A Gustto Velocce “Mallo” Bow Handbag, which rents for 0-6 per week.

Rachelle Netzer walks around with a brown bag dangling from her wrist. To one who isn’t familiar with famous luggage-makers and the fine products they produce, he or she wouldn’t realize Netzer’s purse is a vintage Michael Cromer Munich doctor bag that the West German designer produced in the 1980s.

The 22-year-old college student from Lawrence gravitates toward unique designer bags, and thanks to Web sites like www.bagborroworsteal.com — which is owned by the Avelle company — she can easily feed her addiction.

The Web site, which Lloyd Lapidus, a marketing firm founder, and Greg Pippo, ex-attorney and entrepreneur, founded in Florida in 2004, originally offered exclusively handbags, which users could rent.

“(They) watched their wives and sisters raid each other’s closets to borrow the perfect handbag for every outfit or occasion,” says Becky Gebhardt, vice president of creative for Avelle.

Since then, the company has expanded its market and ships handbags, sunglasses and jewelry across the country to clients. Avelle is now headquartered in Seattle but has shipping points all over the country.

“It would be nice to know before you made an investment that it would be worth your money,” Netzer says. “It would be good to check out the quality if you were going to be spending so much money on a purchase.”

On the Web site, you can rent items weekly or monthly and, if you choose to buy it, gain equity to eventually purchase your rentals. There are no late fees, and shipping is free to return rentals — users print pre-paid return labels from the Web site. Gebhardt says that the Web site’s accessories go through a 10-point inspection process to ensure authenticity and keep them in “like-new” condition. She also says that each customer is screened to make sure members are in positive financial standing.

But the rentals aren’t exactly cheap — for handbags, prices range from $13 to $1,690 a week, and from $32 to $6,010 each month; sunglasses, from $26 to $242 a week, and from $54 to $721 each month; and jewelry, from $16 to $515 a week, and from $29 to $1540 each month. Renters also can purchase memberships and get 20 percent off rentals. Gebhardt says that although Avelle ships items throughout the country, its largest customer bases include Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Chicago, Dallas and Miami.

“We have noticed that members are starting to use the ‘steal it’ option,” Gebhardt says. “In response (to the demand), we have created a new system for our members to earn equity on nearly any item they are renting.”

For the majority of the Web site’s rentals, you can gain 50 to 70 percent equity on rental fees. For Avelle’s vintage bags, like the Hermes Vintage Crocodile Birkin handbag worth nearly $42,000, renters cannot gain equity while they rent.

Gebhardt says that Avelle’s most-rented products come from designers including Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Valentino and Versace, and insists that accessories are unique and comparable to fine art.

Netzer, meanwhile, considers these bags to be works of art.

“Any art that is wearable is great in my book,” she says, “because you can take your fabulous painting around town and share it with other people.”