Our brand image is to be an accessible rental company that offers luxury and higher-priced merchandise in a sustainable manner. We want to appeal to and target entrepreneurs and young business women that want to keep their closet circular. WEARHAUS provides top brands without top prices, the opportunity to shop without buyers remorse, and a sustainable alternative to typical commerce. WEARHAUS focuses on a fashion rental business model, complimented by personal styling services, and providing merchandise that’s a blend of quality vintage pieces and contemporary-market clothing.

Over the course of the semester my team, which consisted of two other students, and I slowly created all of the business elements that became WEARHAUS. We started first by researching the fashion market to see where potential market opportunities arose. We noticed that clothing rental businesses were taking off, and along with each of our love for fashion and thrifting, we knew this was the direction we wanted to go in.

The next step was to define our brand mission, determine our brand image, and value proposition. We had to ask ourselves what make our company unique among all the other rental clothing businesses available. I really loved all of the strategic thinking this project encouraged because it pushed my mind about what would actually make a good, and successful business.

Part of the assignment was to created a full financial workbook, which I discuss more in My Role, as well as a sales and marketing plan. The financial plan was a little challengeing, but the room for creativity within the marketing plan made this project really fun. There are so many unique ways to position and advertise your company it was interesting to read about what other companies are doing and how WEARHAUS could take inspiration from it.

For the final written package my team and I turned in, which detailed every aspect of our business, my main responsibility was putting together the financial plan as well as sales and marketing plan. I had experience creating a financial plan after working on my FSF Case Study project, but never at this scale. The cash flow statement was the hardest part for me to grasp since WEARHAUS is a rental business and our cost of goods is different than a typical business. I did the math, and on average one garment would need to be rented about 4 times to make a profit, and most rental clothing is rented at about 20% of the original retail price.

I was also responsible for finding and planning our physical store space. Even though our primary operations are going to be online, we choose to have a storefront in Nolita, NY to reach our customers on a more intimate level. The address of our physical showroom space is 300 Broome Street, Nolita, NY. It is an apartment style space on the second floor, and the description says, “The space has an artsy and industrial feel with oversized windows which allow plenty of natural light into the space, creating a bright ambience.” (Storefront, 2023). I felt this space was a great location to have our customers get closer into our brand, and provided ample room for all of our needs.