The woman behind Gilt Groupe and GlamSquad is already onto her next gig.
In 2007, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson co-founded flash sale site Gilt Groupe. Seven years later, she became CEO of GlamSquad, an early stage mobile beauty service startup. Two years after that, the serial entrepreneur parted ways with that company to focus on a brand new venture, Fitz, which launched to the public Thursday.
Part home organizer, part styling service, the idea behind Fitz, in a nutshell, is “to make getting dressed easier,” Wilkis Wilson tells Coins2Day.
The name is a reference to three different “fits”: the fit of a piece of clothing on a person’s body, the ability to fit all of one’s clothing neatly in one place, and the clothing ensemble or outfit.
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Right now, the basic Fitz product is a $300, three-hour in-home appointment with two of Fitz’s stylists (a lead and an assistant), in which the experts organize, assess, and spruce up a client’s wardrobe. That includes emptying the closet, and putting back only the things the client actually wears—organized by color, of course. Everything else either gets donated or goes to a reseller, tailor, or cobbler.
With the old out, there’s more room for new—and Fitz helps with that as well, doing everything from general styling to helping clients pack for a trip or a move. The main competitive advantage there, Wilkis Wilson notes, is that Fitz’s stylists know what the client already owns.
Much of the Fitz revenue model is based on partnerships, which Wilkis Wilson says she spent her last three years at Gilt Groupe focusing on. The startup—which is currently limited to appointments in the Tri-state area—has over 400 partnerships with major brands and retailers, as well as deals with local alterations specialists and online consignment store Linda’s Stuff, all of whom give Fitz a cut of whatever business comes their way as a result of the service.
In addition to revenue from client appointments, Wilkis Wilson says she envisions a future where “brands will one day pay Fitz” for being part of its network. “We’re in the client’s home for many hours, we’re meeting their children, their pets…it’s very intimate, much more than other brands have access to.”
The 10-person company, which became Wilkis Wilson’s sole focus in September, is a self-funded venture backed by the startup’s co-founder and chairman J. Michael Cline. Cline is another serial entrepreneur who has founded 13 companies, including ticketing site Fandango, hospital revenue management company Accretive Health, and healthcare concierge service Accolade.
Wilkis Wilson says meeting Cline in the spring of 2016 was the impetus for jumping into the new venture. “We were introduced and literally one meeting led to another, which led to another…and after spending many hours together, we basically came up with the idea of what is now called Fitz,” she says. “I had no intention of leaving GlamSquad. I was very happy there, was planning to stay full time, but basically in my speaking to Michael just got very very excited about building a company with him and the potential for what is called Fitz today.”
