How Eshita Kabra-Davies Built By Rotation into a Fashion Rental Marketplace

Founded in 2019, the business emerged from a combination of personal experience, commercial thinking, and growing awareness of fashion's environmental impact. Rather than building a conventional fashion retailer that purchases inventory and sells it to customers, Kabra-Davies developed a marketplace model centred on community participation.

Her journey offers valuable lessons for entrepreneurs interested in marketplace businesses, sustainable fashion, digital commerce, and building a brand around an underserved customer need.

From Investment Management to Entrepreneurship

Before becoming a fashion entrepreneur, Eshita Kabra-Davies worked in investment management for more than six years. Her professional background gave her experience analysing businesses, evaluating financial risks, and understanding commercial decisions.

However, her eventual move into fashion was not the result of a traditional career plan. The idea for By Rotation developed from a personal experience while she was planning her honeymoon to Rajasthan, India.

As she researched destinations and outfits for the trip, she began thinking about how often people purchase clothing for particular occasions and how rarely some of those pieces are worn again. Designer outfits can be expensive, yet many remain unused in wardrobes after weddings, celebrations, and special events.

She also noticed the environmental consequences of textile waste during her visit to Rajasthan. The experience strengthened her interest in finding a more practical way for people to access fashion without constantly purchasing new items.

These observations brought together two problems: consumers wanted variety and access to desirable clothing, while existing wardrobes contained valuable pieces that could be used more frequently.

Kabra-Davies began exploring whether a digital platform could connect these two groups.

Identifying an Opportunity in Fashion Rental

Fashion rental was not a completely new concept, but the opportunity Kabra-Davies identified was to make renting a more social, accessible, and community-driven experience.

Traditional retail requires customers to purchase garments outright. Conventional rental businesses may also need to invest in inventory, storage, cleaning, and logistics before generating revenue.

By Rotation approached the problem differently. It enabled individuals to list clothing and accessories they already owned, allowing other members to rent those items for specific occasions.

This peer-to-peer model gave the platform a distinctive position in the market. Customers could access designer fashion at a fraction of its retail price, while owners could earn income from items that might otherwise remain unused.

The concept was particularly relevant for weddings, parties, formal events, and other occasions when consumers might want a new outfit without making a full-price purchase.

Instead of asking customers to change their interest in fashion, the business encouraged them to change how they accessed it.

Testing the Idea Before Scaling

Kabra-Davies founded By Rotation in April 2019 while still working in investment management. She initially treated the business as a side project, allowing her to test whether customers would actually use the service before committing to entrepreneurship full-time.

She introduced the concept to people in her network and developed an early version of the platform. Social media helped her attract initial users and introduce the idea to a wider audience.

The early response provided an important signal: people were willing to participate in a fashion marketplace where they could lend and rent garments directly from one another.

The business also attracted media attention, helping introduce the concept to potential customers beyond her immediate network.

By October 2019, By Rotation had launched its mobile application. Kabra-Davies left her investment management career to focus on building the business.

This sequence illustrates a useful principle for aspiring founders: an idea becomes more valuable when it is tested through real customer behaviour rather than assumptions alone.

For marketplace businesses, early participation is especially important. A platform needs both people offering products and people willing to use them. Testing the concept before investing heavily in expansion can help founders understand whether that balance is achievable.

Building a Community-Powered Business Model

One of By Rotation's defining characteristics is its peer-to-peer marketplace structure.

Rather than operating primarily as a conventional retailer, the platform allows members to list their own designer pieces and make them available for rental. Other members can browse the available selection and rent items that suit their needs.

This approach creates value for both sides of the marketplace.

For lenders, it offers a way to generate income from clothing they already own. For renters, it creates access to designer fashion without requiring the full purchase price.

The model also changes the relationship between the business and its customers. Members are not simply shoppers; they can contribute inventory, participate in the community, and help the platform offer a wider variety of styles.

As the marketplace grows, a larger selection can make the platform more useful to renters, while increased demand can create more opportunities for lenders. This is a potential network effect that can strengthen a marketplace when participation grows on both sides.

However, this model also brings operational challenges. Trust, garment condition, accurate descriptions, delivery arrangements, and the resolution of disputes can all influence customer confidence.

For a peer-to-peer rental platform, building a reliable experience is just as important as attracting users.

Why Social Media and Storytelling Matter

Fashion is highly visual, making social media a natural channel for introducing a rental marketplace.

By Rotation's community-oriented approach allows clothing to be presented through real wardrobes and individual styling choices rather than only through conventional product photography.

This can make the platform feel more personal. Customers can discover how garments are worn, find inspiration for different occasions, and participate in a shared approach to fashion consumption.

The broader lesson is that marketplace founders need more than a functional website or application. They also need a compelling reason for people to participate.

For By Rotation, that reason combines access to designer fashion, the possibility of earning money from existing possessions, and a more resource-conscious way of consuming clothing.

A clear value proposition can help a young business communicate what makes it different from established retailers and competing rental services.

Using Technology to Make Fashion More Accessible

By Rotation's digital platform is central to its business model. It brings together people with different fashion needs and allows them to discover items without visiting a traditional retail store.

Technology supports the process of listing products, browsing available pieces, and connecting potential renters with lenders. It also allows the marketplace to reach customers beyond a single physical location.

Unlike an inventory-led retailer, a peer-to-peer platform can expand its selection through member participation. This can reduce the need for the business to purchase every garment it offers, although the company must still invest in platform development, customer support, trust mechanisms, and operations.

For entrepreneurs building digital businesses, the distinction is important. Technology does not automatically make a business scalable; it creates the infrastructure through which a well-designed business model can reach more people.

The platform must still deliver a dependable experience and provide enough value to encourage repeat use.

Navigating Challenges and Changing Consumer Behaviour

Fashion rental requires a shift in customer habits. Many consumers are accustomed to owning their clothes, particularly when shopping for important occasions.

Renting introduces different considerations, including availability, fit, hygiene, delivery timing, and responsibility for borrowed items. Customers must also feel confident that the garment they receive matches the listing and meets their expectations.

These challenges make trust a central part of the business.

A rental marketplace must communicate its processes clearly and help members understand the expectations associated with lending and renting. A disappointing experience can affect not only an individual transaction but also confidence in the wider platform.

The business must also balance sustainability messaging with practical customer benefits. While environmental considerations may attract some users, convenience, affordability, variety, and access to premium brands can be equally important.

By Rotation's proposition brings these motivations together rather than relying on sustainability as its only selling point.

The Role of Sustainability in the Business

The environmental impact of clothing production and textile waste formed part of the original inspiration behind By Rotation.

The platform's rental model encourages people to make greater use of existing garments rather than purchasing new items for every occasion. In principle, extending the useful life of clothing can reduce the need for additional production.

However, the environmental benefits of rental depend on several factors, including how frequently garments are reused, how items are transported, and how they are cleaned and maintained. Rental is not automatically more sustainable in every circumstance.

For entrepreneurs, this distinction highlights the importance of building a business whose operational model supports its stated mission.

A sustainability-led brand must consider not only its marketing message but also the practical consequences of how its service operates.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs Building Marketplace Businesses

Eshita Kabra-Davies's journey offers several useful lessons for founders exploring e-commerce and technology-enabled services.

1. Start with a specific customer problem. By Rotation began with a recognisable challenge: people wanted access to desirable outfits without purchasing every garment they wore.

2. Test demand before making a major career change. The initial side project gave Kabra-Davies an opportunity to observe customer interest before committing herself full-time.

3. Design the business around participation. Peer-to-peer marketplaces depend on the willingness of users to contribute products as well as purchase services.

4. Build trust into the customer experience. In fashion rental, accurate listings, garment quality, communication, and dependable fulfilment are essential to repeat usage.

5. Give customers more than one reason to participate. Affordability, convenience, fashion discovery, and sustainability can reinforce one another when the service delivers on each promise.

6. Use technology to enable the business model. A digital platform can connect participants across locations, but its long-term value depends on customer experience and operational execution.

Conclusion: Rethinking the Way People Access Fashion

Eshita Kabra-Davies built By Rotation around a simple but commercially interesting idea: people do not always need to own every garment they want to wear.

By connecting wardrobes through a digital marketplace, she created an alternative to conventional fashion purchasing that combines designer access, potential income for clothing owners, and community participation.

Her journey from investment management to fashion entrepreneurship demonstrates how personal observations can develop into business opportunities when founders identify a genuine customer need and test a practical solution.

For entrepreneurs in fashion and e-commerce, By Rotation provides a useful example of how a marketplace can differentiate itself through its business model rather than competing solely on product selection or price.

The wider opportunity lies in understanding how people want to access products, identifying friction in existing buying habits, and creating a service that makes an alternative both useful and convenient.

Editorial note: This story focuses on the documented origins and business model of By Rotation. Current financial performance, profitability, and other business metrics have not been included where reliable public figures were not established.