Christine Hunsicker

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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]

Contents

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. [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]

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References

  1. ↑ Moore, Kristina. "Designer Spotlight: Gwynnie Bee Is The Netflix Of Plus-Size Fashion". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  2. ↑ "Why I Share My Closet With Hundreds of Women". HuffPost. 2014-03-21. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  3. ↑ "Rental service giving plus-sized clothing industry a makeover". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  4. ↑ Hunsicker, Christine, "LinkedIn", Retrieved 9/13/16 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinehunsicker
  5. ↑ CNBC.com, Susan Caminiti, special to. "How one woman is going after a $17B opportunity". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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, Leo. "How This Digital Entrepreneur Rocketed A Fashion Business From 4 To 350 Employees". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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. ↑ WWD, Marcy Medina | (2016-09-09). "'Project Runway: Fashion Startup' to debut on Lifetime". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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.com. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  12. ↑ "Gwynnie Bee Does Size Exclusivity Differently". Yahoo! Finance. January 24, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Rental service giving plus-sized clothing industry a makeover". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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. ↑ "40 Under 40: 2016". Crain's New York Business. 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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 (2016-09-28). "25 Inspiring Entrepreneurs Under 40 Who Are Creating the Next Big Thing". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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 Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine
  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
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