Few could have thought that a wedding could be the place to create a new business. Perhaps it is the evolution of that saying that “from a wedding comes another wedding”. La Más Mona was born, precisely, from one of the biggest problems of these events: the choice of dress for the women of the occasion. Polo Villaamil saw an opportunity in this segment almost 9 years ago and since then he has been trying to get at least 5% of his wardrobes made up of rented clothes. Only for weddings, baptisms and communions? It was the initial idea. Now they want to open the concept to any moment of our life. The objective? End all that universe of fast fashion which has been a problem on the table for a long time.
Villaamil, who is now part of Juan Roig’s Lanzadera universe in his last call, came from the world of banking. Like so many others during the crisis a decade ago, the ravages of the economy also took their employment ahead. “With all the bank restructuring, I was left without customers and without business. They kicked me out of the bank and I kept thinking about what to do,” he explains to hypertextual. He was clear that he wanted to focus on the circular economy – for many years, this term was a mantra for the world of startups, then it was replaced by Artificial Intelligence or the metaverse. Few had managed to succeed in this sector. They have an associated problem: despite the good idea you have in your hands, they are usually concepts that require a large investment to have depth. Without users there is no circular economy.
In any case, La Más Mona was born at the end of 2012 with a certain impact online. An assorted catalog of party dresses available for rent anywhere in the country. Of all styles and sizes. But the first problems came: despite the fact that there was a lot of interaction with the web, this did not translate into rentals. Customers wanted a physical place to try on clothes. After all, it was a special event and everything had to be perfect. This was also 10 years ago and, without a pandemic, online clothing shopping still had many detractors.
Back to tradition: the physical store
The history of the physical stores of the firms that were born in the online and technological world is curious. Pompeii with his sneakers, Hawkers with his glasses or Singularu with his jewels started online and they surrendered to the physical world. It was a way of creating a new experience, they said. But it was also a system to go a little further. For La Más Mona it was vital to open a store. If clients didn’t rent online, they would do it the old-fashioned way.
They started in their offices and in 2014 they opened the first official store in Madrid. One that they had to change shortly after because it was too small for them. Between 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic, they managed to open 5 more stores throughout the country. They do not abandon the online world, but assume that “people tend to go to stores more.” There are also higher tickets. On the web you take what interests you, in the store you usually snack on everything: shoes, headdresses, ornaments… Inditex knows a lot about this.
Even so, they continue to try with the online sector and tests at home. “Clients order several dresses, try them on at home and keep the one they like best,” explains Polo. He has a 50% conversion, but he comes with an added problem: the dresses spend a week going around the country. And that is not productive, nor profitable. For this reason, this company that was born in the online world prefers to try in the physical world. It is more productive, more profitable. “In the end, we are a logistics company more than a fashion company and we have to be very clear about all the stock,” he explains.
The brands and the B2B model of La Más Mona
And since weddings are not lived alone, La Más Mona is already working on its evolution. And this she goes through addressing the B2B model; one that is not without criticism from the sector.
Until now, the job of the fashion rental company was to do active work with brands. One by one talking about the benefits of putting their dresses for rent on their website. Some conversations last for hours, others only 5 minutes. Not everyone wants to hear about it. Now they want to go one step further and expand the catalog of clothing and options.
“Right now they almost always rent us for weddings, but we have the vision that fashion rental goes beyond, for day to day. Informal garments that are expensive, but that you want to have a couple of times and then change. That’s why We started in 2020 with La Más Mona daily”, they explain. A subscription model to be able to wear different clothes.
With a pandemic in between, they have now resumed their new business model that can go two ways. The first, that the brands rent through their own website –the easy one–. The second, one that looks a little further and that has earned them some criticism for trying to throw stones on its roof, which seeks to offer its service to third parties. Under a consulting model that can help brands to rent their collections from their own websites, and coexisting with the sales part, so that the sector grows in one way or another.
The financing of La Más Mona, in no man’s land
Financing is one of the most complicated points for La Más Mona. They are not a retail company and not a fashion company either. Yes, they are comfortable in the term circular economy. This makes finding an inverter model difficult. “To be a startup, we have a lot of operations”, explains Polo, and that makes us a very rare investment. “This is an investment for people who know the sector,” he adds. Basically because few want to maintain a business that needs a lot of capital to grow rapidly. The scalability of La Más Mona is reduced, at least in the segment for which it was born.
In fact, the company, which began with promotional financing in networks, has spent two years without resorting to the world of social networks. At first it was not his focus either; They have focused on asking clients to upload their own images and word of mouth works its magic. And with it, overcome the bump of 2020. With sales of 350,000 euros in 2021, this meant a 43% drop in turnover compared to 2019, when they reached 620,000 euros.
All in all, they have achieved almost 2.5 million private investors. Two crowdfundings, the entry of Wayra –now Telefónica Open Innovation– and an family office very committed to the issue of sustainable consumption which holds 15% of the capital of La Más Mona.
Fast fashion, a growing problem
With or without pandemic, the fast fashion industry is still a problem. The fast and cheap clothing model is guilty of 92 million tons of waste per year, as well as 1,500 million liters of wasted water. Or what is the same, causing 10% of global gas emissions and 20% of wastewater.
The arrival of the pandemic and supply problems from China pushed the fashion sector towards national consumption and production. It was a mirage whose hours were numbered: the return to normality has brought a fast fashion industry stronger than ever. In fact, brands like Shein have emerged highly reinforced from this situation.
La Más Mona has a lot of work in this field. Especially if she wants reach your quota of 5% of the closets under rent. And also along a line that had never been crossed before. “People continue to buy fast fashion and in fact now people wear Zara for weddings, which was a red line that had not been crossed before,” says Polo. With changes in the industry and changing dress codes for events, the fashion bar has also been lowered.