week's worth of clothes. Then you'd mail the clothes back for laundering before being sent out again.
It is really a half-baked idea and requires a sizable amount of logistics, etc. But it was an interesting concept to toss around.
I think that you're onto something there. I need to wear a suit three times a year. Most of my friends are the same way. We all have a suit in our respective closets, but it's just taking up space for most of the year. Now, we're different enough sizes that we couldn't all just share one suit, but, if you had a few thousand clients, you could certainly send a fitting suit to the fellow who needs it, when he needs it.
There's also a huge boon to be found in having branches in both hemispheres. Instead of spending December paying the land tax on a warehouse full of shorts, just rent them out in Australia. Then, come July, send out the shorts in the US and the sweaters down under.
I'm not sure about the environmental impact. On the one hand, you have quite a bit of carbon footprint from shipping the clothes all around. On the other hand, the company would have a strong economic incentive to maintain the clothes. I'm betting a lot of clothes that are currently thrown away could be saved with proper cleaning and sewing skills. I'm now imagining reading the company's blog having less posts on Redis integration and far more on their new way to remove grass stains.
Honestly, given the sizing issues, this probably makes more sense for men's clothes, but that avoids competition with 99dresses.
Dammit. I'm going to be thinking about this all night.
If I'm a guy who occasionally has to wear a suit, it seems like it would be a lot cheaper for me to pay the fixed cost of acquiring it than the ongoing cost of having it shipped to me every so often when I want to wear it. And it's another thing to remember and worry about.
I'm more than happy to toss the idea around with you, I think it's an interesting idea and if it reached critical mass it could do really well - but I'm skeptical it could get there and that the price points would be such that consumers would be interested.
I've been thinking about this exact idea for the past month or so and still love it. I recently tried Trunk Club, which is a similar service but they actually select the clothes for you and you only pay for what you keep and send the rest back. The inherent ownership problem still remains, though--there's yet one more pair of pants or shirt taking up space in your closet that you'll eventually get sick of (that and it was really expensive--like $175 for a button-down expensive).
I like the idea of having a somewhat curated selection of some top brands like Banana Republic, J.Crew, Gap, etc. and being able to choose a certain number of items to take out at one time. I'd pay upwards of $200/mo if it meant I had an endless rotation of new clothes to try on without having to keep. And if you like the garment? Feel free to keep it and pay retail.
The collaborative consumption model is disrupting industry after industry, and it's only a matter of time before someone gets it right in fashion. I would honestly consider starting this myself, but I just left a startup and joined the Goog less than a month ago--need some stability for awhile.
You'd basically pay an up front cost, say $XXX and then you would be able to order a week's worth of clothes. Then you'd mail the clothes back for laundering before being sent out again.
It is really a half-baked idea and requires a sizable amount of logistics, etc. But it was an interesting concept to toss around.