Marley Alles of South Etobicoke won $40,000 Coors grant for online business.
Young South Etobicoke entrepreneur Marley Alles is on top of the world after winning a $40,000 grant for her online clothing rental
company.
Alles, who developed a peer-to-peer wardrobe rental app, called rax,
was chosen by Coors Original Legacy Lift in a pitch event for the
prize in Toronto.
She got the idea after being invited to a wedding and thought
that instead of buying a dress and wearing it once she could borrow one from a friend to wear for the day.
“I was very surprised to win,” Alles said. “I was completely
shocked.”
Model of Alles company rax showing some of the dresses available to rent.
She competed against four other Canadian start-ups, all which
had to submit a 60-second video made on an elevator. Alles
also won a mentorship with Coors family member David
Coors, a board member and vice-president of the international
brewing company.
She now rents items of clothing, shoes and bags to women on
the rax app, an idea that has caught on.
“As a startup, access to capital is one of the hardest things to
obtain and lack of funding is one of the main ways startups
fail,” Alles said “Winning this grant from Coors Original
enables rax to reach new heights that wouldn’t have been possible.”
Model for rax in a formal dress that is available for women online.
The start-up consultant for small companies applied for the Coors grant last August and
it paid off after she was chosen as a winner last month.
“We all have a closet full of clothes we’d love to make money on and on the other hand, we often want to wear items once or for a couple of months,” she said.
“Consumer preferences are shifting with disposable income shrinking.”
Alles said the ‘horrible ethical and environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry,’ enabled her to make a difference by empowering individuals to become their own entrepreneurs.
“rax is a community-driven marketplace that redefines the way we consume fashion without hurting your wallet, while saving the planet,” she
said.
Alles said women can make money by lending out their wardrobe to others or save money borrowing other people’s closets.
“It’s a great way to reduce your carbon footprint while finally giving you
access to the closet of your dreams, without the cost associated,” she
asserted.
Model in rax rental wear which can be rented online.
Her app displays photos of models wearing the fashionable, formal
clothing for women and lists a rental fee. The lender and borrower are then
hooked up and she receives a 20% commission on items being lent.
The company has a website with photos posted of some of the outfits
that can be rented for four days, 10 days, 20 days, a month, three months
or six months.
“We were honored to award the Legacy Lift grant to Marley Alles of
rax after learning more about how she took an inspiring career leap to build a lasting, sustainable business that would create a positive impact for the people of Canada,” said Leslie Malcolm, Senior Director
of Marketing for Molson Global Brands.
Borrowers fill out a form and can pick up or have the item shipped to them, which must be returned cleaned.
You can view some of her rental selection at
www.raxapp.ca