High End for the Short Term

Ever want to borrow the latest Fendi bag for a month or drive around in a bright yellow Lamborghini for a day?

Several companies are tapping into consumers’ penchant for leasing luxury. They’re targeting both the affluent who don’t want to hold on to anything for long and less-moneyed folks who covet a taste of the lifestyles of the rich.

Bag Borrow or Steal, a Seattle-based online service, allows customers to borrow designer handbags through a monthly membership fee. New York-based Gotham Dream Cars will deliver exotic autos such as a Lamborghini Gallardo to customers’ doorsteps for a rental fee ranging from $595 to $1,950 a day.

Callaway Golf Co. is making it easier for customers to trade in old golf clubs and get discounts on new ones at 4,000 shops nationwide. The retailers get reimbursed for the price difference, and Callaway resells the old clubs on the callawaygolfpreowned.com website.

Then there’s Portero, a 2-year-old online luxury exchange site that sells secondhand high-end electronics, fashion, jewelry, art, cars and home items. It has 8,000 registered buyers and 6,000 sellers.

“The whole mind-set is changing. Customers are no longer buying things to hold on to,” said Daniel Nissanoff, president of Portero. “The brands need to embrace this, and the retailers need to embrace this.” Nissanoff is also the author of “FutureShop,” a book about the new auction culture.

Portero struck a deal with Tourneau last year in which the watch merchant will authenticate any watches resold on portero.com. It has signed similar deals with other designer brands that Nissanoff declined to name and is negotiating with various firms to promote Portero to customers as a place to sell goods they no longer want.

Executives say they’ve been pleased with the results.

Brian Hemley, senior vice president of Callaway Golf Interactive, which oversees the online program, notes that he now sees consumers trading in their golf clubs every three to four years, instead of every four to five years.

Nissanoff said that Portero’s sales were beating expectations but that it had had to do some tweaking in recent months. It’s limiting its fashion assortments to focus on the most popular categories: watches and jewelry.

Portero has also turned to apparel brands and other companies to supply it with inventory. About 60% of the merchandise is now from companies; the remainder is from consumers.

Trend expert Syl Tang, the CEO of HipGuide.com, believes that the idea of temporary ownership is limited to items with depreciating value such as golf clubs and cars. Fashion, she says, is a different story.

“There is a limited audience honestly,” Tang said. “Women I know who buy designer handbags covet them. They love, cherish, show them off. Then they wait for that Fendi baguette to become retro.”