Leasing luxury: Designer handbags for rent

Elizabeth Chuck Reporter • Profile • E-mail

Are you looking for a handbag that’s as classy as you are? Look no further than the new Dolce & Gabbana Metallic Leather Tote, where timeless fashion meets the latest fall trends to create the perfect accompaniment for an evening soiree. Yours for only $1,195, more than the monthly mortgage payment for millions of Americans.

Ouch. On second thought, why don’t you rent the purse, look fabulous, impress all your friends and then return it when you find another must-have bag.

Bag Borrow or Steal, an online company that rents luxury handbags to mere middle-class women and prides itself on being a “Netflix of purses,” has made living in a material world infinitely easier — and cheaper, too.

Mike Smith, the CEO of Bag Borrow or Steal, said renting a purse is the ideal solution for purse-aholics or the woman who needs a bag for a particular fashion statement or special occasion, but is reluctant to buy.

“Our average customer has 25 handbags that they own, so they almost feel guilty about buying another one,” Smith said. “A number of them talk about having to justify to their husbands buying another one when they’ve got 25 perfectly good handbags in their closet.”

With the click of a button, women can choose Coach bags, Louis Vuittons, Prada and more. They can keep their rentals for as little as a week or as long as a year, and they have the option of purchasing their favorites for less than retail price.

Membership is $9.95 a month. Rental fees depend on the bag, some of which cost up to $2,500 retail.

“For those who have only been dabbling in luxury or admiring luxury from afar, this gives them the opportunity to actually taste it,” said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at market research firm The NPD Group.

Not ready for commitment yet?
Besides putting the unreachable within the grasp of the midlevel consumer, Cohen said, renting allows potential buyers to try something on for size before committing to it.

And the trend will go far beyond handbags, he predicted, because any one-size-fits-all product can be borrowed.

Smith won’t discuss his company’s finances or profits, but says it has “thousands” of bags in circulation and has been so successful  — its only near-contender is a company called From Bags to Riches — that it recently added a jewelry line.

He draws this profile of the company‘s average client: She can range anywhere from 17 to 70, but she's most likely in her 30s — 33 to be precise. She can live anywhere in the nation, but most renters are on the East or West coasts. And she’s living with a male — husband or boyfriend — and together they have a combined income of about $100,000.

Meghann Prusick of Chicago is a self-avowed fashionista who changes her handbag daily, sometimes twice a day. “If I have brown shoes on, I’m getting my Louis Vuitton bag out,” she said.

When she joined Bag Borrow or Steal in July, the ultrasound technician chose a Chloe Paddington bag that retails for more than $1,500; she paid $60 to borrow it for a week.

“It was in great condition,” the 26-year-old said. “I got a million compliments on it.”

But, she said, “this could be setting me up for disaster because I’ve been thinking about that bag ever since I dropped it off. I might have to ask for it for my birthday.”

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