对话“衣二三”COO 王琛

“Rent-to-Buy” the Chinese Runway – with YCloset COO Michael Wang

Today we catch up with my good friend Michael Wang, who is currently COO of YCloset, an online clothing rental and subscription service that raised $20m Series B in March and has already scaled to 40 cities in China.  Before YCloset, Michael was on the other side of the table, having spent a few years at KKR before joining IDG Capital, where he was also the lead investor for YCloset's Series A+ round.  As such, Michael offers a unique view, speaking from both an operator and investor perspective, and can help us understand the following:

Clothing rental companies only recently became popular in China, whereas comparable companies abroad such as Rent The Runway have been around since 2009… what's different now?  How does YCloset compare against global and domestic competitors?  What are key success factors in this market, from optimizing logistics to central dry cleaning to capital accessibility?  What role do China's tech giants (e.g. Alibaba or JD) play in this arena?  What is the 'rent to buy' model, and what might this market look like in the near to medium term?  

“先租后买”——中国的时尚T台：对话“衣二三”COO 王琛

 今天与我们对话的是我的好朋友，也是“衣二三”首席运营官王琛。“衣二三”是一家提供衣物在线租赁与订购服务的互联网公司，今年三月份拿到了两千万美元的B轮投资，活动范围已扩展至中国四十个城市。在出任“衣二三”COO之前，王琛曾坐在谈判桌的另一边——曾于KKR（“科尔伯格·克拉维斯” ，是老牌的杠杆收购天王，金融史上最成功的产业投资机构之一 ，全球历史最悠久也是经验最为丰富的私募股权投资机构之一）以及IDG风险投资公司工作数年，当时也是“衣二三”A+轮融资时的投资人之一。因此，王琛可以给我们带来一个全新的视角——同时站在运营者以及投资者的角度与我们谈论以下话题：

与2009年便风靡于海外的Rent The Runway相比，衣物租赁公司在中国才开始崭露头角，然而为什么是现在，过去与现在相比有什么不同？“衣二三”如何与国内外竞争对手相抗衡？“衣二三”在市场中获得成功的关键因素是什么，优化物流、集中干洗还是资本可及性？中国科技巨头们（如：阿里巴巴、京东）在此领域中的作用？“先租后买”的基础模型是什么，衣物租赁市场在中短期内的形势是怎样的。