S20 Ep2: Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder & CEO of By Rotation, on revolutionising the rental fashion industry
Conversations of Inspiration
Holly Tucker MBE
5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2024
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this inspiring episode, Holly Tucker chats with Eshita Kabra-Davies, the trailblazing founder and CEO of By Rotation, about transforming the fashion industry through a sustainable, rental-based approach. Eshita shares her entrepreneurial journey, from the spark of inspiration whilst on honeymoon in Rajasthan, India, to the challenges and triumphs of building a community-driven platform. She opens up about the personal sacrifices and the resilience required to navigate the competitive landscape, especially as a woman of colour in the startup world. Including a frank conversation about the reality of raising funding as a woman.
The conversation is a heartfelt reflection on the power of perseverance, the importance of support systems and the future of conscious consumption. Tune in to be empowered by Eshita's story and motivated to pursue your own passions with tenacity and purpose.
Win an Independent Ad Break on Conversations of Inspiration: If you’re a founder yourself and would like to be in with a chance to win your own ad break on this podcast, head over to holly.co/dell. This competition is delivered in partnership with Dell Technologies and their programs Dell for Startups and DWEN (Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network) — which provide startup expertise from dedicated technology advisors and scalable solutions to ensure your business is always ready to grow.
Time Stamps
The mission of By Rotation (00:01:28): By Rotation's mission to challenge conventional norms in fashion ownership and promote sustainable consumption.
The changing attitudes towards fashion rental (00:05:05): How attitudes towards renting clothes have evolved, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Empowerment through fashion rental (00:07:43): The financial empowerment experienced by lenders through By Rotation and the shift in perception of women's shopping habits.
Starting and scaling the business (00:29:18): Holly Tucker talks about the importance of having a plan and understanding the destination, followed by Harshita discussing the unique experience of starting and scaling the business during lockdown.
Challenges in fundraising (00:33:57): Eshita and Holly discuss the gender and ethnic disparities in VC funding, cultural challenges in early-stage funding, and the importance of financial support over mentorship programs.
Community Building and Mission (00:47:28): The importance of community in a peer-to-peer business model and the mission to transform consumption.
Balancing Work and Personal Life (00:51:52): The speaker's hectic weekdays and the importance of recharging on weekends.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I've just peaked behind the curtain to see the future of fashion and it's blow my mind. |
| 0:06.2 | My guest this week is Ishita Cabra Davis, founder of the phenomenal Buy rotation of Fashion and clothing rental app and a woman who is an |
| 0:15.9 | absolute catalyst for positive change and it's been dubbed the air B&B of clothing I mean that's |
| 0:22.0 | not bad is it a A Sheeater's mission is basically to build a brand that |
| 0:26.5 | challenges our sort of conventional norms in owning clothes and allowing us consumers and people who love fashion or love fashion to basically |
| 0:37.0 | consume in a more sustainable way and it is changing lives and it's building another business around women and community. |
| 0:46.1 | By rotation it's basically a peer-to-peer rental app and she was so honest and vulnerable while talking about this new way into the fashion world and how not everybody has been happy that she's there and how she's taking her experience and using tech and then putting something |
| 1:07.4 | together that's basically glimpsing into the future. Wow, what a woman and I'm just so proud to have had on this podcast and Ashita I'm proud of you and I hope all of you enjoy listening. |
| 1:21.6 | Bower you head and let eyelids close on down where we're going. |
| 1:26.0 | You won't need to bring your frown. |
| 1:29.0 | Hi, I'm Holly Tucker and welcome to my podcast Conversations of Inspiration. |
| 1:35.0 | I founded my first business not on the high street at 28 with a newborn strap to my chest. |
| 1:42.0 | Nearly 20 years on he's all grown up and I'm running my second business Holly Inco. I've |
| 1:48.7 | learned so much about taking risks, running a business and some extraordinary life lessons along the way, |
| 1:56.1 | and I know others have too. |
| 1:58.3 | Yet despite the wealth of experience we have between us, lessons like this are often left unheard, and it can feel like we're traveling |
| 2:06.1 | our paths alone. So I've reached out to founders and those who simply inspire me to share their hard-earned wisdom with you. |
| 2:15.7 | My hope is that collectively these remarkable realizations will help you on your own journey. |
| 2:21.8 | I like to think of it as inspiration for life. If you enjoy |
| 2:26.2 | this episode might I ask you to share it with a friend and to like, |
| 2:30.5 | subscribe and review it so that together we can ignite people's passion across the UK. |
| 2:37.0 | Now let's begin this week's conversation of inspiration. |
... |
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