Reflection – Learning Launch of 1861. Milano

Challenge & Selection

During my second-to-last year of high-school (2013), I decided to team up with two friends of  mine and explore a market which at the time was still uncharted: create a fashion brand  aimed towards the street culture and based on Milan, our hometown. If the former - the  street-culture-oriented fashion - was an upcoming trend back then which was just starting to  take off, the latter was yet to be covered and provided an interesting ground to experiment  some entrepreneurship ideas off some friends’ impressions and insights.  We thus set up all of the necessary contacts, the business model, and got ourselves an  identity (1861. Milano - 743 Erika Bypass Apt. 419
Andreahaven, IL 54207) looking forward to our first  launch, which would simply be composed of a t-shirt and a hoodie. However, even though  we already decided on the main aspects of the product line, being at our first experience in  the field we deemed useful resorting to gather some of our potential clients’ feedback  (mostly teenagers, just like us). For this, we made use of some contacts of ours to talk to  one of the main party organizations in Milan, and found out about a date of a party which  would suit perfectly our time-constraint needs with respect to the products’ actual launch.  The organization of the party, who appeared interested in the project, granted us the  possibility of organizing stands at the event to promote an actual pre-launch event, in which  we could show and discuss samples directly with our potential clientbase: a technique which  just later - when attending this course - I realized being called “learning launch”.

Application

We then began to think how to organize the learning launch event, in order to understand  what we would need to bring on the day of the party and how to present it to the people to  get the most useful information out of it. We were aware that the participants would know in  advance of the pre-launch event - the organizers, in fact, made sure to advertise it  accordingly in the invites -, so we knew that it was an opportunity which we needed to  capitalize.  For such, we opted to focus on the fit and comfort of our first products, since we had not had  yet the possibility to receive feedback on it (whilst with the designs and prints, on the other  hand, we had already managed to gather useful information via surveys and brief  interviews). We brought to the party 1861-themed roll-ups and posters to create cozy and  recognizable stands, in which we had potential customers try different kinds of fits and  garment models of the products - the t-shirt and the hoodie - that we had decided to launch.  We had skinnier/more loose fits, a couple of different material combinations and big smiles  on our faces, so the party finally began as we waited impatiently the first people to come by  (we decided not to go and chase them out in the wild, as it was not the most effective  approach to adopt in that environment).

Insight & Approach

The learning launch event was a success, and really helped us also in gaining valuable  traction among friends of the potential clients by word-of-mouth, a nice side-effect to add  along! Naturally, though, our main goal was a different one as previously specified, which we

managed to cover with a concrete deal of useful gathered information. For instance, we  realized that a skinnier fit for the t-shirts was welcomed, and that the 100% cotton samples  that we brought with us were preferred; for what concerns the hoodies, we realized that  some samples had too-small hoods (thus a larger, less tight on the scalp one was preferred),  fits which were looser on the trunk and tighter on the arms were more liked and finally a  mixture which was - unlike the t-shirts - not 100% cotton, rather 80% cotton and 20%  polyester gave the best combination of on-skin comfort and wearability feel. At the end of the  night we had some people approaching us to buy some of the samples, too! One extra perk  that made us even more enthusiast of the experience.

After that, we proceeded with our launch campaign and sold the two models which we got  feedback on at the event. We had planned a second, four-garment launch for later that year  and were looking forward to choosing amongst the designs that we were coming up with,  when eventually other commitments entered each one of our lives and we could not properly  follow up the brand.  However, the experience enriched us on the ways in which such a tool could become useful  when approaching a problem to solve (in our case, the best possible products that we could  enter the market with), and the reality is that - albeit on different scales -, it could really be  useful in a very wide variety of scenarios! If we were, though, to proceed with the second  launch as we had planned, we would have used the same learning-launch approach for what  concerns the garments to use for our products. However, we may have wanted to extend it  to different designs on which giving our potential customers the possibility to choose from,  although the visualization approach (that we resorted to for the same task during our first  launch) revealed to be effective: having visualizations of what our products would look like  via mock-ups allows to reach a wider crowd with a less demanding organization, and to  gather important feedback on the designs based on a reliable representation of what the  finished product would look like. It is also easy to change the mock-ups on the go during  interviews in accordance to suggestions and proposals of the interviewees, so that an agile  and interactive learning process with potential customers can be instituted.


Reflection – Learning Launch of 1861 . Milano Challenge & Selection During my second - to - last year of high - school ( 2013 ) , I decided to team up with two friends of mine and explore a market which at the time was still uncharted : create a fashion brand aimed towards the street culture and based on Milan , our hometown . If the former - the street - culture - oriented fashion - was an upcoming trend back then which was just starting to take off , the latter was yet to be covered and provided an interesting ground to experiment some entrepreneurship ideas off some friends ’ impressions and insights . We thus set up all of the necessary contacts , the business model , and got ourselves an identity ( 1861 . Milano - 743 Erika Bypass Apt . 419 Andreahaven , IL 54207 ) looking forward to our first launch , which would simply be composed of a t - shirt and a hoodie . However , even though we already decided on the main aspects of the product line , being at our first experience in the field we deemed useful resorting to gather some of our potential clients ’ feedback ( mostly teenagers , just like us ) . For this , we made use of some contacts of ours to talk to one of the main party organizations in Milan , and found out about a date of a party which would suit perfectly our time - constraint needs with respect to the products ’ actual launch . The organization of the party , who appeared interested in the project , granted us the possibility of organizing stands at the event to promote an actual pre - launch event , in which we could show and discuss samples directly with our potential clientbase : a technique which just later - when attending this course - I realized being called “ learning launch ” . Application We then began to think how to organize the learning launch event , in order to understand what we would need to bring on the day of the party and how to present it to the people to get the most useful information out of it . We were aware that the participants would know in advance of the pre - launch event - the organizers , in fact , made sure to advertise it accordingly in the invites - , so we knew that it was an opportunity which we needed to capitalize . For such , we opted to focus on the fit and comfort of our first products , since we had not had yet the possibility to receive feedback on it ( whilst with the designs and prints , on the other hand , we had already managed to gather useful information via surveys and brief interviews ) . We brought to the party 1861 - themed roll - ups and posters to create cozy and recognizable stands , in which we had potential customers try different kinds of fits and garment models of the products - the t - shirt and the hoodie - that we had decided to launch . We had skinnier / more loose fits , a couple of different material combinations and big smiles on our faces , so the party finally began as we waited impatiently the first people to come by ( we decided not to go and chase them out in the wild , as it was not the most effective approach to adopt in that environment ) . Insight & Approach The learning launch event was a success , and really helped us also in gaining valuable traction among friends of the potential clients by word - of - mouth , a nice side - effect to add along ! Naturally , though , our main goal was a different one as previously specified , which we managed to cover with a concrete deal of useful gathered information . For instance , we realized that a skinnier fit for the t - shirts was welcomed , and that the 100 % cotton samples that we brought with us were preferred ; for what concerns the hoodies , we realized that some samples had too - small hoods ( thus a larger , less tight on the scalp one was preferred ) , fits which were looser on the trunk and tighter on the arms were more liked and finally a mixture which was - unlike the t - shirts - not 100 % cotton , rather 80 % cotton and 20 % polyester gave the best combination of on - skin comfort and wearability feel . At the end of the night we had some people approaching us to buy some of the samples , too ! One extra perk that made us even more enthusiast of the experience . After that , we proceeded with our launch campaign and sold the two models which we got feedback on at the event . We had planned a second , four - garment launch for later that year and were looking forward to choosing amongst the designs that we were coming up with , when eventually other commitments entered each one of our lives and we could not properly follow up the brand . However , the experience enriched us on the ways in which such a tool could become useful when approaching a problem to solve ( in our case , the best possible products that we could enter the market with ) , and the reality is that - albeit on different scales - , it could really be useful in a very wide variety of scenarios ! If we were , though , to proceed with the second launch as we had planned , we would have used the same learning - launch approach for what concerns the garments to use for our products . However , we may have wanted to extend it to different designs on which giving our potential customers the possibility to choose from , although the visualization approach ( that we resorted to for the same task during our first launch ) revealed to be effective : having visualizations of what our products would look like via mock - ups allows to reach a wider crowd with a less demanding organization , and to gather important feedback on the designs based on a reliable representation of what the finished product would look like . It is also easy to change the mock - ups on the go during interviews in accordance to suggestions and proposals of the interviewees , so that an agile and interactive learning process with potential customers can be instituted .