They Should Make It: Netflix for Purses

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My wife and I live on a somewhat modest income—she’s a teacher, I’m a world-famous blogger—and she still owns well over 1,000 purses. I haven’t counted them all by hand, so my math may be off. Whatever the case, I can only imagine that people in higher economic classes than us have entire rooms in their homes for the sole purpose of purse storage.

Despite all the purses, it’s come to my attention that any mildly important social event that presents itself requires the purchase of a new purse. As a means of maximizing purse ownership, my wife has entered into an agreement with her sister where the two of them split an otherwise more expensive purse than they’d buy on their own and then take turns owning it—six months at our house, six months at my sister in law’s house.

Which got me thinking, why not extend this purse sharing concept to every woman in the continental United States?

So the idea is Netflix for Purses. You’d pay a set amount per month—say, $20 or so—and you’d be able to use whatever purse you wanted for however long you wanted and then return it and get another one. I’ve never known any woman to use the same fancy purse at a social event twice, so turnover time would be lightning quick. By the way, they call a purse with no straps a “clutch.” And every social event requires a new and different clutch.

Daily-use purses and handbags wouldn’t be as popular with this system, but I suppose they could be offered. The real idea, though, is that this company would buy super nice, expensive purses and clutches and then the members could get a hold of the ones that they’d otherwise not be able to afford.

When you’re done using a particular purse, you’d have the option of keeping it for slightly less than it’s worth new. If you lose or damage the purse, you pay for it. Simple as that. This idea could eventually be extended to dresses and shoes as well (my original idea a few years ago was a site called Swap-a-Dress.com) but you’d run into issues with sizing and whatnot. Purses are a lot easier. Baby steps for now but let’s keep it open to future ideas.

So they should make it: Netflix for Purses.