These days it seems like an ever-intensifying competition between choosing sustainability versus fast fashion for those of us who want to ball on a budget, but wrestle with a moral obligation to not buy into one of the globe’s biggest polluting industries.
Enter: Style Theory. The former startup – now force to be reckoned with, multi-million dollar business – that’s disrupting the fashion scene in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, making chic designer wear available to the populace.
Founded by Singapore power couple, former Goldman Sachs banker Raena Lim and consultant husband Chris Halim as a solution to the all-too-relatable problem of having nothing to wear but a wardrobe full of clothes, Style Theory is a subscription-based service offering slow fashion, designer labels for rent.
Currently operating in Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, the circular fashion platform is making consumers buy less, while saving hundreds of thousands of preloved designer clothes and bags from prematurely entering landfills.
The more we learn about Style Theory, the more impressed we’ve become. Here are eight reasons you try them on for size:
1. Try the latest trends and different styles without worrying about having to constantly Marie Kondo your closet space
Style Theory has a collection of over 40,000 designer pieces ranging from professional workwear pieces to relaxed weekend styles to statement dresses for a special occasion. Their collection has been carefully curated to suit the climate and culture for this hot, humid part of the world, with more modest looks available in Indonesia too. You can even get size and style recommendations based on your measurements. Meanwhile, Style Theory’s Singapore collection also has over 2,000 luxury bags (more on the bags, later).
2. Save time and money on laundry and dry cleaning
Luxury dry-cleaner, Jeeves, takes cleaning to the next level, with a seven-stage process that pulls from 40 years of experience in fabric care with advanced dry cleaning equipment. All of Style Theory’s items get professionally maintained and inspected so they arrive to subscribers in like-new condition.
3. Save time and money by doing everything online
If you couldn’t tell, we’re fans of saving our time and our cash! (Like who isn’t though, right?). Style Theory is fully online so you can do all your clothing and bag selections from anywhere with an internet connection. They also have free delivery to your doorstep, so no wasting time driving around to the shops and none of those annoying shipping fees we all so desperately love to avoid.
4. Opt out of fast fashion, one of the industries taking the biggest toll on the environment
Like we’ve said, we’re fans of looking cute and lessening our carbon footprint where we can, so naturally, we were intrigued when we found someone doing circular fashion in the region. Style Theory operates on a consignment business model, so all the items they carry are preloved and as a result, given new life instead of sent to the bin to end up in landfills. Definitely an alternative to fast fashion, which while cheap, is wreaking havoc on the environment. Moreover, according to Style Theory, their longtime customers say they shop a lot less since becoming circular fashion subscribers and are more conscious of what they buy when they do buy new clothes.
5. Choose from different plans to meet your style goals
In Singapore, you can choose from three different plans to match your budget and demand for trying different styles. The Capsule plan is available at SGD79 a month and allows subscribers to rent two boxes a month, the Essentials Plan is SGD119 a month and allows for three boxes a month, and the Ultimate Plan goes for SGD159, which includes four rental boxes a month. All plans include three clothing pieces per box but include different levels of collections and allow for you to roll over unused boxes for up to six months. For more info on the plans, head here.
Plans in Indonesia are structured differently, with the Lite Starter Box starting from IDR290k for three rental items a month, the Lite Capsule Box for IDR390k for six items, and on a different tier, including more collections, are the Premium Starter Box for IDR440k which allows for three premium items per month, the Premium Capsule Box for IDR690k a month for six premium pieces, and the Premium Essentials Box for IDR890k a month, which gets you nine premium pieces. If you’re Indonesia-based and want to read up on the plans more, head here.
In Hong Kong, Style Theory currently has a Starter Plan for HKD599, which includes two boxes containing three pieces per month.
6. Don’t feel pressured to make a commitment
Style Theory’s all about flexibility and they do allow plan upgrades and downgrades if you want to change up your subscription selection. Read more about that here.
The non-committal can also try renting on demand in Indonesia without even getting a plan. Go a la carte and rent by piece, for either four, eight, or 14 days.
7. Take advantage of their bag services
Singapore bag-loving babes, good news for you. Style Theory has a whole range of luxury handbag services including consignment, rental, and restoration. Clean out your closet and consign bags you’re not using anymore, rent different purses to get that drip, or if you’ve got something in your closet that’s a little worse for wear, get it restored (choose from general cleaning services, a color refresh, surface restoration, or a complete restoration. And if you fall in love with something you see for rent – know that it’s also available to buy if you want to update your bag’s relationship status, taking it from a fling to a committed companion.
Hong Kong purse purists, you’ll want to check out Style Theory’s bag rental program too! They’ve got a subscription box exclusively for bags, currently running for HKD999 a month.
8. Try the first month for free in Singapore!
Style Theory is giving Coconauts in Singapore who want to join the fashion revolution a little freebie! Coconuts readers can use the code STXCOCO to get a free one-month subscription to Style Theory’s Singapore apparel Essentials Plan (for new subscribers only). The code is limited to 100 redemptions and no worries, there’s no commitments – members can pause or cancel their subscription at any time if they aren’t satisfied.
