There comes a point in every man’s professional life, according to Tie Society co-founder Zac Gittens, that he must make a decision: stay at his current job, or go to business school. Or start a mail-order necktie service.

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Gittens, 28, and childhood friend Otis Collins, 27, picked option number three, leaving behind their office jobs for the brave new world of tie rentals in July. They launched Tie Society in November, a Netflix-like club where members pay a set fee, select ties online to be mailed to them, and return them whenever they like.

A year ago, Tie Society was a pipe dream. Collins, who previously served in the Fenty administration, was working at a non-profit; Gittens was at IBM. Neither was particularly into fashion, but both had been wearing ties every day since college and struggled to keep their work wardrobes fresh. They began swapping neckwear.

“We’d watch football and bring our ties,” says Gittens.

When the pair, both native Washingtonians, began thinking about going into business together, they considered a few plans, including a restaurant in Adams Morgan and a fashion consultancy that used a body scanner to help shoppers match clothes to their body type. They discarded both, Collins explains, “because we see a trend away from having traditional store fronts.” The costs also kept them away from brick-and-mortar.

“The beautiful thing about the Internet is it’s not as expensive as you’d think,” says Gittens (which is good, as the partners are 100 percent self-financed at this point). Right now all of their capital is invested in their website and their 300+ tie collection, which is spread out on the kitchen counter and a rack in Gittens’ gleaming Adams Morgan house, aka Tie Society headquarters.

The men went with ties over other articles of clothing to lend out not only because they themselves were already practicing the concept, but because there’s little ick factor to wearing a pre-worn tie, which is cleaned between each customer.

“Not a lot of products fit this mold,” says Collins. “Like socks. You wouldn’t want to wear someone else’s socks.” (Suspenders are under consideration.)