Christine Hunsicker

Christine Hunsicker is an entrepreneur and the CEO and Co-Founder of Gwynnie Bee, a retail industry online clothing subscription service that allows women to access an unlimited wardrobe.[1][2] The company has shipped over 3 million boxes as of January 2016.[3] Christine Hunsicker grew up in Pennsylvania. She attended Princeton University, where she played field hockey for the nationally ranked team and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1999.[4]

Career

In 2011, Hunsicker launched Gwynnie Bee, a subscription model clothing service. She focused first on sizes 10–32 after discovering that 80% of American women fall into this size range, most of whom are severely underserved by traditional retailers.[5][6] Hunsicker utilized her experience with start-ups, algorithms, and other data-based methodologies to shape the company’s operations. Originally run out of her New York City apartment, Gwynnie Bee now operates from 5 offices in the USA and India and employs around 350 people.[7] The company offers more than 150 rental brands and has shipped over 3 million rental boxes as of August 2016.[8]

In October 2016, Hunsicker starred on Lifetime’s Project Runway: Fashion Startup,[9] a spinoff of the successful reality TV series. Delving into the business side of the fashion industry, entrepreneurs pitched their startups to a panel of investors (including Hunsicker) for financial backing.[10] Media coverage of the show included an appearance by Hunsicker on The Today Show.[11]

In January 2018, Gwynnie Bee refashioned its service to be size inclusive. Taking a unique and differentiated approach by extending its size range down from sizes 10–32 to 0–32, it was a first in the women's fashion industry where the norm is to expand sizes up from misses into plus. Citing that "our point of view is that in order to be truly inclusive, we cannot be exclusive," the company stated that they would continue to prioritize the service for use by the majority of women. Referring to women who wear sizes 10–32 as their core members, the company vowed to continue representing this demographic with their merchandise, models, and First Fit reviews.[12]

Prior to Gwynnie Bee, Hunsicker was COO of Drop.io and President and COO of Right Media, two tech start-ups that were bought by Facebook and Yahoo!, respectively, the latter for $850 million.[13]

Hunsicker has discussed her perspectives on the fashion industry, size inclusiveness, underserved markets, and the future of retail on various programs including Fox Business.[14][15]

Awards and honors

Hunsicker has been honored with numerous achievements including Crain’s New York Business “40 Under 40”,[16] INC.’s “The Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs of 2016”,[17] and Entrepreneur’s “25 Inspiring Entrepreneurs Under 40 Who Are Creating the Next Big Thing”.[18] She has been credited with “disrupting” and “changing the fashion game”,[19][20][21] “redesigning the plus-size clothing industry”,[22] and “personalizing the plus-size fashion experience”.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Moore, Kristina, "Designer Spotlight: Gwynnie Bee Is The Netflix Of Plus-Size Fashion", "Forbes", June 12, 2014 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesstylefile/2014/06/12/designer-spotlight-gwynnie-bee-is-the-netflix-of-plus-size-fashion/#211ba3351f98
  2. ↑ Detweiler, Margit, "Why I Share My Closet With Hundreds of Women", "Huffington Post", March 21, 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tuenight/why-i-share-my-closet-wit_b_5007462.html
  3. ↑ "Rental service giving plus-sized clothing industry a makeover", "CBS News", January 20, 2016 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gwynnie-bee-ceo-christine-hunsicker-plus-sized-clothing-rental/
  4. ↑ Hunsicker, Christine, “LinkedIn”, Retrieved 9/13/16 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinehunsicker
  5. ↑ Caminiti, Susan, “How one woman is going after a $17B opportunity,” “CNBC”, March 23, 2016 https://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/23/how-swapping-clothes-sparked-a-billion-dollar-biz-idea.html
  6. ↑ Strugatz, Rachel “Gwynnie Bee Wants to do Plus-Size Online the Right Way”, “Women’s Wear Daily”, October 8, 2015 https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0110/6032/files/7217-wwd.html?12334580003283101297
  7. ↑ King, Leon, “How This Digital Entrepreneur Rocketed A Fashion Business From 4 To 350 Employees”, “Forbes”, February 27, 2016 https://www.forbes.com/sites/leoking/2016/02/27/gwynnie-bee-christine-hunsicker-women-in-tech/#789f7ce14298
  8. ↑ Henry, Zöe, “Gwynnie Bee: This Fashion Startup Raised $100 Million Serving the Plus-Size Woman”, “INC.”, July/August 2016 http://www.inc.com/magazine/201607/zoe-henry/christine-hunsicker-gwynnie-bee-plus-size-clothing.html
  9. ↑ Medina, Marcy, “‘Project Runway: Fashion Startup’ to debut on Lifetime”, “LA Times”, September 8, 2016 http://www.latimes.com/fashion/la-ig-project-runway-20160908-snap-story.html
  10. ↑ Novellino, Teresa, “Gwynnie Bee Founder is Living the ‘Project Runway: Fashion Startup’ Dream”, “Upstart Business Journal”, October 31, 2016 http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2016/10/31/gwynnie-bee-founder-project-runway-fashion-startup.html
  11. ↑ “‘Project Runway: Fashion Startup’ Investors: Here’s How to Pitch Us”, “Today Show”, October 26, 2016 http://www.today.com/video/-project-runway-fashion-startup-investors-here-s-how-to-pitch-us-793987651684
  12. ↑ "Gwynnie Bee Does Size Exclusivity Differently". Yahoo! Finance. January 24, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Rental service giving plus-sized clothing industry a makeover", "CBS News", January 20, 2016 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gwynnie-bee-ceo-christine-hunsicker-plus-sized-clothing-rental/
  14. ↑ “Christine Hunsicker Speaks on The Future of Retail: Online vs. In-store and Weighs in on Amazon Falling Short with Female Shoppers”, “Fox Business: Making Money with Charles Payne”, August 29, 2016 http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5103893028001/?#sp=show-clips
  15. ↑ “Christine Hunsicker Speaks on the Benefits of Having an Unlimited Wardrobe”, “Fox Business: Varney & Co.”, September 29, 2015 http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4518150249001/?#sp=show-clips
  16. ↑ Messina, Judith, “40 Under 40: Class of 2016” “Craine's New York Business”, March 28, 2016 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/2016/Hunsicker
  17. ↑ Scott, Bartie, “The Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs of 2016” “INC.”, November 9, 2016 http://www.inc.com/bartie-scott/ss/most-impressive-women-entrepreneurs-2016.html
  18. ↑ Bourque, Andre, “25 Inspiring Entrepreneurs Under 40 Who Are Creating the Next Big Thing”, “Entrepreneur”, September 28, 2016 https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281616
  19. ↑ Lepore, Meredith, “Meet Gwynnie Bee Founder Christine Hunsicker, the Woman Completely Disrupting the Fashion Game”, “Levo League”, September 9, 2016 https://www.levo.com/posts/meet-gwynnie-bee-founder-christine-hunsicker-the-woman-completely-disrupting-the-fashion-game
  20. ↑ “Christine Hunsicker Speaks on Disrupting the $1.4 Trillion Apparel Industry as CEO of Gwynnie Bee, a Rental Service Giving the Plus-Sized Clothing Industry a Makeover”, “CBS This Morning”, January 20, 2016 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gwynnie-bee-ceo-christine-hunsicker-plus-sized-clothing-rental/
  21. ↑ “How Gwynnie Bee is Changing the Plus-Size Fashion Game”, “Glamour”, December 1, 2015 http://www.glamour.com/story/meet-christine-tk-the-ceo-chan
  22. ↑ “Meet the New York Entrepreneur Redesigning the Plus-Size Clothing Industry”, “INC.”, September 20, 2016 http://www.inc.com/christine-hunsicker/how-gwynnie-bee-is-redesigning-the-plus-size-industry.html
  23. ↑ “Creative Conversations: How Gwynnie Bee is Personalizing the Plus-Size Fashion Experience” “Fast Company”, October 20, 2016 https://www.fastcompany.com/3064748/creative-conversations/how-gwynnie-bee-is-personalizing-the-plus-size-fashion-experience


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.