Rosie Lai is bringing her own version of Rent-the-Runway to Northwestern girls as her dress rental business Rosie Rentals sashays on stage this year. Especially for dress-dazed collegiettes™ or 27 Dresses fans, Rosie Rentals provides a casual service that combines the best of both worlds: a new dress (some of which are from designer brands like Miu Miu or Stella McCartney) and a cheap price ticket.
“I hate to see my pretty dresses go to waste,” said the Medill junior. “As girls, you only wear a dress once and photograph it, and then you feel like you can’t wear it again.”
Lai said she first got the business idea from one of her friends who did it in her sorority, but who only rented out about five dresses.
“I thought it was a good idea, so I asked her and she told me I should go ahead and do it,” Lai said. “At that point, it was summer so I could plan.”
From there, the business idea was simple: creating a Facebook page with a photo collection of all of her dresses, and writing a price quote in the caption. Girls scoping out the perfect dress for a crush party or a residential college formal would then text Lai’s provided cell phone number to rent a dress for the event, often for under $30.
“All my dresses are either one color, or a very simple color with a simple pattern on it,” Lai said. “I look for dresses with a sweetheart neckline, something with an interesting cutting, but usually pretty monotone in color.” Lai described her style as clean and girly “but not like frills or lace or anything.”
So Lai’s business plan, created over the summer, is simple with a very targeted clientele.
“Overall it’s a very casual thing. When you rent out your dresses, you are already limiting your audience to people who are your size. Also with college, you don’t really get that many events to rent cocktail dresses for, because there’s not a huge audience,” she said.
Although the Rosie Rentals Facebook page was just launched at the end of October, Lai said she does not expect many rentals until spring quarter, when there are more formals. “Now that the site is set up, it’s just about letting people know through word of mouth,” she said. “Even if everyone I talk to tells another two people, that’s a lot of people who know about it already.”
Even if in a small way, Lai said her mother is her biggest inspiration as a female entrepreneur in the 21st century.
“My mother started her own business herself and made it really big, so I always took it upon myself to be that female entrepreneur,” Lai said. “My mom always taught me that if there’s something you want to do, do it and be the best at it. In terms of my business currently, it didn’t matter to me that I was only catering to women, or that it’s a small business. I wanted to do it, so I just did it.”
And you can be a part of it too. Rosie Rental’s Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/RosieRentals.