HIBT Lab! Universal Standard: Polina Veksler

Hello and welcome to how I built this lab. I'm Guy Roz. So if you've ever tried to shop for clothing and you are a typical consumer You are unlikely to find a size that fits you. In fact, as you will hear in today's show, the average size of a woman in the United States is 18, size 18, and yet the majority of fashion brands only go up to size 12, maybe 14.

Well, a few years ago, two friends in New York, Polina Vexler and Alex Waldman, realized there might be a market opportunity there. They discovered that most fashion brands were leaving billions of dollars on the table by not serving the majority of consumers, people who fit into double digit sizes. Yes, some brands had and have quote unquote plus sizing. But Paulina and Alex didn't want to segregate women into different sizing groups. They wanted to build a brand for every shape and size.

with a high design sensibility. So in 2015, they founded Universal Standard. Now neither Alex nor Paulina had any experience as fashion designers. And neither had come from the apparel industry. but they both saw a way to serve an underserved consumer base.

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