Curtsy, previously known as Nimble, is an app that let’s college women rent dresses to each other. The Curtsy app allows women to rent and post dresses categorized by location of school, style, color, occasion and rating. The owners and renters of the dresses coordinate a drop off location, while Curtsy manages payment and the transaction. The blog features young women who have a prominent presence in the fashion culture at their schools on a weekly basis. The blog discusses the newest fashion trends, favorite pieces and brands, and promotes fashion as means to define individuality. Curtsy was designed by Sara Kiparizoska and William Ault, both students at the University of Mississippi, where Curtsy was first launched in 2015. The founders of the company include David Oates, Curtsy's current CEO William Ault, and lead developer Eli Allen. Curtsy is currently located in Mountain View, California, but also has an office located in Oxford, Mississippi, near the University of Mississippi's campus.
Contents
History
Curtsy originated in 2015 at the University of Mississippi's research park, Insight Park, and utilized the university's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to gain experience and resources to grow their business. Through these programs, Curtsy entered various student competitions where they were awarded startup money from the Rebel Venture Capital fund to aid their business. Curtsy was also a recently featured startup company funded by the Y Combinator during their summer program in 2016. They were given $120,000 startup funds in exchange for 7% equity. With these resources, Curtsy plans to expand their business to a new audience beyond that of college students.
Business model
Dress owners are given the power to choose the price they rent their dresses for, though Curtsy suggests it be about 20% of the retail price. Curtsy receives 30% of the profit for each transaction, while the owner of the dress receives the remaining 70%. Each renter is additionally required to pay a $5 fee to cover any potential damages to the dress.
The App
Curtsy utilizes a free app that is downloadable onto smart phones called Curtsy. There are five main pages on the app including a dress feed, a messaging dashboard, a page to post dress pictures to, a rentals feed, and a profile page containing the tab of the user's own dresses and a tab of the user's favorited dresses. The app's homepage feed on reveals a "closet" with dresses in the user's area posted in a chronological fashion.
The Blog
Curtsy's blog contains a written portion and professional photos of featured subjects. The blog has subsections categorized by college campus. The subjects of the blog are young women enrolled in colleges where Curtsy operates who are known on their campuses for unique, high fashion style.