“WELCOME TO THE BORROWING REVOLUTION”

They say it’s lonely at the top, but at Bag Borrow or Steal we’ve got legions of loyal members—handbag and jewelry enthusiasts just like us—to keep us company! Nobody offers a broader selection of tip-top terrific merchandise, and no one stocks their closets with more delightful fresh discoveries.

It all started years ago when our co-founders started asking some honest questions: Why should women have to endure the emotional and financial sacrifices that accompany the endless search for the “right” accessory for every event, wedding, and dinner party? Why should celebrities, fashion editors, and socialites be the only ones allowed to borrow fashion accessories? Why not give everyone access to the perfect accoutrement for every occasion?

And so Bag Borrow or Steal burst onto the scene, and there was much rejoicing. We set out to do something different, building an online borrowing experience that provides just the right something for everyone.

Renting designer handbags makes sense for a lot of reasons

1

You can carry handbags like celebrities! Get a fabulous “it” handbag for an event, special occasion, or even everyday…carry it and then return it!

2

No more “handbag boredom”! Isn’t there always a new handbag that you want? Now you can change your purse whenever the mood strikes.

3

Husbands love us! Seriously. They’re tired of expensive handbags piling up in the closet because we’re “over” them.

4

It costs less than you think! You can carry stunning designer handbags, jewelry, sunglasses and even watches from only $25 a month!

(Hubbies also like that about us!)

5

Best of all: Renting is easy! Browse our collection of purses, totes, satchels,
clutches (and more) and click. Enjoy them for a week, a month or as long as you wish. And when you’ve had your fun, send them back and rent something new!

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About Avelle – Bag Borrow or Steal

• Avelle, the new Bag Borrow or Steal launched in April 2004, pioneering the rental of designer accessories-establishing a new fashion trend in the process.
• Avelle is now the premier destination for luxury designer accessory rentals with the world’s largest collection of designers and styles.
• Avelle is led by a seasoned team, which brings a wealth of knowledge from the realms of fashion, retail, subscription, and ecommerce. Members of the management team have almost 20 years experience at key retailers, such as Nordstrom, Lands’ End, Garnet Hill, and Eddie Bauer.
• Renting designer accessories at Avelle is a simple proposition. Handbags and accessories can be borrowed on an as-needed time frame, weekly for special events, monthly or as long as you want.
• Membership is not required to rent accessories. However, members have many added benefits in the form of discounted rental prices, special outlet savings, first notice of new items, Wait List access for popular items, and generous rewards toward free rentals. Many members rent multiple accessories at a time.
• The membership fee of only $5-10 per month is immediately available as a credit towards rentals. Items can be rented on a weekly, monthly or tri-monthly basis.
• For members who can’t bear to part with the beautiful accessory they’ve rented, they can request to “Steal,” or purchase it. And for most all accessories members can apply 50% or more of their rental fees toward purchasing that accessory.
• Avelle designer accessories are 100% guaranteed authentic. Everything is certified authentic and goes through a rigorous refurbishing and authentication process before it ships to a customer—so it arrives like new. If an item doesn’t pass our rigorous inspection, it won’t go out the door.
• The idea to offer luxury fashion accessories for loan was born when co-founders, Lloyd Lapidus and Greg Pippo, watched their wives and sisters raid each other’s closets to borrow the perfect handbag for every outfit or occasion. Assuming all women shared the same passion for designer accessories, the men founded Bag Borrow or Steal, now known as Avelle, creating the ultimate luxury accessory closet and the largest!
• Avelle is based in Seattle, Washington, home to a myriad of successful fashion, retail, subscription and ecommerce businesses.
• Avelle offers members the opportunity to rent more than 4,000 styles of luxury handbags, jewelry, sunglasses, watches and luggage from more than 150 designers, including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Coach, Stephen Dweck and Vera Wang.
• Avelle has a member base of more than 1.5 million women across the United States, including both members and guests.  Our core member is a well-educated, high-income, urban woman who absolutely loves luxury accessories – especially handbags.  These women – from college students to grandmothers – are passionate about beautifully crafted accessories and delight in how the right bag pulls together their look and makes them feel fabulous.
• Avelle, the new Bag Borrow or Steal was featured in the Sex and the City movie that came out in May 2008.
• In June 2009, Avelle expanded its service offerings and launched the first major nationwide Professional Handbag Cleaning and Repair Service. This new refurbishment service helps women Keep their favorite designer handbags looking like new and avoid buyer temptation.
• Avelle is focused on feeding women’s passions for luxury, fashion and style by offering them more ways to enjoy designer accessories and allows them to have more luxury, more often. Renting designer accessories provides our members with the freedom to indulge in every popular fashion trend (not just one) and easy access to the perfect handbag, jewels or other accessories for every occasion.

“Netflix for Dresses” is a turn on for fashionista transumers who want to dazzle everyone with an expensively stunning evening gown without the high cost of buying.

What if your closet was big enough to hold all the latest runway trends? What if, just for a night, you could experiment a little – say, try a one-shoulder dress in a deep, sexy red? What if that dress you saw in Vogue, the one with the stratospheric price tag, was suddenly affordable? What if you had an entire rack lined with styles that were perfect for any special occasion, another filled with cheeky ’80s redux? And what if you had a team of stylists to constantly update everything and offer tips about what size to wear and how to accessorize?

Now all of that is a reality, and it is called Rent the Runway. Rent the Runway gives users access to high fashion without any of the headaches. There’s no need to scour 20 different stores, worry about a piece selling out, or stress over when you’ll wear an investment dress again. Pushy salespeople with intimidating attitudes? Not anymore. You can even shop in your pajamas (we won’t tell!). In addition to the convenience, RTR makes high fashion affordable. We buy pieces directly from top designers and then offer rentals at just 10% of retail prices. It couldn’t be simpler: just browse our pages until you find something you love. Put it in your basket, tell us when you’d like it delivered, and it’ll appear on your doorstep—in two different sizes, just to be safe. Yes, it’s that easy. After your date, or wedding, or cocktail party, is over, just repack it in handy, pre-paid packaging and just drop it in a mailbox. (And don’t forget to tell us how it went!)

How RTR works:
1. Love
Browse through our array of A-list designers and find a dress you love. Or two!

2. Wear
Schedule a delivery date, and your dress will appear on your doorstep. Next-day and even same day delivery (if you live in NYC) is available, for last minute wardrobe crises. And we’ll send you a second, backup size- just to be safe.

3. Return
Put your dress in our handy prepaid packaging and drop in the nearest mailbox (we take care of the dry cleaning!)

The Backstory
Co-founders Jennifer Hyman (Jenn) and Jennifer Carter Fleiss (Jenny) met as sectionmates at Harvard Business School, where, over frequent girls nights, they became fast friends. During a trip home to New York City, Jenn watched her sister, Becky—an accessories buyer at Bloomingdales, and about as fashion-savvy a girl as there is—struggle over what to wear to an upcoming wedding. She knew she wanted to wear something stunning—Herve Leger, maybe, or Proenza—but her modest salary meant that everything high-end was out of reach. If the Beckys of this world can’t wear a designer dress, Jenn thought, what hope is there for the rest of us? Not to mention the designers themselves: If they’re not able to get their pieces into the hands of young, fashionable women, how could they build their brands?

Cut to: Cambridge, Massachusetts, several days later. Jenn told Jenny about Becky’s dilemma, and, this being business school, they started creating a company. A few business plans later (okay, more than a few), along with a formative meeting with Diane Von Furstenberg (in their next life, Jenn and Jenny plan to come back as the effortlessly chic DVF), and Rent the Runway was born. It’s a community designed to fill the needs of women just like Jenn and Jenny and Becky—women who know and love high fashion, who want to look glamorous for all their nights out (or even a special night in!), who want to have fun with fashion but who don’t want to deal with all the anxiety of investing in piece after piece. Users benefit from the expertise of professional stylists and the shared wisdom of like-minded fashion-forward members. Through exclusive relationships with top designers, Rent the Runway is able to continually update its stock with the latest pieces.

And to think: it all started with that age-old complaint: I don’t have anything to wear. Now you do, and you’re going to look amazing!