Louvelle, a high-end member-only ecommerce site specializes in rare pieces.

COURTESY OF LOUVELLE

Many people profess to have a passion for fashion, but few are able turn that energy into a successful career. One who has achieved the goal is Tanya Tamer, creator of Louvelle, an invitation-only luxury fashion lending and borrowing platform.

Tamer started stoking her dream at a young age. “When I was a little girl, I would run home after school and look through all the new catalogs and I’d marvel at all the beautiful pieces,” Tamer said. “I always knew that I wanted to be a part of that world. When I got to college and was thinking about my career, I deliberately went into finance to understand how different business models work and why some succeed and others don’t.”

While she was working in finance, Tamer was using whatever extra money she had to invest in a few designer pieces that she loved. There was a bright pink handbag by YSL and another bag by Celine. After eight years of working in finance, including attending Harvard Business School, Tamer was sitting at her desk one day, asking herself what she could do to get excited about going to work.

Tamer wondered what she was truly passionate about. Then she realized the answer came from her own life. During this time she was going to a lot of different events such as weddings, birthday dinners and galas. She noticed that she and her friends complained about having nothing to wear despite having closets brimming with beautiful clothing.

At the same time, Tamer and her friends were informally borrowing each other’s clothes for certain events. “I think it’s a universal sentiment, having nothing to wear,” she said. “You know, especially with social media these days, people tend to not want to rewear things several times.”

That’s when Tamer started seriously thinking about whether Louvelle could make it as a business. “I wondered about whether there was a way to formalize this process,” Tamer said. “I wondered if I could create a trustworthy community where people could borrow and lend high-end luxury items to each other at scale.”

Louvelle was born with the idea that lenders could transform their closets into assets, while borrowers could access high-end luxury items without the financial burden or the clutter. Louvelle, the community and the infrastructure, makes both sides operate seamlessly.

The platform is an invite-only community. There’s a waitlist that the company goes through every day. Louvelle, can list items for lenders or they can list them themselves. The suggested price is based on the category, the condition and the designer. Louvelle takes a commission off the transaction.

“Our users have a lot of pieces that they love and are not ready to sell," said Laura Godfrey, chief operating officer of Louvelle. “Being able to rent them allows them to keep them.”

Phil Gilman, chief product officer, makes sure there’s no fraud on the site. “We have people protected while they’re on the site," he said. "We’re always on the lookout because we know somebody at some point is going to try to stick some not legit items for too low a price and we’ll, catch it. It has to be the real thing.”

This distinction between Louvelle and other sites is the product offering. Louvelle leans into contemporary luxury with archival and hard-to-source vintage, areas that are usually out of reach of traditional rental sites. Pieces on Louvelle feel discovered rather than distributed, with an element of curiosity, uncommonness and scarcity.

“Luxury brands are navigating the new consumer landscape,” said Beca Alexander, vice president of partnerships. “We’re helping them expand the lifecycle of their pieces. Our community and members are discovering new brands with Louvelle. In many ways people are borrowing items in order to decide whether they want buy them.”

“The great thing about the business model, is we’re hyper-focused on the kind of customers we have," Tamer said. “We know that having a frictionless, seamless experience is important to them."

A frictionless experience is something members insist upon. Louvelle has created a white glove concierge service that manages items, from dry cleaning to photography and delivery to insurance.Tamer is also working on getting wholesale into the business model so lenders can become sellers.

There’s a pre-approved list of designers, which is key to maintaining the quality and aesthetic of the inventory. Prices range, depending on the category and rarity of the item. “We have a lot of archival vintage pieces,” Tamer said. "Those are going to be more expensive than a pair of pants from Toteme.”

When she started Louvelle Tamer thought the most popular items on the site would be handbags and evening wear, but it’s actually been different, including Miu Miu cowboy hats and YSL workwear.

“Chloe is definitely popular," Tamer said. “The most popular labels are YSL, Khaite, Dries van Noten, and The Row. We have a very large selection of their items across different categories.” Other special items include Dior gowns by John Galliano, Cavalli dresses that were worn by Britney Spears to a concert, Tom Ford, YSL by Tom Ford and Gucci by Tom Ford, and Chanel from the Nineties.

What else is trending? Schiaparelli is big, Tamer said, noting especially accessories. The 1930s namesake designer was known for her use of bold shocking pink. “It’s a great example of people investing in something that’s quite expensive. It’s a great opportunity for them to try the piece for a couple days and feel glamorous in it,” Tamer said.

“We have a lot of archival pieces from our members that you quite literally can’t find anywhere else,” Tamer added. “The beautiful thing is, these people who own archival pieces, don’t want to sell them necessarily, but they have been sitting in their closet collecting dust. This is a way for their closet to be working for them in a safe and trustworthy way. ”