For rent: Chanel totes, LV clutches
A rental service allows a handful of members to sport luxury handbags at a fraction of their actual cost.
When Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India for talks with her counterpart here, she set tongues wagging. She was pretty, she had style, and she carried a Hermes Birkin black tote, rumoured to cost Rs17 lakh. In a matter of days, people knew everything they needed to about Khar and the Birkin bag. That's what a bag does to people. It gets them talking.
In 2009, three bag lovers started talking. The friends — one from the beauty FMCG industry, another from a luxury magazine and the third from the entertainment field — decided to address working women's biggest fashion woe: affordable fashion. And Bagsutra was born. Touting itself "India's first luxury handbag retail service", Bagsutra started with the idea of circulating high-end handbags among the three owners and their friends. Why bags? "Most people believe that something that touches your skin shouldn't be shared. Also clothes and shoes fit people differently. With handbags, one size fits all," says Reema*, one of the founders.
Bagsutra caters to working women in various fields, but not "celebrities". "Celebrities already have access to brands. Our bags are for working women," says Reema. She says younger women tend to use the service as a 'trial', using different handbags before zeroing in what they want to buy. "They're more individualistic. When they like one bag, they use it over and over," says Reema. "There's more brand loyalty among people in their 20s."
It is people in their 30s that follow trends, she adds. They order a different handbag every week, or as and when trends change. "It could be the money factor. At that age, people assume you are earning enough to be able to buy so many bags."
The exact number of handbags is a secret, and new ones are added based on voting by members. The success of their business model, says Reema, is that they have managed to remain 'exclusive', without becoming 'non-inclusive'. To join this club, you have to know one of the founders and then go through two rounds of scrutiny. "The exclusivity works. Everyone feels the bag is their own. It is like a timeshare, everybody owns a piece of it."
This secrecy sometimes becomes a problem. On one occasion, a member forgot a five carat diamond in one of the handbags. "Since we don't name the people who rent bags, the staff at the office had no idea who to return it to," says Reema. The founders were called in and the concerned member was informed about her precious cargo. There are also instances when one of the founders attends a wedding or event and recognises one of 'their' handbags. "We know who is carrying our handbags, but we can't talk about it," says Reema.
The membership fee is Rs10,000, and bag rentals are priced between Rs1,000 and 2,000 per week.
A rental service allows a handful of members to sport luxury handbags at a fraction of their actual cost.
When Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India for talks with her counterpart here, she set tongues wagging. She was pretty, she had style, and she carried a Hermes Birkin black tote, rumoured to cost Rs17 lakh. In a matter of days, people knew everything they needed to about Khar and the Birkin bag. That's what a bag does to people. It gets them talking.
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In 2009, three bag lovers started talking. The friends — one from the beauty FMCG industry, another from a luxury magazine and the third from the entertainment field — decided to address working women's biggest fashion woe: affordable fashion. And Bagsutra was born. Touting itself "India's first luxury handbag retail service", Bagsutra started with the idea of circulating high-end handbags among the three owners and their friends. Why bags? "Most people believe that something that touches your skin shouldn't be shared. Also clothes and shoes fit people differently. With handbags, one size fits all," says Reema*, one of the founders.
Bagsutra caters to working women in various fields, but not "celebrities". "Celebrities already have access to brands. Our bags are for working women," says Reema. She says younger women tend to use the service as a 'trial', using different handbags before zeroing in what they want to buy. "They're more individualistic. When they like one bag, they use it over and over," says Reema. "There's more brand loyalty among people in their 20s."
It is people in their 30s that follow trends, she adds. They order a different handbag every week, or as and when trends change. "It could be the money factor. At that age, people assume you are earning enough to be able to buy so many bags."
The exact number of handbags is a secret, and new ones are added based on voting by members. The success of their business model, says Reema, is that they have managed to remain 'exclusive', without becoming 'non-inclusive'. To join this club, you have to know one of the founders and then go through two rounds of scrutiny. "The exclusivity works. Everyone feels the bag is their own. It is like a timeshare, everybody owns a piece of it."
This secrecy sometimes becomes a problem. On one occasion, a member forgot a five carat diamond in one of the handbags. "Since we don't name the people who rent bags, the staff at the office had no idea who to return it to," says Reema. The founders were called in and the concerned member was informed about her precious cargo. There are also instances when one of the founders attends a wedding or event and recognises one of 'their' handbags. "We know who is carrying our handbags, but we can't talk about it," says Reema.
The membership fee is Rs10,000, and bag rentals are priced between Rs1,000 and 2,000 per week.
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