4 ways to create a product women actually want

An overcrowded market and the cost of living crisis have made it harder than ever to capture the attention of consumers.?

Despite this, a handful of UK-based independent and primarily direct-to-consumer (DTC) womenswear brands are grabbing market share and scaling fast. They’re catching not only the aspirational luxury shopper who has downgraded their spending, but also the would-be fast fashion customer who is now looking for a longer-lasting product that delivers more value.

Below, we break down the lessons to be learnt from three of these emerging labels: Odd Muse , AYM and PEACHY DEN .

Lesson 1: Develop a hero product

Odd Muse is known for its cinched blazers and sculpted mini dresses.

AYM is known for its well-fitting, functional bodycon dresses.

Peachy Den rose to popularity for its vintage-inspired velvet trousers.

These brands, in other words, developed a hero product.

How do you develop a hero product? Understanding the customer is key, as is eschewing the trend cycle. “We’re a team of 15 women, so we are inherently our customer,” says Isabella Weatherby, who founded Peachy Den in 2019. “We use our team as a sounding board for each capsule. Before it’s launched, we review each product in an open dialogue to help identify hero products and even cancel styles as well.”

While the process is quite intentional, Peachy Den has had to grapple with just how trendy its products should be. “In our third year of operation we focused on trying to hit every trend and actually lost our way slightly and our customer didn’t respond well to it,” says Weatherby. Now, the brand drops four capsules a year, focusing on items that feel more in line with the brand’s identity.

At Odd Muse, founder Aimee Smale says she designs in a bubble, ignoring external forces and hyper-focusing on her customer. “We very rarely look at trend reports or what’s gone down the runway,” says Smale. “We don’t often design to reach a new customer, it’s about reaching the current customer and finding more women like that.”

Lesson 2: Prioritise fit and wearability

The design of the product might be what draws a customer in, but fit and wearability are what keeps them coming back.?

For example, Peachy Den has implemented adjustable waistbands to its skirts and trousers, and all of its mini skirts have built-in shorts. AYM’s bodycon dresses were designed by Mackintosh out of the need for supportive styles that also weren’t see-through. They also offer built-in bras, double-layered garments for better support, adjustable elements and stretchy materials.

Both brands partner with repairs and alterations startup Sojo. “A lot of bigger brands are so disconnected from their customers and their experience of wearing the items. When you’re close to your customer, you’re close to their problems,” says Sojo founder Josephine Philips. “[Offering tailoring is] a really nice nod to the care and commitment to their customers. From a brand point of view, they’re sometimes looking at it strategically as an investment that will reduce returns or convert to a sale.”

Lesson 3: Bring your customer on the journey

All three founders use social media to connect with customers on a personal level.

At Odd Muse, many customers are invested in Smale’s story because they have followed her since she started the business at the age of 22.

Peachy Den shares private Instagram stories with top customers that it has selected as “close friends” to connect with them and get feedback.

Mackintosh messages customers directly and conducts surveys to get feedback on design, sizing and order times.

“I’m always on my Instagram stories talking to customers, whether I was packing orders [when I was starting out] or even now; I was just making videos of the progress for the pop-up store we launched in New York and taking them along on this journey,” Smale says. “That real behind-the-scenes founder-led content is one of the biggest things people like on our social media. It was quite unintentional at the beginning, but it’s become a huge factor in our success.”

Lesson 4: Be selective with your retail strategy

Like with many successful young brands, Odd Muse, AYM and Peachy Den are digital-first and sell primarily DTC.

This makes it significantly easier to expand internationally. “We’ve grown organically and have been able to reach an international customer base, whereas if we had relied on bricks-and-mortar we wouldn’t have had that scalability,” says Mackintosh.

Odd Muse launched with DHL’s shipping services from the beginning to make it easier to expand worldwide. Currently, all products are shipped from the UK but the brand plans to expand its logistics to have an operation in the US next year, and potentially keep its New York pop-up, which generated $200,000 in sales in just two weeks. Its first pop-up in London’s Covent Garden eventually led to the brand opening a permanent flagship in the same neighbourhood.

Peachy Den has also launched multiple pop-up stores, with its most recent opening in Truman Brewery in East London becoming a permanent fixture. However, they haven’t disregarded wholesale entirely. Peachy Den is now stocked at retailers including Selfridges, Liberty, End and Revolve, and has two additional wholesale partnerships planned for next spring. Wholesale currently accounts for 20 per cent of its sales.

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