THE co-founder of a Deliveroo-style fashion startup has said Tunbridge Wells’ clientele makes it the perfect place to expand into.
Dubbed ‘a boutique on wheels’, the website www.yourfittingroom.com allows its customers to select clothes online and then try them on at home after they have been delivered by a courier.
Former London Underground engineer Liam Young founded the company alongside partner Sarah Martin after growing frustrated with how laborious ordering clothes on the web can be.
He said making Tunbridge Wells their first destination outside London, where they began their business last year, was inspired by requests from blogger Jane Dumas and stylist Lynne Meek introduction of exciting new brands, were amplified in Tunbridge Wells.
“Where there’s a smaller selection of shops, online shopping is even more laborious because there aren’t as many collection points or post offices as there are in London.
“Additionally, it’s a beautiful town and the local traffic isn’t half as bad as London, so it wasn’t a tough decision.”
Shoppers can select up to eight items to try on across a variety of styles and only pay for the ones they want to keep. This is done after selecting a one-hour time period for the courier to deliver. There is also an option to simply order the items direct, but the offer of trying items on first makes it the first of business of this kind.
Mr Young said that, like Deliveroo, there is huge potential for a personalised online service to be successful in the current market. He added: “For me, it’s simply convenience, not to be confused with speed.
“With something like food, speed is essential because hunger is immediate – but it’s different with clothing, especially for our customers, who tend to be discerning and buy well.
“Our customers love having the ability to choose the most convenient one hour of their week to carry out their entire [clothes] shop rather than having it delivered at a random time and dealing with the ever more common returns.”
Brands currently available include Traffic People and Kirei, with emerging designers Mariana Jungmann and Charlotte Zimbehl also showcased.
