A luxury handbag rental firm is expanding into Ottawa, hoping to tap into what it sees as a large market of fashionable women in the capital. Started in September 2024 by founder Gina Yoo, Toronto-based Zero Collective was created to fill a gap in the luxury rental market, CEO Ashley Boyce told OBJ last week. […]
Already a Subscriber? Log in
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.
A luxury handbag rental firm is expanding into Ottawa, hoping to tap into what it sees as a large market of fashionable women in the capital.
Started in September 2024 by founder Gina Yoo, Toronto-based Zero Collective was created to fill a gap in the luxury rental market, CEO Ashley Boyce told OBJ last week.
“There are many great businesses in the world that offer access to luxury rental items, but there (was) nothing existing in Canada on the handbag front,” she said. “The thought was, how can we bring (better) access to Canadians and really open up this market without the huge incremental cost of ownership?”
Zero Collective works on a membership model, with the first tier priced at $159 a month for access to items valued at $4,500 or less, and the second tier priced at $229 a month for access to all items in Zero Collective’s repertoire.
Items range from new to vintage and pre-owned, with brands such as Dior, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Members get to choose a bag to rent for 30 days, after which time they can swap it out for a new one or continue to use the one they selected.
Each bag is hand-delivered by a courier and, when members wish to ship their chosen bag back to Zero Collective, the firm sends them everything they need to return it, from the box to the return label.
Bags are authenticated in a three-step process. “Our bags are typically authenticated through the people we buy them from as a first source. The second source is our head of supply, who has been doing this for 10 years and he typically has a good eye for these things. Our final source is Entropy, which is a third-party and probably most well-known authentication company out there. They validate our bags,” Boyce explained.
Last month, the company, which is backed by some of the founders and investors of Shopify, Knix, Wealthsimple and Airbnb, expanded its online operations across Ontario.
“We were looking at where our applications for membership were coming from and we saw that a lot of applications were coming from areas we were not currently servicing. There is clearly a desire outside of the GTA to have access to beautiful and hard-to-find luxury goods,” Boyce said.
While Boyce wouldn’t disclose the number of members Zero Collective has, she said the company has seen an increase in membership outside of the GTA since expanding its online presence.
Expanding to Ottawa was an “easy choice,” she said, given the demand from clientele.
“We wanted to make a big splash (in Ottawa), not only because of its size, but this is a city that is very event-driven. There’s a lot of really fashionable women here,” she said, adding that the brand’s target audience in the National Capital Region is “anybody who appreciates the world of luxury.”
Though there aren’t any plans to open a showroom in Ottawa, Boyce said Zero Collective will be looking to work with Ottawa businesses and content creators to get the word out about the firm’s presence in the city.
Last weekend, Zero Collective launched its presence in Ottawa with a pop-up event in partnership with The Fitzroy, a Toronto-based dress rental firm with an online presence in Ottawa.
“Both ourselves and The Fitzroy are looking to do (some) work with creators that are in Ottawa to really create meaningful relationships and partnerships (and) to help them bring something exciting to their audiences,” Boyce said.
“As we look at our expansion plans, brand partnerships will be important. We especially love working with other women-founded businesses, because we find that, particularly in the startup community, women helping other women can be so powerful.”
Boyce added that businesses like Zero Collective are able to grow thanks to public acceptance of a circular economy.
“If you look back about 150 years ago, if you wanted to access a luxury item, you had to go right through the designers or fashion houses … Fast forward about 60 years ago, the world of thrifted and pre-owned started evolving. You’re still buying things, but you’re buying things that are maybe not brand new. There becomes this acceptance with owning something that someone else had before you.
“As you look at the world of circular economy, brands like Airbnb and Uber certainly paved the way for this idea (that) you can access something without having to own it … What’s great about the world of luxury is that there are many ways to participate in it. We’re both an alternative and a complement to the ownership space,” Boyce said, adding that many of Zero Collective’s members already own luxury handbags.
With Zero Collective’s membership costing $5.30 to $7.60 a day, Boyce said the brand is making luxury accessible to a wider audience.
“This allows a different level of access to the people living in Ottawa … If you break it down, that’s about the price of a latte a day.”
For $20 a month, Zero Collective also offers an insurance product called Zero Care.
“(Zero Care) covers stuff that we couldn’t repair on our own, (such as) if you’ve got a white bag and you spill red wine on it,” she explained.
With past experience working at Unilever as well as scaling a direct-to-consumer fragrance company she co-founded to US$12 million, Boyce said she brings a mix of knowledge from the fashion and beauty industry and combines it with a startup mentality as Zero looks for ways to grow.
“Unilever is best-in-class when it comes to building brands and brand experiences and thinking about how you balance that in a small startup where you have to make a lot of different decisions. Our business is very interesting because we are our own brand, but obviously a lot of our clout comes from the brands we carry.
“My last experience proved you need that startup mentality of, how are you making decisions on any given day … to make real, meaningful business decisions? How do we prepare ourselves to further scale? Going back to the opening up to all of Ontario, that is a scalable decision.”
Boyce said Zero Collective hopes to grow across Canada, but for now, she said that success for Zero Collective in Ottawa will be staying top of mind.
“Success for me is that women in Ottawa are not only aware of Zero Collective, but when they’re thinking about the world of luxury, we are top of mind … We really think this is a fantastic way for you to elevate your personal brand. It’s a lovely business to run and we’re super-excited to be welcoming more of the women living in Ottawa into our world.”
