The Interview: Rosie Gunn and Hannah Johnston, Co-Founders, Endless Wardrobe

Old school friends Rosie Gunn and Hannah Johnston left their jobs to set up Endless Wardrobe as an affordable fashion rental platform in 2019. Quickly adapting to new consumer needs, they switched the business model to offer three ways to shop – buy new, buy nearly-new or rent – launching a new platform in September 2020, and a revamped website with a more accessible look in May 2021, which is now going from strength to strength.

They now work with brands including Whistles, Alexa Chung, Free People, Cinta The Label, House of Sunny, De La Vali, For Love & Lemons, Olivia Rubin, Musier and Never Fully Dressed, and more brands are increasingly getting on board with the pioneering business with a circular fashion focus.

Gunn, a former lingerie buyer at M&S, and Johnston, who previously ran a sales tech start-up, work with the brands directly as official brand stockists, and it’s all new stock and current season, initially not pre-worn styles. The “nearly-new” current season stock is usually product that has been rented, but professionally cared for and eco-dry cleaned internally, as opposed to products on other sites that have been worn for years. To buy nearly-new gives customers an opportunity to buy current season products from the brands they love at a significantly reduced price on the new RRP price.

Prices for rental vary depending on how many days they are rented for, with 4-day, 10-day and 16-day options available. Additionally, if customers have rented a piece they love, they can decide to buy it and “keep it forever” in a no fuss transaction, which is essentially a new try before you buy method. Here’s Gunn and Johnston’s story so far.

De La Vali at Endless Wardrobe

When did Endless Wardrobe launch online and how has it grown since?

Hannah Johnston: We started life as just a rental site in 2019, and relaunched our new platform, pioneering three ways to shop, in September 2020. Since then, we have seen a 750% growth in revenue.

Where did the idea come from?

Rosie Gunn: We’re friends from school that have known each other for 17 years and have always shared each other’s clothes, so the concept seems natural to us, as I’m sure it does to many females. When we realised nothing existed like this on a bigger scale, we just knew it was the future of fashion and wanted to turn it into a business, and make it as easy as shopping at ASOS, for example. We felt that to use the channels available to us, you had to be quite a thrifty or savvy shopper so we wanted to create something easy and accessible, that we would use ourselves.

HJ: The combination of our skillsets and experience made the perfect fit for Endless. Now we’re lucky to have a fantastic team around us too.

How does Endless Wardrobe work?

RG: Endless is like shopping at ASOS or Net-A-Porter, but also with the ability to rent or buy nearly-new (post-rented) any item on the website. We really see this as the new way to shop. We are an official stockist and work directly with all of our brands, so we have a full size run and are fully stocked on each style.

Customers can expect like new quality because we’re the only ones handling and cleaning the clothes – professionally, using eco dry cleaning practices. With next day delivery, no hidden costs, free returns and refunds given, we make rental and resale easy. It’s like a typical shopping platform, and we have spent a lot of time making the customer journey simple and easy.

How is it different from other rental services?

RG: We’re not just another rental platform, but we do make rental and buying nearly-new just as simple and easy as buying new. We give customers all three choices on every style. We are the only company pioneering this new concept, and that’s what makes us different. With other rental companies, people are going there for special occasions. With us, people come for anything, whether it’s their staple pieces they want to invest in, to pay less for a nearly-new item, or to try a new style for an occasion and rent.

We’re providing people with a choice of how to shop in a way that best fits their needs and how they will wear an item. This helps our customers to shop in a way that is more mindful and encourages them to really consider the garment’s end use. All with the aim of really helping people shift their relationship to clothes and shopping. Also, we are an official brand stockist with no peer-to-peer stock, which means we have depth of stock and sizes unlike other rental services which work with individuals’ wardrobes and brands’ past season stock. We work with current season stock, like a typical multi-brand retailer would.

What’s particularly attractive to customers about your three ways to shop model?

HJ: Rental and resale have been on the rise, but there is no other platform that brings them into a traditional e-commerce space. People often think of renting a dress or buying it second-hand as separate from shopping. But we’re bringing these three ways of shopping together in one place to help redefine what shopping means and help people make more considered purchases. It makes it easier to consider these options as part of a customer’s typical shopping experience, instead of looking to other sites.

For example, a certain skirt might be one person’s go-to item that they wear all the time, while it might be a one-off holiday piece that’s required by someone else. We offer different ways to shop because people wear clothes for different reasons. The three ways to shop complement each other because it’s reinforcing the idea of more considered shopping behaviour all the time. Not just for big occasions, but for all of our clothing needs.

What have been proving the most popular brands and particular design pieces and why?

RG: We see a real mix of styles and brands performing well for us, but our most popular items to rent most recently have been the De La Vali dresses – the "Oswaldo" dress for weddings and "Bluebell" for parties – beautiful and vibrant dresses that are perfect for those wear-it-once big moments. Musier pieces have been popular purchases recently too – affordable, classic, timeless, you truly can wear them endlessly. The "Lena" top has continuously been a best-seller for us.

Our Endless customer always comes to us for her whole wardrobe - tops for dates, drinks, dinners, as well as cosy knits for the weekend, and stand out dresses for weddings and parties. Typically, she loves timeless shapes that she’ll wear endlessly, and luxe fabrics like velvet and silk. Harmur is another brand that’s been performing really well for us just now, as has For Love & Lemons, which is the latest brand to launch.

Musier Paris at Endless Wardrobe

How has the business performed during the pandemic and what has been driving the business in that period?

HJ: The pandemic has accelerated a shift in more mindful shopping and fashion for sure, with many of us decluttering wardrobes during lockdown, and now really finding the joy in dressing up again and trying new things, which has benefitted both the resale and rental markets. Rental was most affected by the lockdown and subsequent lack of social events, as fashion was generally, and during that time we made the decision to take a step back so we could pause and think about the shape of the business coming out of the pandemic. Rental was affected during lockdown periods, but our new and nearly-new sales still grew during that time.

How do you intend to grow the business going forward?

HJ: We’re quickly expanding the brands we work with, growing our product range, improving our tech and team. Now we’re coming out of Covid, we see this as a time to really grow the business. Rental, particularly, has become an option for the smaller life moments – birthdays, dates, drinks, holidays – not just for the big occasions.

Are there any plans for a physical store in the future?

HJ: We do have big plans in the pipeline to combine the digital way to shop Endless with a physical shopping experience for our customers. All we can say for now is, watch this space!