Air Partner Magazine Spring Summer 2025 UK - Magazine - Page 21
S/S 2025
Imagine wearing Dame Helen Mirren’s actual red carpet gown or Ellie Goulding’s
Tom Ford couture to your next charity gala in Mayfair. Or saying yes to a last-minute
soirée in Manhattan, knowing that within hours, a runway-fresh Missoni dress could
arrive straight from the lavish wardrobe of a local insider. For those unfamiliar with
the fashion rental market – an industry forecast to skyrocket from £16 billion to
£170 billion by 2030 – this may sound like a whimsical fantasy. But thanks to
By Rotation, the rental platform leading the charge, it’s already happening.
Since launching in 2019, By Rotation has
HOW A HONEYMOON SPARKED
fast become the world’s largest shared
A FASHION REVOLUTION
luxury wardrobe, now hosting over 150,000
The lightbulb moment for By Rotation didn’t
items with a combined value exceeding
£90 million. Built on the principles of a
circular economy, this peer-to-peer platform
come during a corporate brainstorming
session – it was sparked by something much
o昀昀ers its discerning community access to
closer to home. In 2019, while planning her
a treasure trove of exquisite pieces, all from
the personal collections of other like-minded
for stylish out昀椀ts but struggled to 昀椀nd
men and women – or Rotators. Home to
wasn’t there a way to rent designer pieces
high-contemporary labels like Zimmermann
and Cult Gaia, hard-to-come-by Hermès
classics, jaw-droppingly rare £35,000 gowns,
and vintage Yves Saint Laurent suits, By
Rotation attracts an audience not driven by
necessity or lack of means but by the desire
honeymoon to Rajasthan, Eshita searched
anything she loved. Why, she wondered,
from her peers? While this sowed the seed, it
wasn’t until she arrived in Rajasthan and saw
the stark realities of textile waste – and its
impact on a country so close to her heart –
that the idea was cemented.
to consume in a smarter, more mindful way.
“I realised I was part of the problem,” she said
At the centre of it all is Eshita Kabra-Davies.
candidly. “I’d been buying impulsively and then
Born in Rajasthan, raised in Singapore, and
donating clothes, believing I was doing good
now based in London, Eshita is a former
investment analyst who’s swapped balance
end up in land昀椀lls, often in Asian or African
sheets for sustainable style – and, in the
a way to democratise fashion? To empower
process, is shaping what could well be the
future of fashion. When we met, she was
Eshita Kabra-Davies,
founder of By Rotation.
– only to learn that 90% of those donations
countries. I kept thinking, what if there was
people to make more conscious choices but
every inch the polished powerhouse you’d
without sacri昀椀cing quality or aesthetics.”
expect from someone who’s received a
Drawing on her background in investment
standing ovation mid-speech at the United
analytics, Eshita identi昀椀ed a gap in the
Nations, earned a Forbes 30 Under 30 title,
market and a growing demand for a more
and appeared on Condé Nast’s ‘People to
circular economy. “I decided to attack the
Watch’ list. Even the fact she had to move
problem by becoming part of the solution,”
our original meeting to attend a gathering
she explained. “No inventory, no warehouses
at 10 Downing Street came as little surprise.
– just like-minded people connecting over
Hers is a star very much on the rise.
style and a shared goal.”
A luxury wardrobe
hosting over 150,000
designer items.
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