Dear fashion preneur,

So I had a conversation with one of my mentees who is a veteran in her own right. She has run a fashion label successfully for 8 years and has survived all the highs, lows and bumps in the road that come with entrepreneurship. I respect her immensely and I’m a fan of her brand.

Back to the conversation that inspired this blog. In a moment of inspiration she decided to step out of her signature style and design a collection she felt really connected to and one that was a reflection of her personal style. She put together the collection and launched it on her shop floor with so much excitement and then waited for feedback.

It came. It wasn’t good. Her customers resisted this new point of view and politely advised her to go back to the status quo they knew, loved and were ready to buy. That was it. She managed to sell a few and gave out the rest. Then resolved never to experiment again.

Her lesson from that experience was to do what the customer was ready to pay for and nothing more. “Stick to the lane you are put on” she said “give the people what they want” . I smiled and shook my head at the same time. I didn’t agree and I’ll tell you why in my next post.