Ask any fashionista what they’re doing at noon on any given day, and the answer will be a resounding, overwhelming “GILT!” The online sample site Gilt Groupe has blossomed in the past year, and boasts pieces from some of fashion’s top names at up to 70% off retail. The catch, of course, is that the sales are first-come, first-served, last for two to three days and begin at noon each day. It’s survival of the fashion fittest. Gilt’s founders, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson and Alexis Maybank, hardly expected to create a fashion phenomenon, but always knew that they’d do big things. As Harvard grads and longtime friends, the duo went their separate ways career-wise — Alexis honed her Internet savvy at AOL and eBay, and Alexandra worked at fashion houses like Bulgari and Vuitton — but reunited in 2007 to form Gilt Groupe, a perfect synthesis of their interests. Today, Gilt boasts not only its original womenswear site, but also Gilt Man, a menswear and tech hotspot; Gilt Fuse, a lower-priced women’s destination; and Jetsetter, a travel sale site founded with Condé Nast Traveler. Now that’s putting an Ivy degree to work.

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