diff --git a/core-httpclient-impl/src/main/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClient.java b/core-httpclient-impl/src/main/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClient.java
index d5e0818df..86801396a 100644
--- a/core-httpclient-impl/src/main/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClient.java
+++ b/core-httpclient-impl/src/main/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClient.java
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ public OptimizelyHttpClient build() {
                 .setDefaultRequestConfig(HttpClientUtils.DEFAULT_REQUEST_CONFIG)
                 .setConnectionManager(poolingHttpClientConnectionManager)
                 .disableCookieManagement()
+                .useSystemProperties()
                 .build();
 
             return new OptimizelyHttpClient(closableHttpClient);
diff --git a/core-httpclient-impl/src/test/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClientTest.java b/core-httpclient-impl/src/test/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClientTest.java
index 299225a2f..a67e61501 100644
--- a/core-httpclient-impl/src/test/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClientTest.java
+++ b/core-httpclient-impl/src/test/java/com/optimizely/ab/OptimizelyHttpClientTest.java
@@ -16,13 +16,14 @@
  */
 package com.optimizely.ab;
 
-import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
-import org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException;
-import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.client.ResponseHandler;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpUriRequest;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.RequestBuilder;
+import org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -33,6 +34,16 @@
 
 public class OptimizelyHttpClientTest {
 
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        System.setProperty("https.proxyHost", "localhost");
+    }
+
+    @After
+    public void tearDown() {
+        System.clearProperty("https.proxyHost");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testDefaultConfiguration() {
         OptimizelyHttpClient optimizelyHttpClient = OptimizelyHttpClient.builder().build();
@@ -50,6 +61,15 @@ public void testNonDefaultConfiguration() {
         assertTrue(optimizelyHttpClient.getHttpClient() instanceof CloseableHttpClient);
     }
 
+    @Test(expected = HttpHostConnectException.class)
+    public void testProxySettings() throws IOException {
+        OptimizelyHttpClient optimizelyHttpClient = OptimizelyHttpClient.builder().build();
+
+        // If this request succeeds then the proxy config was not picked up.
+        HttpGet get = new HttpGet("https://www.optimizely.com");
+        optimizelyHttpClient.execute(get);
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testExecute() throws IOException {
         HttpUriRequest httpUriRequest = RequestBuilder.get().build();
diff --git a/java-quickstart/build.gradle b/java-quickstart/build.gradle
index e419ec70a..1bedc6b79 100644
--- a/java-quickstart/build.gradle
+++ b/java-quickstart/build.gradle
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ dependencies {
 }
 
 task runExample(type: JavaExec) {
+    systemProperties System.properties
+
     main "com.optimizely.Example"
     classpath sourceSets.test.runtimeClasspath
 }