When Anshul Chhabra was rummaging through her parents’ closet, where she keeps her Indian clothes, to get ready for a friend’s upcoming 50th birthday party, she realized that her options were limited. After ruling out which clothes have been worn recently, photographed in, deciding what fits well and what’s still in style, she resorted to mixing and matching wardrobe pieces to come up with a desirable outfit. The process made her think about how convenient it would be to have an Indian clothing company that would allow her to rent outfits for special occasions. A “virtual closet filled with South Asian clothing,” as Chhabra imagined.
Chhabra faced a similar challenge years ago when she was planning her own wedding with her American fiancé. His family was excited to wear culturally appropriate clothing to celebrate the couple’s upcoming wedding, but were not able to go to India and choose their clothing pieces. Chhabra went alone and purchased pieces for 10 different women, which proved to be difficult, especially when she had to guess style preferences and accurate sizes. She had wished there was an easier option available so that they could try the pieces on themselves before she purchased them.
Situations like these inspired Chhabra to create Rani Runway, which launched in April 2019 and allows customers to rent designer South Asian outfits at a fraction of the cost of retail. The site offers not just traditional Indian outfits such as sarees and anarkalis but also gives customers the opportunity to mix and match outfit pieces such as blouses, lehengas and dupattas with other pieces they might already own, to highlight their personality. With Rani Runway, customers have the option of wearing pre-designed outfits or choosing a blouse that matches their own lehenga, for instance. This gives them freedom and allows a creative outlet to borrow and fit their own style.
Rani Runway features pieces from high-end designers such as Rita Kumar, Satya Paul, Tarun Tahalani, Study by Janak and Frontier Raas. Chhabra is also in the process of designing pieces with a workshop in Delhi and working with small, up-and-coming designers Kanj and Suram Fashions. A beautiful Myra Lehenga Outfit, for example, can be rented with Rani Runway for $122.15 for one to four days or $207.65 for a duration of up to eight days. Individual pieces, like a rose gold jacket, can cost about $35 to rent, whereas some dupattas can cost about $15 to borrow.
“Our generation in the U.S. has been brought up mixing and matching outfits, buying individual pieces to put together,” Chhabra said. “I want to bring that concept to Indian wear as well and provide pieces that can be mixed as well as more traditional outfits if that’s what someone is looking for.”
Chhabra is also working on providing a seamless and customer-friendly experience by ensuring that all pieces—of which she has about 120 in total that have been purchased from India— are properly cleaned, maintain great quality and can be tailored to a customer so that it’s a perfect fit. She also offers design advice, suggesting individual pieces that could tie a full outfit together.
“I’m excited about giving customers an opportunity to remix their own closet,” Chhabra said.
