Who’s shaking up the industry today and making it a unique, successful, challenging and innovative sector? The members of the 2016 Counselor Hot 25. Check out their stories.

Tulsa, OK, is a long way – and a far cry – from the glamour of a Hollywood studio. But four years ago, Kim Fisher found herself leaving a costume design business 25 years in the making and saying goodbye to the 42 shows she helped outfit for CBS Studios. She arrived in Tulsa, “thinking, ‘What the hell am I going to do?’” says Fisher, owner of Quashies LLC (asi/80127), which makes custom hair ties. “My specialty was reading scripts and defining characters through their wardrobe.”

It turns out there’s a sizeable market for companies looking to personalize hair accessories, which includes Nike, MTV and JetBlue, among others. And, in hindsight, “I think all my experience has been put into this venture,” says Fisher, reflecting on the fact that Quashies combines her fashion and business sense formed over two decades running a company in Los Angeles.

As a market innovator, Fisher has noticed a lot of copycats in the past years, pushing her team to develop new printing processes on nylon and other hard-to-decorate fabrics. Apparently it’s paid off. Last year the company had a 48% re-order rate.

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