Wherewear: French peer-to-peer clothing rental firm expands

More lucrative than a car boot sale and more cost-effective than a shopping trip: that’s the pitch behind Wherewear, a French peer-to-peer fashion rental platform. Launched in 2023 by Victoire Tassin and Yasmine Brunet, the company aims to reach 150,000 female users within 18 months.

Eight years ago, the two entrepreneurs met at Printemps, both working as product managers on apprenticeships. After a spell at Ba&sh, Brunet returned to Printemps. To help Tassin, who was in the midst of a recruitment process at Yves Saint Laurent, she lent her the jumpsuit that helped her land the job and return to Printemps. This is the “genesis” of Wherewear, as Tassin sums it up: a loan of a garment between friends.

A cross between Vinted and Airbnb

Since then, Wherewear has launched, first as a website and now as an app, with an interface that sits somewhere between Vinted and Airbnb.

“We also want to create a genuine social network feel. That’s why, on wherewear, the profile page resembles an Instagram profile. We recommend photos of the clothes being worn in real-life settings, precisely to convey what we want a garment to express,” explained Tassin.

Thanks to their work and their concept, the two entrepreneurs were named winners of the IFM Incubator Pitch last September. After numerous meetings and training sessions, the Wherewear founders took home the €10,000 prize, invested in visibility (with Univers Presse), but above all gained exposure before industry figures. In 2024, Tassin and Brunet also joined the La Ruche incubator, focused on CSR issues.

Short-term development focused on France

In the medium term, the company plans to open its wardrobe to menswear and childrenswear, and to expand to the rest of the world. While serious competitors already exist elsewhere, such as By Rotation in the UK, other markets appear more accessible to the two co-founders. That will come later. By 2026, Wherewear hopes to establish itself as a go-to solution in France, particularly beyond the capital, where the vast majority of rentals take place. For the time being, in-person handovers are particularly common.

To finance its operations, Wherewear takes a commission from the owners. For example, for a dress bought for €250, the company recommends listing it at €40 for four days. The renter will pay the shipping costs but will get a dress at a more affordable price than buying new, and the owner will receive €32 after wherewear’s commission, with the option to rent it out again afterwards. A deposit is required at the time of rental to guard against damage to the item.

With a 100% repeat rate and an average of five daily sessions per user, the app now lists 3,000 items and has 1,500 registered customers since last June. Having grown purely organically to date, Wherewear plans to raise funds. Its founders hope to raise between €300,000 and €500,000 to finance further development of the app and boost its visibility.