CandidMen, launched in 2017, revolutionized the traditional luxury fashion retail landscape by introducing a model that emphasizes sustainability, accessibility, and the circular economy. Transitioning from an online-only service to incorporating brick-and-mortar showrooms by 2022, CandidMen has significantly impacted how consumers approach luxury fashion, focusing on rentals as a means to reduce waste, promote garment reuse, and encourage conscious consumption.
Through innovative use of technology, CandidMen enhances user experiences by providing personalized fitting guides and making high street fashion both affordable and accessible, challenging conventional views on fashion ownership versus rental. The brand’s commitment to sustainability extends to measuring and communicating its environmental impact. It plans to engage customers and the wider public through documentary-style videos and impactful messaging within its packaging.
This comprehensive approach not only aligns with the circular economy’s goals by extending the garments’ lifecycle and minimizing the environmental footprint of fashion consumption but also fosters a culture of responsible and mindful consumption in the luxury fashion sector.
When did CandidMen Journey Started?
I started CandidMen in 2017. Until 2018 we were having the online -only model. In 2019, we started experimenting with having customers visit our location to try the fittings of the clothes before booking. From 2022 onwards, we started having full-fledged brick and mortar showrooms.
How does CandidMen’s rental model contribute to sustainable fashion practices, particularly in reducing waste and promoting the reuse of high-quality garments?
CandidMen’s rental model contributes to sustainable fashion practices in several key ways:
Reducing garment waste: By offering a rental model, CandidMen encourages customers to rent garments for specific occasions rather than purchasing new ones. This reduces the demand for new clothing production, which in turn reduces the amount of textile waste generated from manufacturing processes and discarded garments.
Promoting garment reuse: Instead of being worn once or twice and then discarded, garments rented through CandidMen are worn multiple times by different customers. This extends the lifecycle of each garment, maximizing its utility and reducing the overall environmental impact per wear. Our current average usage per product is 8 times.
Encouraging high-quality garments: CandidMen focuses on offering high-quality garments that are designed to last. This emphasis on durability ensures that the garments can withstand multiple wears and cleanings without significant degradation, further extending their useful lifespan.
Minimizing resource consumption: Renting garments instead of buying new ones reduces the need for raw materials, energy, and water associated with textile production. By maximizing the use of existing garments, CandidMen helps conserve resources and minimize the environmental footprint of fashion consumption.
Encouraging conscious consumption: CandidMen’s rental model promotes a shift away from the culture of fast fashion and impulse buying towards a more mindful and deliberate approach to fashion consumption. Customers are encouraged to consider their actual needs and opt for renting garments for specific occasions rather than accumulating a closet full of seldom-worn items.
Overall, CandidMen’s rental model aligns with principles of sustainability by reducing waste, promoting reuse, emphasizing quality over quantity, minimizing resource consumption, and encouraging conscious consumption habits among its customers.
How does CandidMen’s approach to luxury fashion rentals align with the broader goals of the circular economy, particularly in terms of extending the lifecycle of garments and reducing the environmental impact of clothing production and consumption?
Extending the lifecycle of garments: By renting out luxury garments, CandidMen ensures that these items are used repeatedly by different customers over an extended period. This extends the lifecycle of each garment beyond what would typically be achieved through traditional retail sales, where items are often worn only a few times before being discarded or forgotten.
Maximizing resource efficiency: By keeping garments in circulation through rental rather than disposal, CandidMen maximizes the value derived from each item and minimizes the need for new resources to be used in the production of replacement garments. This contributes to a more efficient use of materials, energy, and water throughout the garment lifecycle.
Reducing environmental impact: The rental model employed by CandidMen reduces the environmental impact associated with clothing production and consumption in multiple ways. By reducing the demand for new garments, it decreases the need for raw materials extraction, manufacturing processes, and transportation, all of which contribute to carbon emissions, pollution, and habitat destruction.
Promoting responsible consumption: CandidMen’s focus on luxury fashion rentals encourages consumers to adopt more responsible consumption habits. Rather than viewing luxury fashion as disposable or ephemeral, customers are encouraged to appreciate and make the most of each garment, treating it as a valuable resource to be cherished and shared.
Fostering innovation: By challenging the traditional model of ownership and consumption in the fashion industry, CandidMen’s approach to luxury fashion rentals encourages innovation in design, materials, and business models. This can lead to the development of more sustainable practices and technologies that further reduce the environmental impact of clothing production and consumption.
Overall, CandidMen’s approach to luxury fashion rentals exemplifies the principles of the circular economy by extending the lifecycle of garments, maximizing resource efficiency, reducing environmental impact, promoting responsible consumption, and fostering innovation within the fashion industry.
How does CandidMen leverage technology to disrupt traditional luxury fashion retail models, specifically in enhancing accessibility and personalization for its users?
Online platform: CandidMen operates through an online platform, allowing customers to browse and rent luxury garments from the comfort of their own homes. This eliminates the need for physical store visits, making luxury fashion more accessible to individuals who may not have easy access to brick-and-mortar luxury boutiques.
Fit Check Guide: A fit check guide typically involves answering a series of questions about your body measurements, preferences, and fit concerns to determine the best size for you on a website.
CandidMen’s fit check guide contributes to a more personalized and customized shopping experience for customers. By taking into account individual preferences and fit concerns, the fit check guide helps customers find garments that align with their specific needs and preferences, leading to a more enjoyable and successful shopping experience overall.
In what ways does CandidMen’s approach to making high street fashion affordable and accessible challenge and potentially transform consumer perceptions about luxury fashion ownership versus rental?
The key term here is: “No Compromise”. I invite you to visit one of our showrooms and compare it with the experience you have in other establishments. Every piece is well kept, looks brand new, and is available in multiple sizes. You can make a booking now no matter how far away your event date is. You may be spending only Rs.2,000/ but your entire shopping experience and the product and service you receive is at-par what it would have been in a store of the most well known retail brands and fashion designers. That’s how we are transforming the consumer perception.
How does CandidMen plan to measure and communicate its impact on reducing the environmental footprint of fashion consumption through its business model?
Lifecycle analysis: Conducting a lifecycle analysis of the garments rented through CandidMen’s platform can provide insights into the environmental footprint of each garment, including its production, transportation, use, and disposal phases. By quantifying the environmental impact at each stage of the garment’s lifecycle, CandidMen can communicate the overall environmental benefits of its rental model compared to traditional retail models.
We plan on making documentary style videos regarding the environmental impact associated with manufacturing of new garments. We also plan to keep notes in our packaging showing gratitude towards our customers having taken the environmental friendly choice. When it comes to measuring the impact, it’s straight forward. We know how taxing manufacturing is on our environment.
