Page 30 - Demo

30 || FASHION MAGAZINE || NOV - DEC 2017I am so lucky to have found my gift of helping others through my business. I wake up every day excited to go to work & to create something new and exciting that will help women look and feel their best (and at an accessible price point). I am intimately involved in every aspect of Gretchen Christine from design, to sampling, manufacturing to production, distribution to fulfillment, web development and SEO optimization, all the way through marketing and sales. I am involved with my amazing team handling everything from concept to credit card. Gretchen Christine just celebrated two big milestones; our 8yr anniversary and the fact that we were just recently acquired by a global portfolio of luxury & e-commerce brands. It has been the dream I have been working towards for the last 8yrs as I have been growing my company. I have found an incredible partner in Alex Dastmalchi and I am so grateful for this newest acquisition. Gretchen Christine will be able to grow exponentially now with our new distribution channels and our seven different fulfillment warehouses all around the world. As far as inspiration goes truly everything around me inspires our designs, from a beautiful flower I see in nature, to the different cultures I explore during my travels, it can be the architecture of a building or a unique textile...I pull inspiration from all these things.In a market inundated with so many choices, what is it about your products that set them apart from countless others?I believe it%u2019s in the details. Gretchen Christine thrives on putting their customer needs first, and our newest collection stands out because of the versatility we created. We believe Gretchen Christine to be a fashion and beauty solutions company. This means we design with purpose. This collection includes interchangeable/reversible straps or consider the purse inside purse feature of Audrianna Messenger as an example. The conversion of the Jaime Tote (from a larger tote to a smaller more structured bag) which allows it to be used in different ways. Also the details and embellishments of the bags; from the 14K gold plated purse feet to the multiple pockets for organization, to the gorgeous gold studded straps and the removable luggage logo tags. Every piece is made with love and with our customers%u2019 needs in mind.Why is making your product affordable, so important to you? Talk to us about setting price points and managing customer demand.The catalyst for Gretchen Christine was the fact that back in 2009 when we started the company, I was speaking with so many people who could not afford the high-end designer cosmetics and handbags that were showcased on RHOC. It actually made me sad these things were so far out of reach for so many people. It became my mission to create amazing products with similar embellishments, bells and whistles, and quality that you would find in a designer handbag or makeup, but that was accessible to the everyday woman.We presently have inventory in a west coast warehouse and a warehouse in PA. Our other warehouses are located in Toronto Canada, London UK, and Sydney Australia. Keeping the right amount of products stocked in each warehouse based on sales and promotions on those respective countries I think is a big challenge for any company but we have a great logistics team and I think we do a pretty good job of it.You have transitioned from using real leather to vegan leather, what was the thought process behind this change?Gretchen Christine is trying to do their little part in being more eco-friendly and also socially responsible. I myself am a huge animal lover and since a segment of our customer base was requesting the option of a vegan leather collection, it was an easy choice to make.It took a full year to develop this collection because I was so particular with how I wanted the vegan leather to look, feel and perform. I sent samples of real leather bags to the factory and we went through many rounds of sampling different ingredients and fabrication processes before we found the perfect material, that looks and feels like real leather.The new technology being develop in the manufacturing process is quite extraordinary. This collection contains materials that have no animal biproducts, they have a similar strength and feel to real leather. Our material actually holds its structure better and doesn%u2019t break down over time like real leather. This allows us to do so many more things when it comes to design. It%u2019s the perfect blend of durability with flexibility.