Today, I had to present part of my final project to the class, to receive critique and feedback on the idea. Our assignment was to cover the following:
- What is the idea?
- Why is it important?
- Who would the main competitors be?
- How would the business work? What would the process be?
- What would be the next steps to make the business a reality?
A vague summary of what I said was that it was a women's luxury footwear brand, aimed at making "eclectic" footwear, mainly dress and casual shoes priced at between $600-1200. The brand would be important because it would aim to deliver excellent design as well as comfort, something that is strangely enough quite rare to find in much of women's footwear these days, regardless of the brand. Main competitors would be any brand that worked within the luxury sector, as well as upcoming designers. The process would be that the shoes were designed in New York, manufactured in Italy, and sold through wholesalers in America (at least to begin with). And the next steps would be to acquire the right funding, and to hire a team of people such as a design team with knowledge of shoe design, a PR representative, and someone to deal with the business aspects of the brand.
My main critique was that my brand aesthetic was much too vague, and that I needed to define the style beyond "eclectic," and that my next steps were somewhat unreasonable. After all, I can't always rely on a "team" that magically makes things happen. What can I do that others cant? What am I contributing that is special? As for the funding, I was told to not even think about it. After all, what in the world do I know about finances. The question of why I wished to manufacture my shoes in Italy was also raised, when I could technically find places in Brooklyn and surrounding areas to remove shipping costs. I think at first I got a little defensive. When you believe in something so strongly I think it's easy to get wrapped up in the idea that no matter what, your plan is flawless and everything will be fine and you'll win the lottery tomorrow and then before you know it your business has set up shop in every large capital in the world. However, after reflecting a little more on it, I realized I definitely had some things to consider.
