Height of fashion

Thought sample sales were just for the fashion elite? Meet Susan Lyne, the woman who has brought them online — so we can all pick up designer goods for less. Nancy Hess reports

SUSAN LYNE had fans. She was, after all, one of the ABC executives behind Desperate Housewives, and she ran Martha Stewart’s design empire when Stewart was in prison for insider trading.

But Lyne was unprepared for her newfound ‘fame’ when, in 2008, she took the reins at the Gilt Groupe, the e-commerce company that Wall Street expects to be 2013’s most anticipated initial public offering.