Le Tote Set To Become First US Subscription Service to Enter to China

Photo: Le Tote

San Francisco-based clothing rental service Le Tote is betting big on Asia, according to TechCrunch. The "Netflix of fashion" is embracing the Chinese apparel market this spring, first through a beta program on WeChat, and later with a public launch. Although there are already rental companies in China that specialize in high end shoes, bags, and formalwear, Le Tote China will be the first focused on day-to-day clothing.

The beta program will be open to 3,000 "founding members," and will allow the company to tweak the service before opening the consumer floodgates in May. If the China experiment works, you could see Le Tote popping up across the globe.

Founder and CEO Rakesh Tondon tells TC, “Everything that we use at the company we built from the ground up for us specifically. We built our own warehouse management system, inventory management system and even our own hardware. We use a lot of data science to build out our recommendation, styling and fit and dynamic pricing algorithms."

The result of all that work is that Le Tote believes it can license its technology to other retailers and commerce companies. Today, it's Le Tote China; next week, perhaps Le Tote Italia or Le Tote Australia. As for the impact locally... Should Le Tote succeed in China, the company could give Stitch Fix and Everlane a run for their money in hiring the hottest retail talent in the Bay Area.