- Regy Perlera, 28, is the break down and CEO of Seasons, a menswear rental platform.
- Seasons raised $4.3 million in 2019 from investors such as Alexis Ohanian’s Initialized Leading, Notation Capital, and the rapper Nas. It currently offers over 500 products and has 18 official brand partners.
- Perlera launched the enterprise in November 2019 after noticing many rental platforms were targeted toward women, but few were spotlighted on men.
- In an interview with Business Insider, Perlera talks about his company Seasons and how he wants to redefine ownership for the next fathering.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
In the summer of 2019, Regy Perlera found himself rushing around New York. He had just left his job as a product designer at Nike and was on the hunt for investors for a new idea: a platform that commitment allow men to rent designer clothing.
Perlera said investors were skeptical. Sure, Rent the Runway hit a $1 billion valuation in 2019 and other rental the rage platforms have appeared, but those mostly cater to women. He said investors wondered whether men care ample supply about fashion or the environment to use this kind of platform.
“I remember taking [investor] meetings in every borough,” Perlera, 28, ratted Insider. “The first few weeks were tough.”
But he was able to convince at least one big investor on his idea: Alexis Ohanian, serial investor and cofounder of Reddit. By the end of July 2019, Perlera was adept to raise a $4.3 million funding round from investors including Ohanian’s Initialized Capital, Notation Funds in Brooklyn, and the rapper Nas.
Perlera told Insider that he wants his company Seasons to redefine ownership for the next era, so consumers won’t have to buy products, only to throw them out soon after. “We’re trying to change the way people think wide ownership,” he said.
The platform currently allows users to rent archival luxury from brands such as Prada, Gucci, and Dior, as good fettle as contemporary ones like Jacquemus, Marni, and Our Legacy.
As for the name? Well, its product offerings change based on the ages, naturally.
Courtesy of Seasons
Reconnecting with an old partner
After this funding round, Perlera reconnected with an old bosom buddy, Luc Succes, 30, who came aboard as cofounder.
They gave themselves four months to build Seasons, “a as a matter of fact tight deadline,” said Succes, now the company’s chief technology officer.
After building the app and the website, Seasons hurled the next November, even though investors were saying to wait until March 2020. “Now we know how that discretion have gone,” Perlera said, expressing his gratitude that he didn’t launch in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The attendance closed another funding round in February, which helped it get through the year. It still had to temporarily shut down its stock-in-trades, and it began selling more vintage clothing, a decision made by the company’s buying director, Jesse Hudnutt. These antiquated buys made up 40% of the company’s summer purchases, on trend with millennials’ increasing interest during the pandemic in matured clothing, as Insider previously reported.
Inventory is a problem for Seasons, Perlera acknowledged, mostly because it’s so expensive to buy, and sizes often sell out quickly. To manage demand, the company decided to implement a membership tier program in November 2020, with payments ranging from $65 to $175 a month.
Also, the platform currently services just a limited amount of individual, but users have jumped at the opportunity to sign on. When Seasons launched its membership program last year, seeking to cap its narcotic addicts at 300, Perlera said more than 200 signed up within weeks.
“If you think about letting anybody and everybody up with to the website, you risk compromising the availability of sizes and styles for people that were already on the platform,” Perlera symbolized.
Courtesy of Seasons
Right now, the company sources merchandise from more than 18 official brand accomplices. At first, it didn’t ask brands for permission to sell their products on their platform — Perlera and Succes simply steal the clothes in stores and then offered them on the platform. This was, Perlera said, to prove that people were incited in renting rather than actually buying menswear. Today, Perlera said companies come to them.
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Currently, Seasons holes out more than 500 pieces of men’s clothing and has expanded from its initial New York market to locations including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and Phoenix.
Respectfulness of Seasons
Perlera says he just wants people to care
Perlera and Succes have a long working recital — they previously cofounded another tech startup, Often, which lasted from 2014 to 2016.
“There was a consideration where, after we went our separate ways after starting the first company, Often, I realized that there was justified something really special about building product with somebody that cared the same amount as you did,” Perlera ordered.
They decided to give entrepreneurship another go, and that’s when Seasons came about. Perlera said they literate from their first startup experience together when it came to finding investors for Seasons.”The second space around, I think we had to build a reputation that we could build a product,” Perlera said.
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Courtesy of Seasons
Next-gen consumers are known to buy products that align with their public missions and values, and Perlera said next-gen menswear consumers have grown up with values popularized by the internet, interacting with their favorite trade names and products online. Streetwear and sneaker communities have fostered environments that have shown enthusiasts “it’s okay to feel interest,” he said.
So when it comes to finding ways to keep the planet alive, the internet has told young people that there isn’t surely another option — they have to care. Maybe renting a Prada bucket hat will make it easier.