S9 Ep22: PICKLE: Julia O’Mara, co-founder of Pickle, a peer-to-peer fashion rental marketplace - on building the sharing economy for fashion, working with influencers, and raising $12M.

Jun 23, 2025

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On today's show, we're chatting with Julia O'Mara, the co-founder of Pickle, the peer-to-peer fashion rental marketplace. Pickle's goal is making it easier and more affordable to rent high-quality clothing within communities – on today's episode, Julia will tell you about how she was working in business and product engineering when she had this idea: a gap in the fashion market.

And it led her to build Pickle, a first-of-its kind platform, which – in less than a year – has boomed onto the scene, recirculating 100,000 items, top lenders paying their NYC rent with their Pickle earnings! – and the company raising over 12 million in Series A funding. In Manhattan alone, 1 in 4 females aged 18-35 have used Pickle.

But Pickle had scrappy beginnings, Julia literally ran around NYC doing photoshoots with micro-influencers to get the first closets uploaded.

And, in this episode, you'll hear about the entrepreneurial hustle of this fashion tech founder to watch, and the cultural impact Pickle is having on how young women think about clothing consumption. I think you're gonna love it, so – let's dive right in!

DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE:

[3:24] The idea for Pickle started out as a completely different app – a social polling app.
[10:39] When Julia knew it was the right time for her career to go the entrepreneurial route.
[12:47] The insight that led to Pickle’s biggest pivot, in spring 2022.
[14:42] Pickle’s big differentiator is that it’s a peer-to-peer rental marketplace, similar to Uber and AirBnb within the sharing economy.
[17:44] When you’re building this kind of marketplace, you have to figure out how to attract both lenders and renters.
[25:24] How Pickle works as a side hustle for your closet.
[35:11] Insights from Pickle’s Series A fundraising round, where they raised $12 million and were called the AirBnb of fashion.
[41:11] Opening a brick-and-mortar store for closet rental in NYC.
[47:33] Future innovations in the circular fashion space, and what’s next for Pickle.

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