Rosa Fayad (left), 32, and her sister Anna Sharifai, 39, (right) earn $12,000 a month renting designer dresses
Two moms have revealed how they’ve turned leasing their old clothes into a business, earning them more than $12,000 a month.
Sisters Anna Sharifai, 39, and Rosa Fayad, 32, from Sydney’s Hills district put some of their old designer outfits on a dress rental site for the first time The Volte in 2017.
Within three months, the sisters were sending their favorite dresses to parties every weekend and sometimes renting them out during the week.
“We only had a handful of designer dresses ourselves, but they were super popular,” Rosa tells FEMAIL.
She was on maternity leave when she first started lending her clothes and realized that for $200 per hire, she might not have to go back to her full-time job in real estate at all.
“Six months later, we decided to buy more dresses for the company, things we might not wear ourselves, but we knew our customers would love,” she said.
“We’ve also added designer bags. So many women would rent dresses and ask if we had accessories with them.
The sisters started out with a handful of their own designer dresses, but were so successful renting them out that they now have over 1,500 designer pieces, including bags.
The Zimmerman Prima dress has netted the sisters over $10,000 despite being on the cheaper end of the rental at $160 per event, here it’s paired with a $2200 YSL bag (pictured left) ) This blue dress was made especially for Anna, but was then added to the collection where it costs $290 a doll to rent. This dress and bag combo would cost $4600 at the store, but the sisters rent it out for $415 (pictured right)
“But before that I had never owned a designer bag, but we were focused on buying for our customers and not for ourselves,” she said.
They have both since added more dresses of their own to the list, including beautiful custom dresses valued at over $3,000.
Rosa never went back to work as the fashion-forward side hustle they mentioned The rental place for designersboth became their full-time jobs.
“Some of the Zimmerman dresses we’ve had since the beginning are still rented,” she said.
“The Zimmerman Prima has earned us over $10,000 in five years,” she said.
The dress cost them $1100 at the store, but they loaned it out for $160 a night.
“It works for everyone because these girls get to wear their dresses of choice for a quarter of the price or less,” she said.
“We’ve had a woman come back dozens of times for the same dress. They don’t sell it anymore, but she loves it, so she gets it from us for every event.”
The sisters pictured here with their mother, husbands and children say they are relieved that they no longer have to go to work when clothing rentals started to rise
Rosa said her heart sank when she saw this wine stain on a brand new $2,200 Balenciaga bag she’d rented for the first time — but added that the customer was happy to pay for cleaning
Other, cheaper dresses are just as popular.
“The Selena dress cost us $500, but we’ve rented it more than 100 times for $130,” she said.
“We got the original four years ago, but we now have it in all sizes and colors because it’s out every weekend.”
The sisters have turned one of their garages into a showroom where they keep the designer items and have over 1,500 items valued at over $120,000.
They are open by appointment, but do most of their business online and via Instagram.
The Selena, a $500 dress, has been rented out more than 100 times — now the sisters own it in ‘any size’ because it’s in so much demand
Rosa said people usually “take good care of their designer pieces.”
“We did get a Balenciaga bag back with what looked like white wine spilled on it,” she said.
“My heart sank because it was brand new, it was the first time it went out and it was a $2,200 bag,” she said.
“But the girl was very happy to cover the cleaning fee, which ended up being $165, and it came back perfect,” she added.
The moms say that while they hardly have events worth dressing up for, because they are happy to see their dresses getting used
The sisters are known for their huge range of bags, including Valentino, Chanel, YSL, Louis Vuitton and Dior.
“We don’t have super formal dresses, so sometimes girls who go to those events just come to us for a bag to complete the look,” she said.
The moms say that while they hardly have events worth dressing up for, because they are happy to see their dresses getting used.