Tonight, Alexandra Shadrow is introducing her fashion business UNItiques to three million people. The recent BU alum is featured on this season’s Project Runway eight-episode spin-off, Project Runway: Fashion Startup, and in tonight’s episode, she will pitch her clothing website to investors from Birchbox, Rebecca Minkoff, the Hildun Corporation, and Gwynnie Bee. The Lifetime series, which premiered October 20, focuses on up-and-coming fashion and beauty entrepreneurs who try to secure funds to help grow their budding ventures.
“Months ago one of my friends forwarded me a very vague ad that invited fashion companies to apply to be on a TV opportunity,” Shadrow (CGS’12, COM’15) says. “I applied not knowing what the show was. I knew it would be on a major network, but other than that I was in the dark. I just said yes, as I always do.”
Shadrow started UNItiques her junior year, after feeling underpaid by local consignment stores when she tried to sell her old clothes, and being unwilling to put her address on Craigslist. She started a Facebook page to sell her shirts, jeans, and dresses exclusively to other BU students, and the venture grew into the UNItiques website, with 2,000 students registered within three months. These days the website has 12,500 members on 500 campuses. It’s free to users, who sell their clothes and household goods using an online payment system.
