Interview with Ruth Barinstein, Founder of Vault Couture

By Paul Joseph

Launched in April 2012, Vault Couture is an innovative, luxury membership service designed for those seeking the ultimate wardrobe-management solutions.

It offers state of the art storage for your wardrobe, but also organises and catalogues each and every piece onto an integrated iPad application, allowing members to view and manage their clothes at the click of a button.

Superyachts.com caught up with Ruth Barinstein, founder of Vault Couture, to find out more about the company, its services and its ambitions for the future.

Superyachts: Can you start by telling us a little about your cataloguing service?
Ruth Barinstein: Our online cataloguing service is at the core of what we do. Everything we do is underpinned by our unique software. Once we have photographed our client’s garments we provide them with a virtual wardrobe which can be viewed on computers, iPads and smart phones. The functionality of our software allows the user to search different items, match garments and create libraries of clothes specific to occasions, much like creating a music playlis

SY: The Company has been around for a short while now - how has it evolved since those early days, has it gone to plan?
RB: Vault Couture was initially based on the idea of offering luxury storage services. However it has grown exponentially, with our cataloguing services now being most in demand. We have members using our services from all around the globe and we cater for each client individually.

SY: How many Vault Couture staff are available to visit members, and how far will they travel?
RB: We usually try to make it as few members of the team as possible in order not to crowd the homes of our clients. However for larger collections, a team of 6 will arrive at your home to photograph, wrap and organise. The VC team is now 20 specialist professionals and growing rapidly. We do not limit ourselves geographically and our team will of course travel as far as necessary to our clients if and when requested to make sure all their requirements are met.

SY: Can you take us through the pricing structure for being a member of Vault Couture?
RB:
Every member has their own individual needs so we tend cater for personal requests and create a lot of bespoke packages. There are several packages based on online cataloguing to full services including storage, collection and delivery of items. Prices start from £2 per item per month and extend to packages that include storage, stylists, as well as collection & delivery services globally.

SY: How would you describe your typical client?
RB:
We have a huge range of clients, a lot of them are like myself and the Vault Couture founders, busy business woman; they are working hard, a lot of them run their own companies, have families and a range of other commitments, such as charity work. They come to us because they want us to take the stress out of dressing for them.

SY: Do you have any famous members?
RB: We do have celebrity clients we work with but none I can name, confidentiality is the key! We very much enjoy the work we do with our famous members, but at Vault Couture all members get the celebrity treatment. Collection and delivery services are very important to our high profile clients, purely because of the extent and frequency with which they travel.

SY: Is the service open to men and if so, is it popular with them?
RB: Yes, we have a growing number of male clients. A typical male client is the business man that travels often and is always on the go. Vault Couture is becoming particularly popular in this area as the members can avoid excessive packing; we can take care of all services from dry cleaning to delivering from airport to office to hotel.

SY: If you had to summarise the benefits of being a Vault Couture in a couple sentences what would you say?
RB: I would suggest that the key elements are that you can completely forget about the issues connected with your wardrobe. We will care for all our client’s needs and put their mind at ease knowing that everything is being taken care of.

SY: Finally, where do you see the company in years to come?
RB: There are two avenues – firstly we plan to take more and more space online; more services will be available on the web for the public, not just for clients. We will also diversify in order to attract different industries and partners. We are already being approached by people from the art world or wine collectors who are interested in our software and state-of-the-art storage facility. Secondly our priority is to continue to serve our members and offer the best service available in the market.

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By Paul Joseph