Last year saw the rise of apps and services such as Airbnb and Uber. The format of peer-to-peer sharing services is more popular than ever, and now an Oxford startup company is adopting a similar format for their most recent app, Nimble Fashion.
“Nimble Fashion is just a way that women can wear a different dress to every single event, look fabulous and save money at the same time,” Nimble co-founder and senior Sara Kiparizoska said.
Although now successful, Nimble originally started as a simple idea between two students with empty pockets and an entrepreneurial spirit.
“I needed a dress to wear, and between all of my friends, I either couldn’t get a hold of them, had already asked them, or felt uncomfortable asking,” Kiparizoska said. “I was just thinking of a way where I could see everyone’s dresses in Oxford, but I could just pay them to borrow the dress for one night.”
This idea became a reality when Kiparizoska spoke to longtime friend William Ault about the possibility of having a Facebook group that students could post pictures of dresses they were willing to lend out for various events.
Ault took the idea one step further and suggested that the two design an app for that very purpose, which eventually became the Nimble Fashion company.
“It felt like a pretty interesting idea,” Ault, who recently graduated, said. “At the time I was getting ready to graduate and I was thinking about a business that I could potentially start.”
After months of hard work, Nimble officially entered the Apple app store as a digital marketplace for the fashion needs for women in Oxford.
All users of Nimble have the ability to list gently-used dresses for rent for other users within the Oxford community. The lender of the dress sets the rental price, Nimble collects a $5 fee from the renter, and after the standard five-day rental period, the dress is returned to the owner.
The app has garnered over 500 users since its inception, and Kiparizoska and Ault said this is just the beginning.
“The goal for Nimble Fashion is to just transform the way that women are shopping for formal attire,” Kiparizoska said. “We want to create the mindset that, when you need a dress, you look on Nimble first because it is the most efficient option.”
Kiparizoska said she hopes to expand first to other universities in the SEC, then eventually, across the country.
