the curated column - a blog by Armoire
  • Start Renting
  • Sign In
armoire-team
January 15 2021

Confidence in Rental During Turbulent Times: Armoire Raises New Funding

Armoire Everything

2020 was an incredibly difficult year. But even in the darkest of times, there are bright spots. Today we’re proud to share that we raised a $7.4M Seed Extension round that includes $3.5M in new funding. This new funding will allow us to continue building the dream closet for our ever-growing community. With this announcement, we wanted to take a look back on the past year as well as share some of our plans for 2021 and beyond.

Ambika Singh, Chief Boss Lady at Armoire's Seattle Warehouse
Chief Boss Lady Ambika Singh and Armoire’s Seattle Warehouse

We believe clothes should complement the journey of a woman’s life: the ups-and-downs, the big moments, the little moments, and at times even chaos. Over the last year, we are proud to have been there for our members. As life as we knew it changed dramatically this year, our members relied on us to bring a sense of normalcy and joy through uncertain times. Our decision to start carrying “stay at home” wear is reflective of our primary motivation as a company: to help women find clothing that allows them to live their lives with a smile on their face and excitement in their closets, as conveniently as possible.

Armoire survived and thrived in the pandemic, unlike our competition, thanks to a hard-wired culture of listening to our customers. While Rent the Runway moved to eliminate their unlimited rental offering, we ran in the other direction, introducing an even more flexible 6-item unlimited plan that stands as the only truly unlimited offering in the market. Our customer-centric focus is reflected in the retention of our most loyal subscribers. Our tenured members have truly helped carry us through the pandemic. Since last March, our number of active subscribers with 9+ months of tenure has actually increased by 24%.

The decline of traditional retail has greatly accelerated over the past 10 months. We believe the evolution of shopping behavior will continue, and not just as a shift from physical retail to traditional ecommerce. The desire for simplification, personalization, and conscious consumption will drive consumers towards differentiated models like StitchFix and more importantly, rental. Armoire is positioned better than ever before to take advantage of the drastic changes in consumer needs and behavior we are currently experiencing.

The future of fashion is community and clothing. In July we launched Armoire 2.0, which included a first of its kind social component—The PWR Feed—inspired by our members sharing pictures in their Armoire outfits with each other in a private Facebook group. Upon launching The PWR Feed, nearly all our engagement metrics doubled overnight. Members were immediately posting looks, sharing positive comments, and renting styles their peers were wearing.

Armoire's social shopping platform -- The PWR Feed
Armoire’s social shopping platform — The PWR Feed

Our vision for Armoire is to enable a daily shopping habit. The clothing rental model paired with rich social functionality allows customers to experience the best aspects of fashion, as frequently as they want, without the cost and waste of traditional shopping. We want to enable this loop of inspiration, discovery, unboxing, sharing, and positive feedback through a single convenient platform. The daily shopping habit is independent of where our customer is going and what she’s doing. It’s the idea that every day she has a beautiful, positive community to go to that helps her build the perfect closet for her life. 

Looking forward to 2021 and beyond we’re laser-focused on growing our community and delivering on this vision. As we realize this brand promise in new and exciting ways, our top four value propositions remain the same: simplify your life, spend wisely, experience joy, and consume consciously. We’re excited to continue on this journey and we can’t wait to see where the next year takes us!

Finally, we’re deeply thankful to the humans that brought us here. To the Armoire team: thank you for sticking together through these unprecedented times. When things are going great, startups are super fun. When things are tough, they are scary. It takes courage to persevere, and you did. We are so thankful for it. To our members: everything we do is in service of you, and we’re grateful to you for sticking by us when we needed it most. And to our investors, new and old: thank you for believing in us, and seeing us through. We will make you proud, and that’s a promise.

With Style,

Ambika + Tristan


Not a rental convert yet?

When you rent from Armoire’s endless rotation of styles, you’ll never run out of trending options from unique designers. Take our style quiz to get started today!

Share

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Looking Back on 2020 and Pushing Forward

Related Posts

favorite-things-blog-headerv3

Everything

Armoire Gift Guide 2020

Armoire-Total-Boss-Box-copy

Everything

Gift Boxes and Easy Last Minute Gifts

small biz sat option 2

Everything, Featured Posts, Reasons to Rent

The Big Economic Argument for Shopping Small this Holiday Season



Featured Posts

  • small biz sat option 2The Big Economic Argument for Shopping Small this Holiday Season
  • Not sure what to wear? We put together this guide to provide you ample (and easy) ideas for work outfits— perfect for every boss lady.Work Outfits in Under 5 Minutes: 7 Office-Approved Business Casual Looks
  • cropped-bosslady.pngBoss Lady: 5 Ways To Harness Your Power
  • 9 Easy Ways to Join the Sustainable Fashion Movement9 Easy Ways to Join the Sustainable Fashion Movement
  • As an Armoire member, you gain access to an enormous closet without the hassle or cost of ownership. Here's 10 reasons why you should rent clothes!10 Reasons to Rent Clothes

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Trending

  • women-owned-businessRebekah Adams of Poppyseed Maternity is Giving Women Smart Clothing That Fits Regardless
    May 10, 2019
  • coco chanel clothingThe Legacy of Coco Chanel — Clothing For “The Modern Woman”
    March 10, 2020
  • Rent Public Habit's cashmere sweaters exclusively through Armoire, ou can also purchase their sustainable basics to compliment your rented wardrobe!8 Easy Ways to Style Public Habit’s Sustainable Basics
    January 18, 2020
  • Armoire member, style blogger & mom of two Hillary Berenato gives her guide to great post-partum fashion & how clothing rental simplified her life as a mom.Flattering Post-Partum Fashion for New Moms
    December 18, 2019
  • Hanging_Dresses (1)Armoire Makes The ‘Clueless’ Closet A Reality
    August 30, 2018
Armoire
© The Curated Column from Armoire 2020. Made with ♥ in Seattle, WA.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.