Strategy Lead Hartman joins Hirestreet as it pivots to marketplace model

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 24, 2022

Leading UK rental platform Hirestreet has named Rosie Hartman as its Strategy Lead who will be responsible for driving its new direction at the same time as it has launched new branding and a new website.

Hartman, who previously held senior positions at Zalando, Depop and Otrium, is described as “an expert in disruptive fashion”.

“This year we are on track to deliver gross booking values in excess of £1 million”, she said. “Historically, Hirestreet was a third-party rental platform, but we have shifted our focus towards operating as a rental marketplace. This means we work more closely with our brand partners to co-market their rental offerings.”

The changes at the firm mark the “first time a UK rental platform will be led by a strategic hire as opposed to the founder”. That founder, Isabella West, said: “Rosie’s experience is essential for taking us from a start-up rental platform to scale-up rental marketplace.”

As mentioned, her arrival has come at the same time as a rebrand and refresh of the Hirestreet channels, in line with her marketplace vision. 

“Hirestreet is inclusive and innovative — the new branding is designed to feel bold and lively, and our usability improvements have brought us closer to our mission to bring sustainable style to all the eventful moments in life”, she said.

For 2022, the company is promising several new “industry-shaping partnerships with well-known retailers”; as well as new stock from some of its “most-loved” brands; and an increased focus on the new ‘Bundles’ offer, where consumers get three items for a fixed fee for one month.

It all comes at a good time for the rental sector as 2022 will be the first virtually ‘normal’ year after the pandemic. So it’s likely to see a record number of events and occasions for which consumers might prefer to hire upscale clothing rather than buying it outright and wearing it infrequently. But that clothing might not be quite as formal as consumers might have picked pre-pandemic.

Hartman added: “We are seeing a shift in consumer trends towards renting for more casual styles, especially via our Bundles collection, allowing our customers to have a constantly rotating wardrobe of sustainable styles.”