Creating a business from the ground up is like working with a clean slate—you can get as creative as you want and take risks with any new ideas you may have. But along with all of that is the chance that, well, things may not work out as you had hoped.
Just ask Aubrie Pagano, founder of Bow & Drape, an online collection of dresses and separates that can be customized by the buyer. (Think of it as having your own designer and tailor right at your fingertips!)
Earlier this year, Minted chatted with Aubrie when she founded Zoora, an online marketplace where women could customize clothing created by up-and-coming designers. Since then, things have gone a different route—Zoora has now been revamped and is now Bow & Drape.
Now we all know change isn’t always a good thing, but neither is staying in a rut when your original business model isn’t working out. It’s essential to analyze what your customers want, how you can provide for them and keep up demand for your product. That’s exactly what Aubrie learned from working on Zoora and was more than happy to share with us how she’s learned from that last venture to make her next one even better.
Minted: We know Bow & Drape is still in the developing stages, as you’re raising money on crowdfunding site, Kickstarter. But since it’s launching soon, tell us how will it be different from Zoora?
Aubrie Pagano: Bow & Drape is the ultimate customer experience we wanted to provide with Zoora. We wanted to offer women a virtual dressmaking experience, where they could browse beautiful clothes, modify them to suit their personality with a click of a button, ensure a great fit and hold the clothes in their hands within a couple of weeks. The reality is that these features were not achievable as a marketplace. We needed to vertically integrate and create our own products in order to display them virtually and deliver them physically … and that is exactly what we did.
Minted: What spurred the revamp? What, in retrospect, did you do that wasn’t quite working that you’re going to address with Bow & Drape?
AP: Women loved the idea of customizing their clothing. We received wonderful praise and press for the idea, named “One of the Top Ten Sites that Will Change the Way You Shop.” However, the structure of our marketplace was not conducive to delivering a delightful experience to our customers. Designer prices were high; consistent quality and timely delivery was marginally controllable and so there were issues; customers wanted a better fit but not one customer was willing to enter their measurements online. (Yes, you read that correctly, not one of our 30,000 visitors.) Women wanted the convenience of designing a custom dress at an accessible price, but they wanted to do it quickly and virtually.
Minted: At what point did you realize that Zoora wasn’t going in the direction you wanted? How would you advise other entrepreneurs who may be feeling that way to determine whether or not it’s time to rebrand or go another route?
AP: We listened a lot to our customers and tried to understand how their perception of the product aligned with our vision. When customers don’t get it, things need to change.
If you want to help Aubrie and her team make Bow & Drape happen, check out their Kickstarter campaign. There’s only about a week to go, so let’s help out a fellow entrepreneur!
