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Tall
order
Sisters market fashions for women over 5'8"
By DAVID J. GLENN
Sisters
Jennifer and Rebecca Caputo were always tall for their age and
always found it hard to find clothes that fit well as they grew
up in the Bronx and Yonkers.
Now,
Jennifer is 33 years old and Rebecca is 29, and they're both 6
feet tall; it hasn't been any easier to find clothes that don't
look like elongated hybrids.
The
two decided that if clothing designers and retailers were ignoring
tall women, maybe they should start their own apparel business
for women who are at or above eye level with most men.
Nearly
four months ago, they did. Tall Couture, based in Katonah, is
"the realization of a long-time dream of providing great fashion
clothing and accessories for tall women," the sisters write as
they welcome visitors to the company's Web site at tallcouture.com.
"It's
really a different concept for the apparel industry," Jennifer
said.
She
said their research showed that 5 percent of women in the United
States are 5 feet 8 inches or taller - "an untapped market."
The
two entrepreneurs - Jennifer is the chief executive officer and
Rebecca is the "chief style guru" - deal with an array of designers
and wholesalers to offer fashions for tall women. Their suppliers,
who adjust small quantities of their lines to Rebecca's specifications,
include Comf, Blue Tattoo, Hobo International, Identify, and others.
The women plan to add shoes and suits this fall.
Jennifer
is not a neophyte to business. She has an M.B.A. in marketing
and finance from the University of Denver, and in the mid-1990s
she worked for Carter Marketing Group, a telecommunications consulting
firm.
Rebecca,
who models the fashions for the Web site, has a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree in theater from West Virginia University, and graduated
from a two-year program at the School for Film and Television
in Manhattan. She says she has had "first-hand experience in New
York City's fashion and entertainment industry" by pounding the
pavement for auditions.
Since
the sisters started Tall Couture earlier this year, they have
received a total of 50 orders, Jennifer said - not exactly The
Gap or Annie Sez, but it's a beginning. The daily average of hits
to the Web site was 24 in the first month and reached 364 in August.
The
sisters recently moved Tall Couture from a small office sublet
to larger space on Bedford Road in Katonah.
They
expect the Web-based business to be profitable within three years,
and "eventually we'd like to have a brick-and-mortar outlet,"
Rebecca said. "Right now, we're just staying on the right track."
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