Week 2 – Recognising Opportunity: Developing a Lingerie Collection as a Potential Brand

Exploring strategy, niche markets, and translating creative ideas into entrepreneurial opportunities.

The second week of the module focused on business strategy and its role in helping new ventures succeed. The session explored how entrepreneurs identify opportunities and create strategies that set their ideas apart from existing products in the market. This discussion made me reflect more critically about my own fashion collection and how it might grow into a brand.

When I started developing my collection, I decided that the project would serve as an experiment for a potential future business. I wanted to do more than just make clothes; I wanted to see what it would really take to build a collection. By paying attention to feedback and identifying what works and what does not, I hope to learn valuable lessons before launching a commercial line. 

My concept focuses on lingerie paired with tailored outerwear. This idea emerged naturally from my skills and interests, since lingerie design and tailoring are what I specialized in during fashion school at ESMOD, and the product fills a gap in my own wardrobe. According to Peter Drucker, successful entrepreneurial ideas often come from recognising opportunities within existing knowledge or expertise (Drucker 1985). In my case, combining lingerie and tailoring felt like a niche that had both creative and commercial potential. 

Figure 5: Early sketches exploring the outerwear pieces. These drawings helped test how garments could interact visually and structurally.

Another important element I learned during this session was how to define a target market. Interestingly, my initial target customer was myself. I designed pieces I wanted to wear but had a hard time finding in either the lingerie or ready-to-wear markets. This approach reflects a common entrepreneurial strategy in creative industries, where designers often develop products based on their own needs or experiences.

However, this also raised an important question: while designing for myself ensures authenticity, it’s also necessary to ensure my design concept resonates with a broader audience. Moving forward, I will need to balance personal vision with market awareness to develop a collection that is both creative and commercially successful.

Overall, this week helped me understand that strategy and creativity are both essential in entrepreneurship. Strategy is the process of transforming creative ideas into opportunities that can succeed in the real world. 

Figure 6: Early lineup of proposed silhouettes exploring the balance between sensual lingerie elements and structured tailoring.