Sure the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming tech companies, Built In launched The Future 5 across seven major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five early-stage tech companies, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. Read our round-up of LA’s rising startups from last quarter here.
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The convenience of digital technology has revolutionized the rental space. Consumers these days can easily rent anything from cars to furniture with just a few clicks. The time for growth within this burgeoning industry is now. Children’s clothing rental platform Stylette is well on its way, but the success of this startup coincides with the growth of its users, literally.
Co-founded by entrepreneur and mother Sheena Jongeneel in 2020, Stylette is an online marketplace where users can rent special occasion wear for their fast-growing kids. The solution was created to address a recurring pain point Jongeneel experienced within her own family.
A longtime business owner in the health and wellness space, Jongeneel entered the retail industry while pursuing her master’s in business administration. During this period, the challenge of managing her 3-year-old daughter’s frequent growth spurts coupled with less money to go toward new garments was the impetus for Stylette. For milestones like birthdays and holidays in particular, Jongeneel said it felt wasteful to spend money on dresses that her daughter would never wear again.
Jongeneel secured her first investment for Stylette while finishing up her degree, enabling her to start building relationships with vendors to supply the solution. Today, the company partners with designer brands like Bari Lynn, Petite Hailey and Velveteen to offer a la carte rentals for girls’ and boys’ clothes and accessories. Rental periods for these items span five or 10 days at a time, Jongeneel said.
Each product or unit can be used at least 20 times, and having that component of re-loving and recycling your product makes sense.”
Additionally, Stylette provides users with the option to buy new clothes outright from its partner brands. It also offers a small selection of toys and kids’ activities in its “for keeps” category.
Rentals are still the heart of what Stylette offers because it has a positive impact on both parents and the planet. Renting clothes that are later worn again by another child is convenient for parents and less draining on the environment.
The fashion industry is a significant contributor to climate change. The production of fibers consumes natural resources and textile waste emits harmful gasses while degrading in landfills. The global apparel sector released 1.01 gigatons of CO2 equivalents in 2019, a number that’s expected to rise drastically in coming years, according to Statista. Stylette’s platform could help shrink fashion’s carbon footprint with its sustainable alternative.
“Each product or unit can be used at least 20 times, and having that component of re-loving and recycling your product makes sense. I think a lot of families and brands will tend to throw things away … and that has not stopped,” Jongeneel told Built In. “We’re going to hand [pieces] down to other families, not just our family or our brother and sister, but other families nationwide.”
When Stylette was in its early stages, Jongeneel started collecting clothes from other parents that their children had outgrown. While clothing resale and recycling aren’t yet available on the Stylette platform, the company hopes to build out these features soon.
Down the line when it expands to encompass everyday wear alongside its special occasion looks, Stylette will also scale with a subscription box offering. From winter jackets to summer dresses, these boxes will feature a variety of outfits depending on the season.
Stylette will get to work on these new capabilities after a future round of funding. Currently, the company has backing from family and a few angel investors, Jongeneel said. She said previously securing funding and getting her new business up and running while raising her daughter as a single mom was no easy feat. Looking at what Stylette has blossomed into, she said she hopes her story can be of inspiration to others like her.
“It’s been a very tough journey to be an entrepreneur as a single parent,” Jongeneel said. “I would love personally to pay it back to single moms and motivate them to go back to school or to start a company and know that there’s more than just feeling stuck because as a single parent, you feel like you have no options; you just have to make ends meet and not dream bigger for you and your kids.”
