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Sustainable Brand of the Year Winner: Tina Lake & Sacha Newell
Words Jennifer Engmann
Tina Lake & Sacha Newell, Founders of MY WARDROBE HQ
The UK’s first fashion rental and resale market place, founded by The UK’s first fashion rental and resale market place, founded by two amazing women, Tina Lake and Sacha Newell, who came together after a chance meeting, to form what is now MY WARDROBE HQ. Before their company was founded in 2019, Newell worked with another type of model that you wouldn’t find in her current field of fashion, which was cars. Working in the car industry, while consulting on a project, she was inspired to replicate a similar business model of car sharing but within fashion. Lake at the time was the founder of London-Boutiques, a startup marketplace that was a success, as well as the being former head of buying at Monsoon. So after encouraging the idea further, in 2018 Lake and Newell joined forces and the following year MY WARDROBE HQ was born.
As the first of its kind in the country. MY WARDROBE HQ’s platform directly seeks to give fashion lovers the freedom to rent and buy items, all while keeping the circular model flowing to maintain the sustainable aspect. Their website reads. ‘We believe fashion rental is the solution to consuming fashion in a sustainable way.’ With no actual stock, the marketplace enables users to share their items on the site, then if someone purchases the item they can also re-list the item back on the same platform and continue to make money from it. This model not only helps reduce the fast fashion cycle of buying new but it also allows its users to monetise their wardrobe.
The site is home to preloved items from the likes of Chanel, Saint Laurent, Rixo and Isabel Marant to name a few. With over 3,000 items from over 600 designers, selling items such as clothing, to footwear to accessories, you’ll surely be wondering where has this company been all your life? By having celebrities such as Poppy Delevingne, alongside fashion director Martha Ward listing items from their very own wardrobes, users could also have the chance to shop from some of the UK’s biggest names. A significant moment for the business this year was teaming up with the renowned luxury department store Harrods as they launch their new fashion rental service, which is the first of its kind. An edit designed specifically for dressy event-wear pieces is live on the MY WARDROBE HQ site with looks chosen to cause a stir at any event.
The need for such a marketplace is instrumental for the fashion industry in trying to tackle its biggest issue, sustainability. So no wonder the likes of the UK’s largest fashion retailers such as Harvey Nichols and Liberty have both worked with the brand to bring fashion rentals to more people, which is the ultimate goal for the brand.
Nonetheless, the category for Sustainable Brand of Year Award, for the very first WOTC New Faces Awards 2021 was very tight, with fellow nominees HURR and Front Row London in the running, both brands also doing incredible work in the sustainability matter. MY WARDROBE HQ was deservedly called out as the winner on the night. As the elegantly dressed Newell accepted the award, sharing a delightfully funny story of her son’s ruby team possibly being behind most of the votes with the promise of buying them alcohol, which got the room laughing immediately.
Ending her acceptance speech with an inspirational affirmation, “I am honoured to be here tonight. It’s an amazing evening. I actually was that size 8 media girl, not so much anymore, never felt like I fitted in, so don’t ever feel like you can’t do anything.” The future of fashion lies in great hands with brands like MY WARDROBE HQ being truly committed to providing a way for fashion’s sustainable future.