SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LE TOTE, the on-demand fashion service to rent unlimited clothing and accessories, today announced that maternity will now be available to its subscribers. After opening a wait list for the service in May 2015, LE TOTE continued to see an overwhelming need for maternity and a desire to be able to use LE TOTE to feel stylish and confident throughout all life events.
LE TOTE saw early on a massive need for a subscription rental service in the $2 billion maternity market (IBSWorld, July 2014). The overarching idea for LE TOTE was even realized around maternity as Co-Founder and CEO Rakesh Tondon’s wife’s struggled to find inexpensive, fashionable maternity clothing and constantly swapping maternity clothes with friends for lack of a better option. Additionally, 30 percent of women spend $200 to $500 just on maternity clothes (BabyCenter) that they have no use for after their pregnancy, creating a huge amount of waste. This further emphasizes the need for a fashion solution that allows women to look good, feel great, and be fashionable without breaking the bank as their bodies change during pregnancy and postpartum.
“For decades, women have been sharing and swapping maternity clothing with one another, including my wife, which is why we feel maternity is such an important and essential extension of LE TOTE’s service,” said Rakesh Tondon, CEO and Co-Founder, LE TOTE. “LE TOTE Maternity is the ultimate service to save expectant mothers time and money, while providing them options to feel confident with their wardrobe and maintain a comfortable, stylish look throughout every stage of their pregnancy and life.”
LE TOTE Maternity will operate in a similar fashion as its existing service:
- For a flat fee of $59/month, maternity subscribers have unlimited access to personalized deliveries of stylish maternity clothes and trendy accessories, giving expectant mothers an affordable option to stay comfortable and fashionable throughout their pregnancy and postpartum.
- Ahead of delivery, the Tote Swap feature gives subscribers the ability to confirm whether they want to keep the selected items or swap them out ahead of delivery based on real-time inventory from Le Tote’s warehouse.
- Each delivery will have 3 garments and 2 accessories, and can be sent back to receive new deliveries throughout the month for the flat price.
- If users love a piece in their Tote, they’ll have the option of purchasing it at a discounted rate of 20-50 percent off of retail price.
Maternity Totes will feature brands including 9Fashion, Japanese Weekend, Lilac, Materical America, Noppies, Olian, Ripe, Seraphine (worn regularly by Kate Middleton during her pregnancy), Tart Collections, Noir, and Summer & Sage. Blogger, fashion designer and mother of two, Cara Loren Van Brocklin, also designed a LE TOTE exclusive collection for Summer & Sage.
“As a young mother of two, I can attest to how much I would have appreciated a service like LE TOTE while I was pregnant,” said Cara Loren Van Brocklin. “I’m excited to be working with LE TOTE to launch my own maternity collection with Summer & Sage and hope that moms will truly appreciate and take advantage of this affordable solution LE TOTE is providing.”
LE TOTE’s new maternity offerings are currently available at letote.com/maternity.
About LE TOTE
San Francisco-based LE TOTE was founded in 2012 by Brett Northart and Rakesh Tondon, who aimed to replicate the offline behavior of swapping and sharing clothes via a national, online service. The on-demand fashion service allows customers to borrow and wear unlimited clothing and accessories for $49/month. Each shipment includes a personalized selection of three pieces of clothing and two accessories, curated using LE TOTE’s proprietary fit and styling algorithm. Customers have the option to keep or swap out specific items ahead of delivery using Tote Swap. Once received, customers can wear the items as long as they’d like, with the option to purchase what they love for 20-50 percent off retail price. Brands currently available include Free People, BCBGeneration, Sam Edelman, House of Harlow, French Connection, Vince Camuto, and more. The Y Combinator backed company has raised $12.5 million in venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Azure Capital Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Simon Venture Group, AITV, Epic Ventures, Arsenal Venture Partners and Funders Club. For more information, visit http://www.letote.com/static/press.
