About Kithage

Kithage was built by Jack Lech.

The idea

Between six households there are usually four ladders, three pressure washers and nine folding tables - and on any given weekend, almost all of them are sitting still. Each one was bought new, shipped, and will spend a decade in a cupboard being used four times.

Meanwhile the people who own them live minutes apart and would lend to each other in a heartbeat, if only anyone knew who had what.

That is the whole problem. Not money, not logistics. Nobody has the list.

Two things at once

Buy less, waste less. The greenest purchase is the one nobody had to make. Every tool shared is a tool not manufactured, not shipped, not stored, and not eventually thrown away. Sharing is the cheapest environmental win available, and it needs no new technology - only knowing what already exists nearby.

Know your people better. This is the part that matters more. Borrowing is a reason to knock on a door. It is a small, low-stakes obligation between people, and small obligations are what communities are made of. We have spent twenty years replacing them with next-day delivery, and got a quieter street for it.

An app cannot manufacture community. What it can do is remove the friction from the moment it would otherwise happen - so that "does anyone have a…" gets an answer instead of a shrug and an order.

What it is not

Not a marketplace. Not a rental platform. Not a way to meet strangers.

There is no map, no public search, and no browsing. You are in a group because somebody invited you. Kithage takes no cut, holds no items, and processes no payments - it is a list your group keeps together, and everything else stays between people who already know each other.

Every previous attempt at this was built on strangers and died of the trust problem. The closed group is the product.

Get in touch

Ideas, complaints and awkward questions are all welcome: [email protected].