Growing up, university alumna Brittany Sakowitz learned how to reap the benefits of a “shared closet,” and now she’s passing on her wisdom with the opportunity for brand-name dress consumers to apply it to their own wardrobes.
Sakowitz, who graduated from the University in 2007 in mass communication, opened her dress rental company, New For The Night two weeks ago. The company has a physical location in Houston but conducts most of its business through its website. New For The Night operates as a “Netflix for dresses,” according to Sakowitz, who drew inspiration for the business venture from her youth.
“I grew up in a house with two sisters close in age to me, and we would always have these huge fights about borrowing each other’s clothes,” Sakowitz said. “We worked out a barter system after a while, and it was great to have a shared closet.”
Sakowitz is creating a way to share a much larger closet – via the commercial market – with the streamlined delivery process of New For The Night. Consumers order dresses from the company’s website and keep the mailed garments for a pre-determined rental period of three to 10 days. Once finished with the garments, women mail back the dresses in a pre-paid envelope.
“It’s great for those who want a new dress to wear for an occasion but don’t want to make a commitment to buying the garment,” Sakowitz said.
New For The Night’s slogan, “Borrow Something Beautiful,” describes the company’s commitment to rent expensive, name-brand dresses at rates as low as 90 percent off their retail price. Some of the dress brands New For The Night carry include Tibi, Issa, Rebecca Taylor, Robert Rodriguez, Notte by Marchesa, Naven and New Orleans designers Jolie + Elizabeth.
Bonnie Brown, communication disorders freshman, said she had a friend that tried Rent The Runway, a similar dress rental company, but encountered problems with the dresses’ dimensions.
“When she got the dress she ordered, it didn’t fit,” Brown said. “It’s difficult because [dresses] always look different once you try them on.”
Sakowitz identified Rent The Runway as a clear competitor in the high-fashion dress-renting business, but said New For The Night will compete by filling the market’s Southern niche.
“We offer big colors, lots of prints and lighter fabrics for the Southerner’s nine-month summer,” Sakowitz said.
It would appear the Southern niche is thriving, as Sakowitz said 2,200 members have signed up on her site in the past two weeks. New For The Night has loaned out 300 dresses since opening, and orders are expected to triple in the next two months, according to Sakowitz.
 
—- Contact Josh Naquin at [email protected]