Desusy

Challenge overview

If there had not been a pandemic, the company would most likely not have been established at all. One of the founders at that time lost her job, and the other worked as a stewardess, but during the epidemic most of the flights were suspended. As a result, both of them had more free time to develop a concept that had long been on their minds.

Fortunately, the girls managed to avoid bigger challenges. Of course, during the company’s development, there were a few moments of doubt about what to do next, but the founders did not lose their optimism. As they now admit, at the initial stage, they were helped by the unawareness of the market and the “beginner’s luck” – the lack of knowledge of how many things could go wrong in business, in this case it turned out to be helpful and thus it was easier to risk many decisions.

The challenges at a later stage were mainly related to production issues and resulted from the fact that the founders were very concerned about good quality at each stage, which sometimes extended the production process over time and required changing, for example, subcontractors.

Currently, both founders, apart from developing Desusy, have returned to full-time work and combining these two functions can be a challenge. On the other hand, with more responsibilities, girls have to better manage their time and work organisation. So far they are doing well.

Establishment of the organisation/initiative/enterprise

The idea for the company was born 2 years before taking the first actions and resulted from a real need as a consumer and the lack of interesting alternative products on the market.

One of the founders had a problem with buying good-quality underwear at an affordable price and with a comfortable and nice cut. Most of the products available on the market are made in a fast fashion way – they are cheap but of poor quality, they deteriorate quickly and tear, which generates a large amount of waste and is bad for the planet. More expensive models are also often made of synthetic materials and in an unethical and environmentally harmful way. Additionally, the available patterns and colours were not interesting and attractive to young and energetic women.

Then Ewelina’s first impulse appeared and she thought that this is a niche in which it is worth acting. For some time, the idea remained only at the concept stage, until another idea was created to develop the company together with someone. The outbreak of the pandemic and the temporary lack of work accelerated the girls’ decisions to try their hand at being entrepreneurs together.

Management structure and governance

The activity is conducted for profit. In the future, additional educational activities for women, apart from commercial activities, are planned, but this requires appropriate preparation and generating more income.

The company operates as a civil partnership with two co-founders – Żaneta and Ewelina. The girls currently carry out most of the activities themselves, from the creative process, through social media, to packing packages to customers.

The girls have already made an initial division of responsibilities among themselves, but the most important thing for them is a good relationship and cooperation, so it is a natural situation for them when one has to replace another in their duties. Strategic decisions, on the other hand, are made jointly.

The company also cooperates with external subcontractors such as a sewing room, material supplier, programmer, graphic designers and models.

Principles of work, objectives and activities

The brand operates in the spirit of responsible business. This sets the direction for, among other things, how their products are produced, from what materials and with whom they cooperate.

In the previous year, sales in the company were mainly driven by organic activities. The brand quickly gathered a crowd of female fans and conscious consumers who prefer slow fashion.

Currently, the company is focusing on the presence of the brand in wider circles, including by participating in events such as fairs for ecological and slow fashion brands and by using paid promotional campaigns.

The second goal is to establish interesting and valuable collaborations that will not only increase brand recognition, but also allow them to take important social actions, for which the founders do not lack ideas.

Target groups

Initially, the target group was young women aged 25-35. Currently, the real target group are women from 30 years and above without the upper limit – among the clients there are also women 60+. The target group is quite wide, but these are mainly women from larger cities, interested in responsible slow fashion. They are conscious consumers who value comfort and good quality and they receive these values.

Desusy are made of cotton with the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certificate to ensure the best quality of materials. The creators of the brand want customers to be able to make subsequent purchases in order to expand their collection of original underwear, and not necessarily due to poor quality.

Desusy is a brand created by women for women. On the website of the store, the photos of the models are unretouched, because the founders believe in natural, feminine beauty. Desusy’s underwear is supposed to give women energy so that they can feel good in any situation and every day.

The principle of the brand is: “We are beautiful because we are different. Just like collages!”

Innovation

Desusy’s underwear is a modern, responsible company of the 21st century. It is not only business and sales, but values that change the world.

There are high demands on underwear. Ideally, it should be durable and comfortable, but also beautiful and healthy. So producers have to compromise. This makes pretty underwear a several-wave, and durable becomes an unpopular, boring product from the category of “necessity”. Desusy is proof that you can do otherwise! Underwear is made of natural cotton and ensures high wearing comfort. The brand works according to the less waste principle – customers can enjoy beautiful and durable underwear for a long time. The company also cares about details such as locally produced paper packaging, parcel stickers without environmentally harmful glue, etc.

On the other hand, the girls transferred artistic collages onto the underwear – a bit of colour adds energy and self-confidence to their clients. In addition, the models presenting underwear on the store’s website are in different ages, in various shapes and sizes in natural poses. Consumers appreciate that the brand promotes a natural look and they can identify with it.

The company also uses modern promotion and sales channels such as Instagram and Facebook, and plans to use the now popular Tik Tok.

Key partners

The brand’s key partners are production subcontractors – fabric suppliers, sewing factories and suppliers of paper packaging, as well as collage artists, photographers, models, and graphic designers. Other partnerships are established on an ongoing basis, depending on the company’s needs.

In addition, the founders focus on the continuous development of themselves and the company, so they took part in business workshops for entrepreneurs, as well as courses strictly related to the fashion industry, for example, on materials and fabrics or designing and sewing clothes.

Impact and Evaluation

The founders of the store assure that the panties and brasilans created by them will meet the underwear needs of many women of all ages. They create their brand in constant contact with their customers. Even before the production stage, they conducted a needs study in which over 3,000 women took part, and from the beginning, the brand has been actively running an Instagram account, where they ask questions and consult ideas. The testers of the first prototypes were loved ones – mothers, sisters and friends. Desusy is created by women, with women and for women. Currently, additional feedback from the founders is collected during live meetings with clients during the fair and by email, because recently the brand also runs its own newsletter.

Recommendations

According to the founders of the brand, regardless of the market in which the business is conducted, patience and persistence are the most important. Worst moments will certainly happen and they happen, but it’s worth not to give up then. It is good to have specific goals, plans and rules that, even in temporary crises, will set the direction of development and set boundaries that we do not want to cross.

The development of the company is a constant learning and development, therefore the entrepreneur should not be afraid to ask for help. When starting your own business, it is also worth approaching the subject comprehensively – at the beginning, the founders do most of the tasks themselves and a lot of things have to be done at the same time. You have to think about strategy, budget, promotion and production. It is worth knowing these issues well. In addition, if the business requires the employment of subcontractors, it is also good to learn as much as possible about the production process. The founders of Desusy initially knew little about sewing clothes and the fashion business, but thanks to a few training sessions and self-learning, these gaps were filled. Currently, they know a lot more about materials and are able to evaluate the work of subcontractors, and thus choose their cooperation more consciously. It is good to approach business development with an open mind and the principle that we are able to learn everything.

A key aspect is also taking care of relationships with people with whom you work. Sometimes even small gestures such as sending a gingerbread and a card for Christmas will show our subcontractors that we appreciate their work and they are important to us.

People planning to run their own business should also think about the backstage of work. Today’s image of entrepreneurship is often distorted by social media, where you can only see the end product and the final successes. Therefore, it is worth realising that your own business is not exciting in every aspect. Some activities can be boring and repetitive, of course, new elements appear, but especially for visionaries and creative people, it may be crucial to ask themselves whether they are ready to deal with, for example, accounting, which is an integral part of business.

Finally, it is also worth taking care of yourself – running your own business, you can often fall into a trap and work 24 hours a day. The key to success will be setting boundaries and time for both work and rest.

Lessons Learned

Running their own company allowed the creators to see that every idea can be realised if only it is put in the right amount of work, commitment and determination.

Girls have gained more self-confidence, faith and a greater sense of agency – your own company teaches you to take things in your own hands and when you manage to comprehensively do them, this is definitely a value that no full-time job can provide.

An important lesson was also learning humility, patience and letting go. Not everything always comes out perfectly and not everything is successful in the first terms, but it is not worth getting discouraged. You need to be understanding with yourself at such times. You should also remember to take time to rest.

Finally, being an entrepreneur who develops his idea from scratch also often verifies our contacts. This is an important lesson in the relationship of who you have around you and whether these people will support you.

References

Desusy platform