Four former Gilt executives just launched an online shopping emporium dedicated to the plus-size fashion market
- CoEdition, a fashion brand that offers boutique clothing items to plus-size women, launched on Tuesday.
- The brand is hoping to offer itself as a competitor in the historically underserved plus-size fashion market.
- The brand, which currently offers an inventory of 1000 unique items, has plans to expand within the next few months and will offer a diverse array of products.
Traditional retailers have long ignored plus-size women in the fashion industry.
Now, more and more companies are providing clothing options for women who make up this historically underserved market. For many entrepreneurs, the $21 billion estimated spending potential harnessed by this portion of the fashion industry spells out one thing alone: An opportunity.
Among these entrepreneurial new companies is CoEdition, a brand new online fashion company that caters exclusively to women size 10 and above.
CoEdition offers a stable of fashion brands like Rachel Roy, Stuart Weitzman, and Tahari, and provides everything from casual athletic wear to chic evening attire to fitted lingerie.
The company's founders are no strangers to the competitive world of online retail. CoEdition's four cofounders are all former executives at online shopping and lifestyle website Gilt, and include Gilt's original founder Kevin Ryan.
In an interview with Business Insider, CoEdition's CEO Keith George said that the cofounders' shared experience in online retail has contributed to a deep understanding of their customer base.
"What we learned at Gilt was about building a world class team and understanding our customer's needs," he said.
George said centering its brand on the underserved plus-size fashion market was an obvious choice for the company.
"We've seen a lot of brands building up a lot of momentum in the space," said George. "We started thinking about this customer, and we saw a white space at a contemporary price point."
CoEdition's average price for its products is around $150. Already, the site offers an inventory of more than 1,000 unique products on the site, and by June, George said CoEdition will offer more than 5,000 items.
CoEdition is attempting to ease the notoriously difficult aspect of choosing a well-fitted outfit online by incentivizing buyers to populate the site with extensive product reviews. There's an entire component of CoEdition's team that focuses exclusively on providing the right size and fit to its customers.
George said that CoEdition's key focus is on providing an exceptional customer experience through follow-up and aiding in the selection process.
"A lot of it is about how you treat the customer throughout the return process," George said. "It's how our customer service team responds to each customer."
CoEdition is bypassing the traditional marketing route by courting social media influencers like Instagram fashion darling Alex Michael May, a move that George described as integral to the brand's identity. "We're hoping to provide an authentic experience," George said. "It's all about real people having style and being able to display their fashion sense."