10 ms·

Netflix for baby clothes

239 points by daviday 15y ago

OstiaAntica 15y ago
The smart thing is the marketing comparison to Netflix. I get the service immediately. I actually think a better market is offering a cloth diaper service, but I'm sure the USPS would have some issues with those packages!
- r00fus 15y ago
  Diaper services (like groceries) are inherently local. A national flat-rate service that offers local folks for pickup/delivery would be very interesting.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- pkamb 15y ago
  When I read the title I though "Hmm, what's this? Streaming videos of babies modeling the clothes you're thinking about buying or something?" It took me a minute to remember Netflix has that little DVDs-by-mail business as well. Maybe this slogan has an expiration date.
JangoSteve 15y ago
Seems like a very good idea, considering baby clothes can be expensive and are generally needed for only a short time. I think this model would also work well with women's evening gowns and men's tuxedos (much like tuxedo renting currently happens, but mailed to me and I can return it whenever). I've talked with people who started a similar service a year or so ago, called Bebaroo (recently renamed Bebarang). In fact, they use the same description, "Netflix for baby clothes". http://www.bebarang.com/ http://www.bebarang.com/ http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/netflix-for-baby-clothes-u-m-lands-nomination-for-entrepreneur-magazines-college-entrepreneur-of-the/ http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/netflix-for-baby-clo...
- ojilles 15y ago
  Well, they don't use the same (at least on the frontpage): "Bebarang: Online Baby Clothes Rentals" To me that's a missed chance. Rental I think temporary ownership (negative), with Netflix I think "once i'm done, I get rid of it" (positive). Just my opinion tho.
  - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
    I was surprised to see Netflix there and not see a trademark notice. Similarly they use "Plum" which is already a baby food manufacturer (perhaps they're not in the US) so I'd imagine they're likely to be getting some TM infringement/passing-off notices if they haven’t already. IANA(TM)L.
    - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
      Oh, FWIW I did a brief check using the USPTO's TESS trademark search of only live marks of "plum" (http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4006%3A2111su.2.101&p_search=searchstr&BackReference=&p_L=500&p_plural=no&p_s_PARA1=plum&p_tagrepl~%3A=PARA1%24FM&expr=PARA1+or+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=&p_tagrepl~%3A=PARA2%24ALL&a_default=search&f=toc&state=4006%3A2111su.2.101&a_search=Submit+Query http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4006%3A...) and there's at least this one: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:2111su.3.24 http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:21... in the Nice Classification for clothing (25).
- kadavy 15y ago
  Heck, beyond tux rental, I'd like just a simple suit rental for those rare occasions I'm attending a wedding.
- leahculver 15y ago
  I use Rent the Runway for renting designer (formal) dresses. They're great! http://www.renttherunway.com/ http://www.renttherunway.com/
aresant 15y ago
I love the look and feel of the landing page, the typography is concise and clear. That said a couple of landing page suggestions: a) You need to turn the "subscribe" call to action into a button or underline it, it's not clear to avg web user what to do. Suggestion for A/B is a less scary action than "subscribe", maybe "Try it Now!" b) Get the "stains or spills" content into the top paragraph, it's fundamental in closing the sale. As a parent the #1 thing i wondered was how do you address the "ewwww" factor of sharing baby clothes, shouldn't have to scroll to see that. Hope you guys crush it, sending along to my wife :)
- shawndrost 15y ago
  re: call to action: you should a/b eventually, but start with best practices. buttons > links, use colors that draw attention, don't let it blend with other page elements. (for instance, the left-alignment makes it blend with the text above it.)
  - kadavy 15y ago
    Good point - sometimes there are other things that can have far more ROI for a budding business than A/B testing.
  - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
    Agreed, use the highlight colour inverted with the button right aligned to the para (that green doesn't say baby clothes to me incidentally, though I see the organic bit, looks a bit reserved).
- vaksel 15y ago
  can't say I like the landing page....it looks way too much like a wordpress blog...and an incomplete one at that. granted I'm not a target customer, so maybe their research shows that it works...but if I came to the website by any non-referral method(i.e. a friend saying go there)...I would have hit the close button right away
- carolineoconnor 15y ago
  Thanks so much for the great feedback! I'm the founder, built this site in a weekend to start testing the idea. We're working on a rev of the site that will launch in the next two weeks. Love these suggestions.
b_emery 15y ago
This is basically what my family and friends have going on right now, so I know it will work. We're constantly shipping boxes of cloths around to each other. Great idea.
- smackay 15y ago
  Sharing clothing within an extended family is only to be expected. The dynamics change markedly when dealing with pre-owned clothes from random strangers however as plumgear will no doubt find out rather quickly. They do address the spills and stains issue up front but I think it will take a lot of work to get over the ewww factor.
zavulon 15y ago
You should use something like Recurly or Chargify + a real payment gateway/merchant account for subscriptions. Using Paypal is just asking for trouble. We've been using Recurly for our clients and it's been working flawlessly (kind of expensive at $70/m, but IMO it's completely worth it for any kind of business.)
- dangrossman 15y ago
  232 million people use PayPal. A couple hundred at most use Recurly. Recurly's screwed a higher percentage of its users than PayPal, by far. If you're not aware of how, go back and read Recurly's blog posts from just after their beta days, when they massively raised prices and removed API access from plans of users that had already invested time in fully integrating those APIs with their live websites. I think the track record points to PayPal as a safer choice. Once the new business is established, it can build its own in-house billing to support additional payment types. Writing your own subscription management for most sites is not hard.
  - zavulon 15y ago
    If Recurly had some issues in their beta/early after beta days, that's understandable. But Paypal has been screwing users for 10+ and counting. I have myself heard at least 20 horror stories about PayPal freezing money for no reason. It happened to one of my businesses just half a year ago. They've decided to freeze all payments, and only after a month they've decided to "verify" whether we're a legitimate business or not by calling our customers and asking whether they've received the product or not. Thankfully, after that they unfroze the money, but for a young business, that was almost a death blow. It's not about percentages, but about total numbers. Paypal fucked over tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands merchants. If you want some reading material, go to http://paypalsucks.com/ http://paypalsucks.com/ And with all due respect, building in-house billing may not be as easy as you think. I run a software development company, and I recommend my clients to use Recurly.
    - dangrossman 15y ago
      PayPal is no worse than any other merchant account provider in regards to their policies for risk reviews and what happens when an account is frozen. The policies are essentially word for word the same at PayPal and at the major banks underwriting most merchant accounts. Sticking a subscription-management-as-a-service startup on top of your payment processor does not alleviate any of these issues. I know exactly how easy/hard building in-house billing is, thank you very much. I've built many, for my own business which supports over 80,000 users with a myriad of complex one-time/subscription/overage/special-rate/etc. payment plans, and for others. You can look at my profile if you wish some evidence.
troels 15y ago
Very good idea. I see a problem with the business model though. My son is 6 months now and we have only ever bought a couple of cheap body stockings. Everything else was donated to use by friends and family who have had children recently. Even though I like this idea, I probably wouldn't have used it simply because I didn't have to. And I don't think we're unique in that sense; My impression is that people either want new clothes (And thus aren't your target customers) or they are second-handers like me. But maybe there's a third group; I definitely think you should test the marked.
- greendot 15y ago
  I agree with this. I have a 2 year old and a new one on the way, so I am somewhat familiar. It is tough to beat all the free stuff you get from friends and family. Also, consignment sales are a hit with moms. They go NUTS for them... and for $49, they can walk away with 10-15 items and not have to worry for at least 2-3 months.
- jturn 15y ago
  The thing I noticed was that you can't pick and choose what you like (maybe I misunderstood). Basically you just get a random dress or outfit. If this were truly a netflix style system, you should be able to choose the latest fashion and swap in and out as much as you want. The benefit is the latest fashion for less. That being said, I really like the concept.
- johnrob 15y ago
  Another issue I'd wonder about is operational costs. DVDs are pretty easy to warehouse and ship. Clothes come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, plus they have to be washed. Definitely requires a more complex/costly operation, which is amortized over a smaller user base (there are more people watching movies than there are raising young children).
- davidw 15y ago
  Your profile says: > I live in Copenhagen, Denmark. I think that's significantly different than, say, living in California where you may originally be from some other state that's as distant as you are from Moscow or Madrid, and not have as many friends and family... Also, no, it's probably not ideal for everyone, but by being a small operation, she can satisfy a niche and not have to worry about conquering the entire baby clothing market. Lastly, even though we got plenty of stuff from friends and family, I could see utilizing this to get some 'extras', especially if it's really high quality stuff. Hand-me-downs can sometimes be a bit ragged.
jgoewert 15y ago
I hope you guys crush it as well. This really taps into the market of people who don't want to spend the time going to thrift stores (or be caught seen in them), but want to save a buck. I wonder if this type of market is going to expand out more and more to put future generations into the "Why buy when you can rent?" mentality for their entire lives. Makes sense for being able to borrow something when you need it and then return it instead of having it take up space in your house. A similar toy rental business was on Shark Tank this season: http://www.toygaroo.com/blog/?p=1734 http://www.toygaroo.com/blog/?p=1734 http://inthesharktank.com/2011/03/shark-tank-premiers-biggest-offer/ http://inthesharktank.com/2011/03/shark-tank-premiers-bigges... The lady got what I thought was a decent deal with her main problem being that she diluted the heck out of the company by giving out 10% of the shares to anyone who even sneezed near the company. Best of luck.
yalogin 15y ago
Is there market for sharing clothes like this? I understand if its between family or extended family members but I did not think one would purchase used clothes for babies.
- Vivtek 15y ago
  Yes. Yes. Oh, a thousand times yes (as a father of two). Babies go through clothes fast - not wearing them out, but because they grow so fast. Nobody buys all their baby clothes, we all get them from somewhere else, and very often from used-clothing stores. I predicted this business sixteen years ago. About time somebody's giving it a decent shot.
kemiller 15y ago
Holy cow. We're expecting our first, and this just looks like an amazing idea. You should totally cross-market with the diaper services.
- dolinsky 15y ago
  I don't know about you but I prefer to buy fresh diapers for my toddler :) In all seriousness though, my wife often finds buying in bulk at kids r us to be as cost effective as diapers.com is (YRMV obviously).
  - bmj 15y ago
    I'm guessing the parent is referring to a cloth diaper service.
    - dolinsky 15y ago
      Yeah, I assumed the same, just throwing in a lil' parenting humor :) My wife 'n I looked at cloth diapers as opposed to single use diapers, and any potential cost savings were completely offset for us by the additional time/work investment needed by choosing a cloth diaper solution as well as the smell factor...there's ALWAYS a smell factor, regardless of how 'odorless' you're led to believe their bins are.
      - dreww 15y ago
        Thanks for choosing comfort and convenience. I'll let what's left of the icecaps know that you won't be having them over for dinner any time soon.
      - bmj 15y ago
        We used a service for our first kid, and yeah, keeping a pail of soiled diapers around for a week isn't ideal. For our second kid, we just purchased our own diapers and did the laundry every two days.
    - ars 15y ago
Turing_Machine 15y ago
Nifty idea. I like the environmentally-friendly detergent, etc. but my first thought was to wonder how effective it is at killing bacteria. Some parents are going to be concerned about that, so it might be good to have some data.
jawns 15y ago
Marketing question: Any problems with using somebody else's trademark in your service's tagline? Can I market my business as the "Netflix of ..." or the "Apple of ..." or the "Hacker News of ..." without getting permission from that trademark holder? (I know a lot of generic products use a tiny line of type like "compare to Kellogg's Frosted Flakes," but it sounds like Plum Gear is taking it a step further than that.)
- TillE 15y ago
  While it's an interesting hypothetical, I don't actually see the word "Netflix" anywhere on the site. A Google search suggests it's a snappy description they've used when describing the site to a journalist, but I don't see that they've written it anywhere themselves. If they had done, well...I think you'd have to be very very careful. You wouldn't want to create the slightest hint of confusion that your service is endorsed by Netflix.
  - tlrobinson 15y ago
    It's mentioned in the video and the Facebook "like" button.
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  My opinion is that this is a clear case of confusion. That a layman could readily confuse the origin of the goods with the mentioned company. You usually have to acknowledge the RTM/TM and make a clear statement that your goods do not originate with the TM owner and are not warranted by them. If you can't afford to answer a lawsuit then I'd avoid it! You don't need to be in the wrong to get sued. Comparison advertising is usually specifically allowed and the form of comparison advertising makes clear that your goods do not originate with the company you're comparing with. Just don't lie especially if you chose a large company to compare with, they'll have you for every last cent.
- ankdiddy 15y ago
  It could be misconstrued that Netflix is endorsing it and because there is an alternative way to describe what Netflix does (i.e. Rental Service), they may be asked to change the wording. If using "Netflix" is the only way to describe the product without actually implying endorsement, than they will probably be safe. Another perspective is that you can generally use other trademarked names as long as you don't make profit from their actual names. So I can make a netflixsucks.com site and would be protected in doing so as long as I don't make a profit. Other than that, as long as they are truthful and don't confuse customers they can probably find a way to finagle using "Netflix for Baby Clothes" somewhere in their promo material.
mrkurt 15y ago
This works out to about $21-24/outfit you'd need for a 0-12 month old (assuming new clothes every 3 mo). It's a good abstraction and solves the "I'm drowning in boxes of unused baby clothes" problem pretty nicely.
BenSS 15y ago
I'm sorry, but I don't see this working for complete strangers. It's true that extended families regularly exchange clothes, but they're not the real competition. Your real competitors are the (fairly regular around here) mom swap events. You can buy the same quantity of clothes for less than your monthly charges and see what you're getting in person.
- jawns 15y ago
  I have to agree with the second point. Lots of churches and other organizations hold fairly regular kids resale events in our area. They tend to be a step up from what you'd find at the thrift store, but they're still sold for thrift-store prices. Not only that, but it sounds like what you get is sort of a "surprise bag" of clothes that you don't get to select. So it's sort of like Netflix, if Netflix just picked out movies it thought you'd like, rather than letting you select the titles yourself. In that sense, the swap sales have a clear advantage. You see something you like, you examine it right there, and you don't have to buy anything you don't like. Personally, I wouldn't use this service because it sounds like what's being offered are designer clothes, and that doesn't fit our budget. What I'd love to see is a service that offers something like Finland's famed "baby box" -- which is given to all new parents: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/finlands-baby-box-gift-from-santa-claus-or-socialist-hell/237240/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/fin... It's got a bunch of basic outfits -- no frills, just simple, normal-looking clothes. If a company were to buy stuff like this in bulk, it could probably put together a great, low-price, one-stop-shop "baby box" here in the U.S. and still make a decent profit.
- ippisl 15y ago
  And similar , there's also online swapping for baby/children clothes/toys available. see thredup.com .
bmurphy 15y ago
As the Father of a 19 month old I can only say this is a complete rip-off. Craig's list, friends and family, birthdays, holidays, garage sales, second hand stores, 50% off coupons, the list goes on and on. $16/mo for two outfits? Really? Maybe $1/mo/outfit or something like that and I'll bite. Right now, one years subscription would be more than her entire wardrobe and we're pretty much done until age 4.
- angryasian 15y ago
  agree. Even shopping at clearance at Target, Ross, Walmart and Marshals .. lets say 6 outfits over 3 months for 16X3 = $50(rounded up) - for $50 at discount stores... can go a long long way.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- watchandwait 15y ago
  I thought the same thing, but ran it by my sister (a busy working mom) and she said the benefit wasn't the value of the clothes, but her time-- this system would save her from having to go shopping.
pdenya 15y ago
As others have said this works out to $21-24/outfit...but that's a rental fee, you don't get to keep the outfit to pass down to other kids (of your own or of your family and friends). I suppose there's some value in being able to trade in the outfits once a month to get new ones but it's not enough of an appeal for me to justify the price. We currently pay ~$10-20 for an outfit for my 9 month old daughter which lasts her about 3 months and $15-$30 for my 2 year old son which last him 6-9 months. I likely won't use this service unless the price drops although I appreciate the idea and the utility. Nice site too.
kogus 15y ago
This is awesome, as a parent I can say this is something I would have loved up to just a few months ago. Come to think of it, I could use an adult version for myself :) Having said that, here is some constructive criticism: 1 - If you subscribe, what kind of commitment are you making? Can you cancel the service @ any time? 2 - Make the available sizes known before you actually get to the point of subscribing. Our son is right on the line between 3-T and 4-T, but I didn't know the max size is 3-T until I got to the "subscribe" page.
jdunck 15y ago
See also, thredup.com
carolineoconnor 15y ago
Thanks so much for the great comments and feedback! I'm the founder, had this idea 12 weeks ago in the Launchpad class at Stanford's d.school. The site is extremely beta, I built in in a weekend to test the idea. We've taken on a technical co-founder who's rebuilding for us as we speak.
- daviday 15y ago
  I was going to say, I submitted this but unfortunately I have nothing to do with the website. Caroline, great job. This community is great, people give great advice here, good luck!
  - carolineoconnor 15y ago
    Thanks so much, David!
- gregpilling 15y ago
  While I am in the camp of swapping clothes with family and friends, I think this could work very well. I have met enough crazy parents that purchased Air Nike shoes for their non-walking babies to make me question their grip on reality. See http://www.google.com/search?q=baby+nike+air+jordan&tbm=shop&hl=en&aq=f http://www.google.com/search?q=baby+nike+air+jordan&tbm=... for what the stylish babies are wearing. I would suggest letting parents pick the outfits, since anyone fashion conscious enough to want to use the service will be sensitive to what they get in the mail. I think if you focused on very high price baby stuff you could do well - items priced higher than the typical baby swap stuff.
kirpekar 15y ago
Sorry, but WAY overpriced.
earle 15y ago
This is great. I seem to remember something in a slightly different niche back in the mid-late nineties that ran into issues shipping worn clothing.. have you looked into any potential regulations with this?
jimmarq 15y ago
I sincerely wish you luck. I have a 2 month old daughter who wears clothes sized for a 6 month old. It pains me to think about what we spent on clothes she only wore once or twice. I'll send the link to my wife since I have just about zero say (I'm not complaining) about the clothes my daughter wears.
- bartonfink 15y ago
  I have a 2 month old daughter and it pains me how inconsistent sizing is for infants. We got a tremendous amount of clothing from friends and families. Within the 0-3 month range, we have clothes whose snaps literally won't close on my daughter (who is only 3rd percentile size for her age), and we also have clothes that are double her size. If I had paid for these, I'd be pissed as hell.
shii 15y ago
Reminds me of Manpacks: http://manpacks.com/ http://manpacks.com/
deleted 15y ago
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jerf 15y ago
To everyone saying "too expensive", I think perhaps you are not the target market. I found the "Egg Baby" outfit that is pictured on the plumgear.com homepage: http://www.egg-baby.com/lightweight-knit-layette-p1ck400-lgrey.html http://www.egg-baby.com/lightweight-knit-layette-p1ck400-lgr... It is currently selling for $42.25. Perhaps it's a little expensive, but I believe "plum" here is not just a random word, but is referring to the quality of the goods being rented. Now, one may separately question whether there is anybody in the target market, who wants these clothes but won't drop the funds to just buy them, but I can't speak to that either way; my family is more the "$5 for the all-the-clothes-you-can-stuff-into-a-garbage-bag special" sort of family. No rental service can compete in that part of the market, as fixed costs to ship one box would eat half my wardrobe "budget".
- gigawatt 15y ago
  "Now, one may separately question whether there is anybody in the target market, who wants these clothes but won't drop the funds to just buy them, but I can't speak to that either way;" I think that's going to be the problem. My wife used to work for families to whom money was pretty much no object. $42 and $16 are equivalent in their mind, and equal to about $0.25 to a family on a budget. I don't see them wanting the hassle of having to remember to return clothes within 3 months when it's effectively the same % of their income to buy them.
  - rapind 15y ago
    Yeah, but then you've got all this stuff and you eventually try to unload it on someone else who just had a kid. Is it any more difficult to return clothes then it is to store them? For me, the cost of baby clothes isn't killing me, but if I crunch the numbers and this is cheaper, then I'd be convinced simply because I like the idea of re-use from both an environment and a de-cluttering angle.
    - pbreit 15y ago
      For many, the act of giving away clothes to another new mother is very satisfying
patorjk 15y ago
My wife and I are getting ready to have kids soon. This is a really neat idea. However, I'm not sure how she'd feel about sharing clothes with people she doesn't know. However, expanding on this theme, something like this could also useful for things like Halloween, Christmas or other holiday outfits. One note about the site though, at the bottom, the boxes under "Our brands" highlight when you mouse over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. It seemed a little strange since the boxes above them don't highlight when you mouse over them.
- yarone 15y ago
  Agree with your first point. My wife would never, ever take "hand me downs" from folks that she doesn't know (regardless of whatever logic you throw at her). She'd rather spend the money. Then, there are clearly other folks that think a service like this is too expensive. Seems like my wife is one extreme (would rather spend lots of money buying stuff) and then there's another extreme (folks who don't want to spend money at all). I'm wondering if the middle range is a large enough market.
  - ars 15y ago
    And I'm especially concerned with the idea of using 7th Generation cleaning products. I've used their products, and they barely work. The idea of washing strangers clothing for a baby in their very weak cleaning products is just ridiculous.
rapind 15y ago
The pricing is a bit confusing. You can go with the 7 outfits plan however you can still only return one of those outfits per month before you get dinged. The alloted shipments should scale with the plan imo. If I'm on the 7 outfit plan I should be able to cycle all 7 of those outfits within say 3 months as part of the plan's price. You may need to raise the monthly to cover this, but at least it feels more inclusive and less nickle and dime. Just my opinion though.
dkrich 15y ago
While I was in bschool at Michigan, a few classmates were working on an almost identical business called Bebaroo. Not sure where it went, and as a single male with no children, I have no idea about the viability of the model. That said, a good friend of mine who is a mom said that the idea was flawed to her because she could go to Target and outfit her kid for $10 in brand new clothing.
- dreww 15y ago
  http://www.bebarang.com/ http://www.bebarang.com/
dpcan 15y ago
Your market is probably people who garage sale for baby clothes - or go to second-hand shops and don't care if their kids are wearing hand-me-downs. However, those people are finding full outfits for $0.25 Will the same people pay $16.95 per month for this? Not in my opinion. We buy new clothes for our kids. We hand-down clothes. But we were never comfortable putting our kids in hand-me-down clothes because we see what kids do to clothes. It seems like a pretty narrow niche.
tylerritchie 15y ago
>To keep that fresh-off-the-line feeling, our bundles are packed with a sprig of organic lavender in a muslin pouch. Great care seems to be taken with the laundering process to reduce allergens and be generally baby friendly... And then a hepatotoxic flower, allergen, and estrogen mimic is thrown in.
- dgabriel 15y ago
  I won't argue that some people are allergic to lavender, but I would appreciate a citation on the other two pieces of information. I googled a bit and couldn't find anything about the hepotoxicity of the lavender flower. There was some info on lavender essential oils, both as poison and so-called estrogen mimic, but a vial of oil is obviously different than a sprig of a plant.
  - tylerritchie 15y ago
    The difference between a vial of oil and sprig of plant are, of course, one of concentration. Henley et al. (2007) [1] is the lavender, tea tree oil as an estrogen mimic study that everyone goes to, and there have a been a few papers in the interim but none with exactly the same focus. The hepatotoxicity of Lavender is usually associated with coumarin and is more hand waving than anything else. A vial of oil is obviously different than a sprig of plant. And a soap, or cream is obviously different than both a plant or vial of oil. But all of the above listed contain the suspect oils. It doesn't seem like a good idea to hotbox baby clothes with endocrine system disrupting allergens, even at low concentrations. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725
raldi 15y ago
To everyone posting a variant of, "Ew, I don't care if it's been laundered.. who wants to use pants that were on some weird stranger's baby?" .. I have to ask: Do you bring your own sheets and towels when you stay in a hotel?
- reustle 15y ago
  Second hand shops are everywhere, how is that any different?
Lukeas14 15y ago
I agree with some of the new parents that this service is essentially useless to me if I get the first 2 years of clothing for free thanks to family and friends. You might want to think about cannibalizing this by allowing my friends to instead give me a 'gift certificate' good for however many months of clothing from your service.
bitsm 15y ago
This is a great idea, and there is a market for this, as anyone with a baby will tell you. But have you done any customer development? As others have mentioned, you have a lot of competition. First you have relatives. They buy lots of new clothes for you. Then you have consignment shops for lots of basic items, which as a new parent, you are suddenly very aware of. Finally, you have the parents themselves, who can usually afford to splurge on a nice outfit here or there, after the bulk of clothing's been supplied by #1 and #2. I just don't see a burning need here that will get you across the chasm.
namank 15y ago
Another is Netflix for toys. Theres a Netflix for everything
softbuilder 15y ago
>We donate anything in less-than-perfect condition to foster care. Ouch. Perhaps it could just say 'donated to those in need' without calling out foster kids as a second class?
- BadCookie 15y ago
  I cringed when I read this line as well.
- cloudbrain 15y ago
  Just say "We only send you clean clothes in great condition." Saying you donate the crap that no one wants is offensive.
craigmc 15y ago
Its a great market (massive numbers of babies born every year, 4m+ in the US alone) and it is not one that a lot of entrepreneurs automatically think of, so anything that can get traction is clearly going to do fairly well. The problem with this particular model (and this is only from my own personal experience), is that you get baby clothes (both new and old) as gifts for a lot of different sources (friends, family etc) and quickly most parents regardless of household income come to view baby clothes as a disposable or at least very low value commodity and thus renting expensive "boutique" clothes is perhaps moving towards to the "niche" end of the market... although I definitely, think if you kill the execution you could do something that made a bit of money.
timjahn 15y ago
As a new father of an 11 month old (and a very generous family that won't stop finding cute outfits), I have a few thoughts: 1. Just read your FAQ page, and it says if my return package is over 13 oz, I need to take it to the post office. While this sounds trivial initially, how many people know how much their packages weigh? I don't have a postal scale handy, so would I always have to go to the post office to ensure I can get my package out? 2. As numerous people have commented here, you have a lot of competition just with family alone. Granted not everybody's family will be as generous as mine. But we've bought a small percentage of clothes for our little guy compared to our family buying every cute outfit they see at Kohls or Target, and a lot of hand me downs from a little cousin a year old than our little guy. Your bio on your site seems to suggest that you haven't had your baby yet (unless I've misread it). I wonder if, once you have your baby, you might realize that you yourself have no need for your service (if your family is anything like mine). Then again, maybe this will take off with a small niche. Nobody can predict the future, right? :)
lifestyleigni 15y ago
How does this compare to http://www.thredup.com/ http://www.thredup.com/ ? Anybody know of any others in this space?
6841iam 15y ago
[I don't have kids] Nice idea, but I had to crunch the numbers. I'm not sure this service is cost effective. Take the 7 outfits plan at $49/month. Since you can only return these outfits at the end of 3 months that translates into $21/outfit over the 3 months. And if you make 3 returns within the 3 months, that effectively translates to $24.4/outfit. A brand new designer outfit from http://www.egg-baby.com/ http://www.egg-baby.com/ will set you back by $40/outfit (probably lower, if you hunt for a good deal). So for gasp, 84 outfits a year, renting outfits through this service will set you back by $2049/year. Buying 84 new outfits will cost you $3360/year. So renting is cheaper by 39%. But, if OTOH, at the end of the year, you were to launder (Cost to you: $200; worst case) these outfits that you've bought and sell them on Ebay at 30% (worst case) of the cost, you'd net ~$800, bring down your total cost to $2560 for buying new clothes yourself. Plum: 84 outfits. $2049/year DIY: 84 outfits $40/outfit. $3360/year. Launder them at the end of the year. -$200. Sell them for $1000 on craigslist or Ebay. $2560/year.
- gte910h 15y ago
  Do the type of people who put designer baby clothes on their kids also take that much time craigslisting/ebaying?
extramoose 15y ago
Regardless of the first version sales pitch, I'd totally use it if I had a kid. Just to contribute some valuable info.
extramoose 15y ago
Regardless of the first version sales pitch, I'd totally use it if I had a kid. Just to contribute some valuable info.
callmeed 15y ago
I'd like to see more info in the FAQ. For example, what sizes do they go up to?
periferral 15y ago
seems kinda pricey. renting 2 sets for $16/mo. I could hop on to target and buy 2 sets for the same price and I get to keep them till they outgrow them. I guess they need to deal with the overhead costs on shipping + cleaning + just plain gets old or torn. Can't see the value in this.

239 points by daviday 15y ago

The smart thing is the marketing comparison to Netflix. I get the service immediately. I actually think a better market is offering a cloth diaper service, but I'm sure the USPS would have some issues with those packages!

r00fus 15y ago
Diaper services (like groceries) are inherently local. A national flat-rate service that offers local folks for pickup/delivery would be very interesting.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
pkamb 15y ago
When I read the title I though "Hmm, what's this? Streaming videos of babies modeling the clothes you're thinking about buying or something?" It took me a minute to remember Netflix has that little DVDs-by-mail business as well. Maybe this slogan has an expiration date.

JangoSteve 15y ago

Seems like a very good idea, considering baby clothes can be expensive and are generally needed for only a short time. I think this model would also work well with women's evening gowns and men's tuxedos (much like tuxedo renting currently happens, but mailed to me and I can return it whenever). I've talked with people who started a similar service a year or so ago, called Bebaroo (recently renamed Bebarang). In fact, they use the same description, "Netflix for baby clothes". http://www.bebarang.com/ http://www.bebarang.com/ http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/netflix-for-baby-clothes-u-m-lands-nomination-for-entrepreneur-magazines-college-entrepreneur-of-the/ http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/netflix-for-baby-clo...

ojilles 15y ago
Well, they don't use the same (at least on the frontpage): "Bebarang: Online Baby Clothes Rentals" To me that's a missed chance. Rental I think temporary ownership (negative), with Netflix I think "once i'm done, I get rid of it" (positive). Just my opinion tho.
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  I was surprised to see Netflix there and not see a trademark notice. Similarly they use "Plum" which is already a baby food manufacturer (perhaps they're not in the US) so I'd imagine they're likely to be getting some TM infringement/passing-off notices if they haven’t already. IANA(TM)L.
  - pbhjpbhj 15y ago
    Oh, FWIW I did a brief check using the USPTO's TESS trademark search of only live marks of "plum" (http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4006%3A2111su.2.101&p_search=searchstr&BackReference=&p_L=500&p_plural=no&p_s_PARA1=plum&p_tagrepl~%3A=PARA1%24FM&expr=PARA1+or+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=&p_tagrepl~%3A=PARA2%24ALL&a_default=search&f=toc&state=4006%3A2111su.2.101&a_search=Submit+Query http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=4006%3A...) and there's at least this one: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:2111su.3.24 http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:21... in the Nice Classification for clothing (25).
kadavy 15y ago
Heck, beyond tux rental, I'd like just a simple suit rental for those rare occasions I'm attending a wedding.
leahculver 15y ago
I use Rent the Runway for renting designer (formal) dresses. They're great! http://www.renttherunway.com/ http://www.renttherunway.com/

aresant 15y ago

I love the look and feel of the landing page, the typography is concise and clear. That said a couple of landing page suggestions: a) You need to turn the "subscribe" call to action into a button or underline it, it's not clear to avg web user what to do. Suggestion for A/B is a less scary action than "subscribe", maybe "Try it Now!" b) Get the "stains or spills" content into the top paragraph, it's fundamental in closing the sale. As a parent the #1 thing i wondered was how do you address the "ewwww" factor of sharing baby clothes, shouldn't have to scroll to see that. Hope you guys crush it, sending along to my wife :)

shawndrost 15y ago
re: call to action: you should a/b eventually, but start with best practices. buttons > links, use colors that draw attention, don't let it blend with other page elements. (for instance, the left-alignment makes it blend with the text above it.)
- kadavy 15y ago
  Good point - sometimes there are other things that can have far more ROI for a budding business than A/B testing.
- pbhjpbhj 15y ago
  Agreed, use the highlight colour inverted with the button right aligned to the para (that green doesn't say baby clothes to me incidentally, though I see the organic bit, looks a bit reserved).
vaksel 15y ago
can't say I like the landing page....it looks way too much like a wordpress blog...and an incomplete one at that. granted I'm not a target customer, so maybe their research shows that it works...but if I came to the website by any non-referral method(i.e. a friend saying go there)...I would have hit the close button right away
carolineoconnor 15y ago
Thanks so much for the great feedback! I'm the founder, built this site in a weekend to start testing the idea. We're working on a rev of the site that will launch in the next two weeks. Love these suggestions.

b_emery 15y ago

This is basically what my family and friends have going on right now, so I know it will work. We're constantly shipping boxes of cloths around to each other. Great idea.

smackay 15y ago
Sharing clothing within an extended family is only to be expected. The dynamics change markedly when dealing with pre-owned clothes from random strangers however as plumgear will no doubt find out rather quickly. They do address the spills and stains issue up front but I think it will take a lot of work to get over the ewww factor.

zavulon 15y ago

You should use something like Recurly or Chargify + a real payment gateway/merchant account for subscriptions. Using Paypal is just asking for trouble. We've been using Recurly for our clients and it's been working flawlessly (kind of expensive at $70/m, but IMO it's completely worth it for any kind of business.)

dangrossman 15y ago
232 million people use PayPal. A couple hundred at most use Recurly. Recurly's screwed a higher percentage of its users than PayPal, by far. If you're not aware of how, go back and read Recurly's blog posts from just after their beta days, when they massively raised prices and removed API access from plans of users that had already invested time in fully integrating those APIs with their live websites. I think the track record points to PayPal as a safer choice. Once the new business is established, it can build its own in-house billing to support additional payment types. Writing your own subscription management for most sites is not hard.
- zavulon 15y ago
  If Recurly had some issues in their beta/early after beta days, that's understandable. But Paypal has been screwing users for 10+ and counting. I have myself heard at least 20 horror stories about PayPal freezing money for no reason. It happened to one of my businesses just half a year ago. They've decided to freeze all payments, and only after a month they've decided to "verify" whether we're a legitimate business or not by calling our customers and asking whether they've received the product or not. Thankfully, after that they unfroze the money, but for a young business, that was almost a death blow. It's not about percentages, but about total numbers. Paypal fucked over tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands merchants. If you want some reading material, go to http://paypalsucks.com/ http://paypalsucks.com/ And with all due respect, building in-house billing may not be as easy as you think. I run a software development company, and I recommend my clients to use Recurly.
  - dangrossman 15y ago
    PayPal is no worse than any other merchant account provider in regards to their policies for risk reviews and what happens when an account is frozen. The policies are essentially word for word the same at PayPal and at the major banks underwriting most merchant accounts. Sticking a subscription-management-as-a-service startup on top of your payment processor does not alleviate any of these issues. I know exactly how easy/hard building in-house billing is, thank you very much. I've built many, for my own business which supports over 80,000 users with a myriad of complex one-time/subscription/overage/special-rate/etc. payment plans, and for others. You can look at my profile if you wish some evidence.

troels 15y ago

Very good idea. I see a problem with the business model though. My son is 6 months now and we have only ever bought a couple of cheap body stockings. Everything else was donated to use by friends and family who have had children recently. Even though I like this idea, I probably wouldn't have used it simply because I didn't have to. And I don't think we're unique in that sense; My impression is that people either want new clothes (And thus aren't your target customers) or they are second-handers like me. But maybe there's a third group; I definitely think you should test the marked.

greendot 15y ago
I agree with this. I have a 2 year old and a new one on the way, so I am somewhat familiar. It is tough to beat all the free stuff you get from friends and family. Also, consignment sales are a hit with moms. They go NUTS for them... and for $49, they can walk away with 10-15 items and not have to worry for at least 2-3 months.
jturn 15y ago
The thing I noticed was that you can't pick and choose what you like (maybe I misunderstood). Basically you just get a random dress or outfit. If this were truly a netflix style system, you should be able to choose the latest fashion and swap in and out as much as you want. The benefit is the latest fashion for less. That being said, I really like the concept.
johnrob 15y ago
Another issue I'd wonder about is operational costs. DVDs are pretty easy to warehouse and ship. Clothes come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, plus they have to be washed. Definitely requires a more complex/costly operation, which is amortized over a smaller user base (there are more people watching movies than there are raising young children).
davidw 15y ago
Your profile says: > I live in Copenhagen, Denmark. I think that's significantly different than, say, living in California where you may originally be from some other state that's as distant as you are from Moscow or Madrid, and not have as many friends and family... Also, no, it's probably not ideal for everyone, but by being a small operation, she can satisfy a niche and not have to worry about conquering the entire baby clothing market. Lastly, even though we got plenty of stuff from friends and family, I could see utilizing this to get some 'extras', especially if it's really high quality stuff. Hand-me-downs can sometimes be a bit ragged.

jgoewert 15y ago

I hope you guys crush it as well. This really taps into the market of people who don't want to spend the time going to thrift stores (or be caught seen in them), but want to save a buck. I wonder if this type of market is going to expand out more and more to put future generations into the "Why buy when you can rent?" mentality for their entire lives. Makes sense for being able to borrow something when you need it and then return it instead of having it take up space in your house. A similar toy rental business was on Shark Tank this season: http://www.toygaroo.com/blog/?p=1734 http://www.toygaroo.com/blog/?p=1734 http://inthesharktank.com/2011/03/shark-tank-premiers-biggest-offer/ http://inthesharktank.com/2011/03/shark-tank-premiers-bigges... The lady got what I thought was a decent deal with her main problem being that she diluted the heck out of the company by giving out 10% of the shares to anyone who even sneezed near the company. Best of luck.

yalogin 15y ago

Is there market for sharing clothes like this? I understand if its between family or extended family members but I did not think one would purchase used clothes for babies.

Vivtek 15y ago
Yes. Yes. Oh, a thousand times yes (as a father of two). Babies go through clothes fast - not wearing them out, but because they grow so fast. Nobody buys all their baby clothes, we all get them from somewhere else, and very often from used-clothing stores. I predicted this business sixteen years ago. About time somebody's giving it a decent shot.

kemiller 15y ago

Holy cow. We're expecting our first, and this just looks like an amazing idea. You should totally cross-market with the diaper services.

dolinsky 15y ago
I don't know about you but I prefer to buy fresh diapers for my toddler :) In all seriousness though, my wife often finds buying in bulk at kids r us to be as cost effective as diapers.com is (YRMV obviously).
- bmj 15y ago
  I'm guessing the parent is referring to a cloth diaper service.
  - dolinsky 15y ago
    Yeah, I assumed the same, just throwing in a lil' parenting humor :) My wife 'n I looked at cloth diapers as opposed to single use diapers, and any potential cost savings were completely offset for us by the additional time/work investment needed by choosing a cloth diaper solution as well as the smell factor...there's ALWAYS a smell factor, regardless of how 'odorless' you're led to believe their bins are.
    - dreww 15y ago
      Thanks for choosing comfort and convenience. I'll let what's left of the icecaps know that you won't be having them over for dinner any time soon.
    - bmj 15y ago
      We used a service for our first kid, and yeah, keeping a pail of soiled diapers around for a week isn't ideal. For our second kid, we just purchased our own diapers and did the laundry every two days.
  - ars 15y ago

Turing_Machine 15y ago

Nifty idea. I like the environmentally-friendly detergent, etc. but my first thought was to wonder how effective it is at killing bacteria. Some parents are going to be concerned about that, so it might be good to have some data.

jawns 15y ago

Marketing question: Any problems with using somebody else's trademark in your service's tagline? Can I market my business as the "Netflix of ..." or the "Apple of ..." or the "Hacker News of ..." without getting permission from that trademark holder? (I know a lot of generic products use a tiny line of type like "compare to Kellogg's Frosted Flakes," but it sounds like Plum Gear is taking it a step further than that.)

TillE 15y ago
While it's an interesting hypothetical, I don't actually see the word "Netflix" anywhere on the site. A Google search suggests it's a snappy description they've used when describing the site to a journalist, but I don't see that they've written it anywhere themselves. If they had done, well...I think you'd have to be very very careful. You wouldn't want to create the slightest hint of confusion that your service is endorsed by Netflix.
- tlrobinson 15y ago
  It's mentioned in the video and the Facebook "like" button.
pbhjpbhj 15y ago
My opinion is that this is a clear case of confusion. That a layman could readily confuse the origin of the goods with the mentioned company. You usually have to acknowledge the RTM/TM and make a clear statement that your goods do not originate with the TM owner and are not warranted by them. If you can't afford to answer a lawsuit then I'd avoid it! You don't need to be in the wrong to get sued. Comparison advertising is usually specifically allowed and the form of comparison advertising makes clear that your goods do not originate with the company you're comparing with. Just don't lie especially if you chose a large company to compare with, they'll have you for every last cent.
ankdiddy 15y ago
It could be misconstrued that Netflix is endorsing it and because there is an alternative way to describe what Netflix does (i.e. Rental Service), they may be asked to change the wording. If using "Netflix" is the only way to describe the product without actually implying endorsement, than they will probably be safe. Another perspective is that you can generally use other trademarked names as long as you don't make profit from their actual names. So I can make a netflixsucks.com site and would be protected in doing so as long as I don't make a profit. Other than that, as long as they are truthful and don't confuse customers they can probably find a way to finagle using "Netflix for Baby Clothes" somewhere in their promo material.

mrkurt 15y ago

This works out to about $21-24/outfit you'd need for a 0-12 month old (assuming new clothes every 3 mo). It's a good abstraction and solves the "I'm drowning in boxes of unused baby clothes" problem pretty nicely.

BenSS 15y ago

I'm sorry, but I don't see this working for complete strangers. It's true that extended families regularly exchange clothes, but they're not the real competition. Your real competitors are the (fairly regular around here) mom swap events. You can buy the same quantity of clothes for less than your monthly charges and see what you're getting in person.

jawns 15y ago
I have to agree with the second point. Lots of churches and other organizations hold fairly regular kids resale events in our area. They tend to be a step up from what you'd find at the thrift store, but they're still sold for thrift-store prices. Not only that, but it sounds like what you get is sort of a "surprise bag" of clothes that you don't get to select. So it's sort of like Netflix, if Netflix just picked out movies it thought you'd like, rather than letting you select the titles yourself. In that sense, the swap sales have a clear advantage. You see something you like, you examine it right there, and you don't have to buy anything you don't like. Personally, I wouldn't use this service because it sounds like what's being offered are designer clothes, and that doesn't fit our budget. What I'd love to see is a service that offers something like Finland's famed "baby box" -- which is given to all new parents: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/finlands-baby-box-gift-from-santa-claus-or-socialist-hell/237240/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/fin... It's got a bunch of basic outfits -- no frills, just simple, normal-looking clothes. If a company were to buy stuff like this in bulk, it could probably put together a great, low-price, one-stop-shop "baby box" here in the U.S. and still make a decent profit.
ippisl 15y ago
And similar , there's also online swapping for baby/children clothes/toys available. see thredup.com .

bmurphy 15y ago

As the Father of a 19 month old I can only say this is a complete rip-off. Craig's list, friends and family, birthdays, holidays, garage sales, second hand stores, 50% off coupons, the list goes on and on. $16/mo for two outfits? Really? Maybe $1/mo/outfit or something like that and I'll bite. Right now, one years subscription would be more than her entire wardrobe and we're pretty much done until age 4.

angryasian 15y ago
agree. Even shopping at clearance at Target, Ross, Walmart and Marshals .. lets say 6 outfits over 3 months for 16X3 = $50(rounded up) - for $50 at discount stores... can go a long long way.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
watchandwait 15y ago
I thought the same thing, but ran it by my sister (a busy working mom) and she said the benefit wasn't the value of the clothes, but her time-- this system would save her from having to go shopping.

pdenya 15y ago

As others have said this works out to $21-24/outfit...but that's a rental fee, you don't get to keep the outfit to pass down to other kids (of your own or of your family and friends). I suppose there's some value in being able to trade in the outfits once a month to get new ones but it's not enough of an appeal for me to justify the price. We currently pay ~$10-20 for an outfit for my 9 month old daughter which lasts her about 3 months and $15-$30 for my 2 year old son which last him 6-9 months. I likely won't use this service unless the price drops although I appreciate the idea and the utility. Nice site too.

kogus 15y ago

This is awesome, as a parent I can say this is something I would have loved up to just a few months ago. Come to think of it, I could use an adult version for myself :) Having said that, here is some constructive criticism: 1 - If you subscribe, what kind of commitment are you making? Can you cancel the service @ any time? 2 - Make the available sizes known before you actually get to the point of subscribing. Our son is right on the line between 3-T and 4-T, but I didn't know the max size is 3-T until I got to the "subscribe" page.

jdunck 15y ago

See also, thredup.com

carolineoconnor 15y ago

Thanks so much for the great comments and feedback! I'm the founder, had this idea 12 weeks ago in the Launchpad class at Stanford's d.school. The site is extremely beta, I built in in a weekend to test the idea. We've taken on a technical co-founder who's rebuilding for us as we speak.

daviday 15y ago
I was going to say, I submitted this but unfortunately I have nothing to do with the website. Caroline, great job. This community is great, people give great advice here, good luck!
- carolineoconnor 15y ago
  Thanks so much, David!
gregpilling 15y ago
While I am in the camp of swapping clothes with family and friends, I think this could work very well. I have met enough crazy parents that purchased Air Nike shoes for their non-walking babies to make me question their grip on reality. See http://www.google.com/search?q=baby+nike+air+jordan&tbm=shop&hl=en&aq=f http://www.google.com/search?q=baby+nike+air+jordan&tbm=... for what the stylish babies are wearing. I would suggest letting parents pick the outfits, since anyone fashion conscious enough to want to use the service will be sensitive to what they get in the mail. I think if you focused on very high price baby stuff you could do well - items priced higher than the typical baby swap stuff.

kirpekar 15y ago

Sorry, but WAY overpriced.

earle 15y ago

This is great. I seem to remember something in a slightly different niche back in the mid-late nineties that ran into issues shipping worn clothing.. have you looked into any potential regulations with this?

jimmarq 15y ago

I sincerely wish you luck. I have a 2 month old daughter who wears clothes sized for a 6 month old. It pains me to think about what we spent on clothes she only wore once or twice. I'll send the link to my wife since I have just about zero say (I'm not complaining) about the clothes my daughter wears.

bartonfink 15y ago
I have a 2 month old daughter and it pains me how inconsistent sizing is for infants. We got a tremendous amount of clothing from friends and families. Within the 0-3 month range, we have clothes whose snaps literally won't close on my daughter (who is only 3rd percentile size for her age), and we also have clothes that are double her size. If I had paid for these, I'd be pissed as hell.

shii 15y ago

Reminds me of Manpacks: http://manpacks.com/ http://manpacks.com/

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

jerf 15y ago

To everyone saying "too expensive", I think perhaps you are not the target market. I found the "Egg Baby" outfit that is pictured on the plumgear.com homepage: http://www.egg-baby.com/lightweight-knit-layette-p1ck400-lgrey.html http://www.egg-baby.com/lightweight-knit-layette-p1ck400-lgr... It is currently selling for $42.25. Perhaps it's a little expensive, but I believe "plum" here is not just a random word, but is referring to the quality of the goods being rented. Now, one may separately question whether there is anybody in the target market, who wants these clothes but won't drop the funds to just buy them, but I can't speak to that either way; my family is more the "$5 for the all-the-clothes-you-can-stuff-into-a-garbage-bag special" sort of family. No rental service can compete in that part of the market, as fixed costs to ship one box would eat half my wardrobe "budget".

gigawatt 15y ago
"Now, one may separately question whether there is anybody in the target market, who wants these clothes but won't drop the funds to just buy them, but I can't speak to that either way;" I think that's going to be the problem. My wife used to work for families to whom money was pretty much no object. $42 and $16 are equivalent in their mind, and equal to about $0.25 to a family on a budget. I don't see them wanting the hassle of having to remember to return clothes within 3 months when it's effectively the same % of their income to buy them.
- rapind 15y ago
  Yeah, but then you've got all this stuff and you eventually try to unload it on someone else who just had a kid. Is it any more difficult to return clothes then it is to store them? For me, the cost of baby clothes isn't killing me, but if I crunch the numbers and this is cheaper, then I'd be convinced simply because I like the idea of re-use from both an environment and a de-cluttering angle.
  - pbreit 15y ago
    For many, the act of giving away clothes to another new mother is very satisfying

patorjk 15y ago

My wife and I are getting ready to have kids soon. This is a really neat idea. However, I'm not sure how she'd feel about sharing clothes with people she doesn't know. However, expanding on this theme, something like this could also useful for things like Halloween, Christmas or other holiday outfits. One note about the site though, at the bottom, the boxes under "Our brands" highlight when you mouse over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. It seemed a little strange since the boxes above them don't highlight when you mouse over them.

yarone 15y ago
Agree with your first point. My wife would never, ever take "hand me downs" from folks that she doesn't know (regardless of whatever logic you throw at her). She'd rather spend the money. Then, there are clearly other folks that think a service like this is too expensive. Seems like my wife is one extreme (would rather spend lots of money buying stuff) and then there's another extreme (folks who don't want to spend money at all). I'm wondering if the middle range is a large enough market.
- ars 15y ago
  And I'm especially concerned with the idea of using 7th Generation cleaning products. I've used their products, and they barely work. The idea of washing strangers clothing for a baby in their very weak cleaning products is just ridiculous.

rapind 15y ago

The pricing is a bit confusing. You can go with the 7 outfits plan however you can still only return one of those outfits per month before you get dinged. The alloted shipments should scale with the plan imo. If I'm on the 7 outfit plan I should be able to cycle all 7 of those outfits within say 3 months as part of the plan's price. You may need to raise the monthly to cover this, but at least it feels more inclusive and less nickle and dime. Just my opinion though.

dkrich 15y ago

While I was in bschool at Michigan, a few classmates were working on an almost identical business called Bebaroo. Not sure where it went, and as a single male with no children, I have no idea about the viability of the model. That said, a good friend of mine who is a mom said that the idea was flawed to her because she could go to Target and outfit her kid for $10 in brand new clothing.

dreww 15y ago
http://www.bebarang.com/ http://www.bebarang.com/

dpcan 15y ago

Your market is probably people who garage sale for baby clothes - or go to second-hand shops and don't care if their kids are wearing hand-me-downs. However, those people are finding full outfits for $0.25 Will the same people pay $16.95 per month for this? Not in my opinion. We buy new clothes for our kids. We hand-down clothes. But we were never comfortable putting our kids in hand-me-down clothes because we see what kids do to clothes. It seems like a pretty narrow niche.

tylerritchie 15y ago

>To keep that fresh-off-the-line feeling, our bundles are packed with a sprig of organic lavender in a muslin pouch. Great care seems to be taken with the laundering process to reduce allergens and be generally baby friendly... And then a hepatotoxic flower, allergen, and estrogen mimic is thrown in.

dgabriel 15y ago
I won't argue that some people are allergic to lavender, but I would appreciate a citation on the other two pieces of information. I googled a bit and couldn't find anything about the hepotoxicity of the lavender flower. There was some info on lavender essential oils, both as poison and so-called estrogen mimic, but a vial of oil is obviously different than a sprig of a plant.
- tylerritchie 15y ago
  The difference between a vial of oil and sprig of plant are, of course, one of concentration. Henley et al. (2007) [1] is the lavender, tea tree oil as an estrogen mimic study that everyone goes to, and there have a been a few papers in the interim but none with exactly the same focus. The hepatotoxicity of Lavender is usually associated with coumarin and is more hand waving than anything else. A vial of oil is obviously different than a sprig of plant. And a soap, or cream is obviously different than both a plant or vial of oil. But all of the above listed contain the suspect oils. It doesn't seem like a good idea to hotbox baby clothes with endocrine system disrupting allergens, even at low concentrations. [1] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064725

raldi 15y ago

To everyone posting a variant of, "Ew, I don't care if it's been laundered.. who wants to use pants that were on some weird stranger's baby?" .. I have to ask: Do you bring your own sheets and towels when you stay in a hotel?

reustle 15y ago
Second hand shops are everywhere, how is that any different?

Lukeas14 15y ago

I agree with some of the new parents that this service is essentially useless to me if I get the first 2 years of clothing for free thanks to family and friends. You might want to think about cannibalizing this by allowing my friends to instead give me a 'gift certificate' good for however many months of clothing from your service.

bitsm 15y ago

This is a great idea, and there is a market for this, as anyone with a baby will tell you. But have you done any customer development? As others have mentioned, you have a lot of competition. First you have relatives. They buy lots of new clothes for you. Then you have consignment shops for lots of basic items, which as a new parent, you are suddenly very aware of. Finally, you have the parents themselves, who can usually afford to splurge on a nice outfit here or there, after the bulk of clothing's been supplied by #1 and #2. I just don't see a burning need here that will get you across the chasm.

namank 15y ago

Another is Netflix for toys. Theres a Netflix for everything

softbuilder 15y ago

>We donate anything in less-than-perfect condition to foster care. Ouch. Perhaps it could just say 'donated to those in need' without calling out foster kids as a second class?

BadCookie 15y ago
I cringed when I read this line as well.
cloudbrain 15y ago
Just say "We only send you clean clothes in great condition." Saying you donate the crap that no one wants is offensive.

craigmc 15y ago

Its a great market (massive numbers of babies born every year, 4m+ in the US alone) and it is not one that a lot of entrepreneurs automatically think of, so anything that can get traction is clearly going to do fairly well. The problem with this particular model (and this is only from my own personal experience), is that you get baby clothes (both new and old) as gifts for a lot of different sources (friends, family etc) and quickly most parents regardless of household income come to view baby clothes as a disposable or at least very low value commodity and thus renting expensive "boutique" clothes is perhaps moving towards to the "niche" end of the market... although I definitely, think if you kill the execution you could do something that made a bit of money.

timjahn 15y ago

As a new father of an 11 month old (and a very generous family that won't stop finding cute outfits), I have a few thoughts: 1. Just read your FAQ page, and it says if my return package is over 13 oz, I need to take it to the post office. While this sounds trivial initially, how many people know how much their packages weigh? I don't have a postal scale handy, so would I always have to go to the post office to ensure I can get my package out? 2. As numerous people have commented here, you have a lot of competition just with family alone. Granted not everybody's family will be as generous as mine. But we've bought a small percentage of clothes for our little guy compared to our family buying every cute outfit they see at Kohls or Target, and a lot of hand me downs from a little cousin a year old than our little guy. Your bio on your site seems to suggest that you haven't had your baby yet (unless I've misread it). I wonder if, once you have your baby, you might realize that you yourself have no need for your service (if your family is anything like mine). Then again, maybe this will take off with a small niche. Nobody can predict the future, right? :)

lifestyleigni 15y ago

How does this compare to http://www.thredup.com/ http://www.thredup.com/ ? Anybody know of any others in this space?

6841iam 15y ago

[I don't have kids] Nice idea, but I had to crunch the numbers. I'm not sure this service is cost effective. Take the 7 outfits plan at $49/month. Since you can only return these outfits at the end of 3 months that translates into $21/outfit over the 3 months. And if you make 3 returns within the 3 months, that effectively translates to $24.4/outfit. A brand new designer outfit from http://www.egg-baby.com/ http://www.egg-baby.com/ will set you back by $40/outfit (probably lower, if you hunt for a good deal). So for gasp, 84 outfits a year, renting outfits through this service will set you back by $2049/year. Buying 84 new outfits will cost you $3360/year. So renting is cheaper by 39%. But, if OTOH, at the end of the year, you were to launder (Cost to you: $200; worst case) these outfits that you've bought and sell them on Ebay at 30% (worst case) of the cost, you'd net ~$800, bring down your total cost to $2560 for buying new clothes yourself. Plum: 84 outfits. $2049/year DIY: 84 outfits $40/outfit. $3360/year. Launder them at the end of the year. -$200. Sell them for $1000 on craigslist or Ebay. $2560/year.

gte910h 15y ago
Do the type of people who put designer baby clothes on their kids also take that much time craigslisting/ebaying?

extramoose 15y ago

Regardless of the first version sales pitch, I'd totally use it if I had a kid. Just to contribute some valuable info.

extramoose 15y ago

Regardless of the first version sales pitch, I'd totally use it if I had a kid. Just to contribute some valuable info.

callmeed 15y ago

I'd like to see more info in the FAQ. For example, what sizes do they go up to?

periferral 15y ago

seems kinda pricey. renting 2 sets for $16/mo. I could hop on to target and buy 2 sets for the same price and I get to keep them till they outgrow them. I guess they need to deal with the overhead costs on shipping + cleaning + just plain gets old or torn. Can't see the value in this.