240 – Christine Hunsicker of Gwynnie Bee and CaaStle – Clothing Subscribers, Like Magic

Clothing as a service with an apparel rental platform for other retailers... Christine Hunsicker, CEO/Founder of Gwynnie Bee (retail industry online clothing subscription service that allows women to access an unlimited wardrobe) joins Marc Raco and guest hosts Rohan Deuskar (CEO of Stylitics) and Ilan Tito on location at Shoptalk 2018 in Las Vegas. MouthMedia Network studios are powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Hunsicker discusses making her big announcement at Shoptalk Being a multi-brand aggregator Six years running on top of technology stack CaaStle – a name coming from an acronym for clothing as a service Now being “open for business” and ready to take on any retailer in the space How CaaStle is providing reverse logistics, returns process, wet/dry cleaning, inspections, re-stocking, all technology, consumer facing websites, zero additional load on IT departments The ability to bring people into market with “incredible speed” Integrating rental into retail – being unsure of what can it look like today, trying to figure out together Considering and avoiding backlash from historical customer base by working with a wider range of sizes All about the majority of women, flipping the script, making the change in a way that respects the majority Now the offering includes more designers on journey For retailers, to say let them rent our clothes and not buy Moving high spenders into rental, or trading retail dollar for rental dollar. How data shows that adding rentals is increasing spend by 60% Opening apparel to people who wouldn’t ordinarily wear them Keeping the belief going internally and to customer base that the company is on same mission after moving the compass Keeping tangible offerings Creating physical environment experiences that make people feel good Why the new direction is not about world domination, Scuba diving as a personal form of yoga and serenity Jigsaw puzzles and ‘80s music And -- looking for Lionel Richie