Suit Hire
Many people need to hire suits for formal functions and weddings, the cost of buying a Tuxedo or a Morning suit for one or two occasions being prohibitive for most of us.
Setting up in the West with off the peg suits is possible but makes the start up costs much higher, whilst buying 20 to 30 suits in Thailand, India or Vietnam would cost no more than about $5000. Given that this would require the same contacts as a tailoring business the two ideas could be linked, read idea 16 in our archives at for more information http://www.ideas2earn.com/archive_used_ideas/idea_016_Tailors.html
We will talk about getting stock below, but first letˇ¦s think about how you would market and operate your new business. www.hughharris.co.uk shows their pricing online with a typical morning suit costing close to $100 a day to hire. Clearly with your suits and accessories coming at developing country prices this leaves a lot of room for profit or to undercut the market rate.
I would start by serving the eveningwear/party crowd as it is straight forward to stock a number of dinner suits in the same style. You will need to publicise your launch and make sure that people know of your service but over time you should be able to expand into other lines fro your profits, thus keeping start up costs (and thus risk) as low as possible.
Assuming you have 20-30 suits in various sizes, you are still unlikely to have a perfect fit for every guy, even with some mix and matching. Make sure that you know how to take up, let out trouser bottoms or have someone available who can do this. It will also help if you can buy your trousers and jackets with expander buttons on the inside to allow more flexibility in the size.
Go and hire a suit, an watch what goes on, understand the processes involved and how they measure you, what accessories are on offer etc. You can do this several times and consider it an investment in your business before you start.
Assuming you decide to go ahead, how are you going to get the customers to
come to you? We have had a good think and come up with the following: -
Networking
Website
Home Store
Shop
Your network may be a great source of occasional business, if you think about it you probably know between 100 and 250 people, and they will all know a similar number of people. Conservatively this means that you have access to upwards of 10,000 people through your immediate network. If you work at expanding this, and making sure that everyone knows you have a suit hire business you should keep busy enough to turn a profit. This is no more difficult then being enthusiastic, handing out business cards to everyone, and constantly reminding them of your successes, failures, difficulties and triumphs. To quote the field of dreams, ˇ§if you build it they will comeˇ¨.
Assuming that your network does not produce sufficient business with sufficient regularity for you, you may want to consider building and promoting your business online. Naturally you are unlikely to provide suits to other countries, or even states but by advertising selectively and choosing the right keywords you should be able to attract a local client base. You can take a deposit of $250 to cover the cost of any damaged or unreturned suits, and allowing people to book a suit from their desk at work would be an amazing convenience. If you go this way, you should definitely promote the service by offering journalists free suit hire for events such as awards evenings. Simply put out a press release that says discount, or free hire to anyone with a press pass.
This is a business that you can definitely run from home, in fact that is exactly what I would recommend while you are learning the ropes and building your client base. This makes it ideal for busy mums or anyone who already works from home. Customers can come round for a fitting and then pick up the suits within 24 hours if alterations are needed. Everything can be done in the living room and discussions can be done over a cup of coffee. Assuming you have opted for a lower pricing plan than the big guys this should not be a problem for your customers.
Opening a shop adds considerably to the price, but assuming you take a small unit in a B or C type location (i.e. not high street or major mall) the rent should be affordable, and you can save on fit out costs by looking for bankrupt fixtures and fittings for things like hanging rails, and suit hangers. You will need to decorate, provide a mirror etc but it does not need to be an expensive fit out. Spend more on your signage so that customers can find you easily, and re-invest your profits until you have a full range of suits and accessories. You may want to sell accessories as opposed to hiring them, it will allow you a higher margin and less arguments over damage or loss of small items.
Contacting almost any textiles manufacturer or tailor in Asia will get you interest in providing the suits. I have had one off suits made for as little as $200 and am sure this could be discounted for a bulk purchase. If you are struggling try www.gulatifashions.com who I know would be interested, or search in www.alibaba.com and the other usual sources. Check out our choice of links at www.ideas2earn.com/links.html
Even if you only rented the suits 3 times a year for $75 you would cover your start up costs.
This is the kind of business that you could start up and sell as a going concern.
Offering choice is great for weddings, but for evening wear most guys will be happier if there is just one style to pick from, just make sure you donˇ¦t let your stock get too old fashioned before you replace it, every 2 years should be sufficient depending on fashion and wear and tear.
Importing 20 or so suits may require import considerations, whilst I shouldnˇ¦t recommend such a thing I know of people who have packed this size of order into their luggage and saved the paperwork at start up.
There may be a spin off business providing off the peg suits to other suit hire shops, or to regular customers who decide a purchase is the smarter move for them.