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Venture design · case study 02c · 2020 – 2022 · 4-minute read

A creator marketplace, part 3: a marketplace that makes only what sells

After university I kept developing it without funding, running it from Lisbon. It became a crowdsourcing model where fans help design clothes before they're made, and nothing is produced until someone buys it. In 2022 the same model moved into music.

My roleFounder: service design, venture plan and website
When2020 – 2021 in Lisbon; moved into music in March 2022
StageDevelop, then a pivot
MethodsService blueprint, competitor analysis, venture proposal, website design
Define and develop

The service, in six steps

These are the sections of the venture's site I designed in 2021. Each step moves a garment from an idea to a sale, with the crowd involved before any money is spent on production.

Website section: Create new garment designs
1. Create new garment designs. Brands, labels and creators join by selling a collection or designing something new through the custom-apparel service.
Website section: Develop ideas into concepts
2. Develop ideas into concepts. A service manager guides each creator from first idea to a developed concept.
Website section: Communicate concepts
3. Communicate concepts. Concepts go out as social media campaigns before anything is made.
Website section: Test concepts with fans
4. Test concepts with fans. Fans react to early designs, and their engagement shapes the final versions.
Website section: Virtualise the final designs
5. Virtualise the final designs. Digital garment creators turn final designs into 3D garments for pre-advertising and launch.
Website section: A custom sale
6. A custom sale. Limited stock, made to order, with options to customise and to collaborate with other creators.

Shoppers could swipe between garments on a model, or send a short video to get their measurements and see digital prototypes on themselves from every angle, cutting returns. Selected designs would show in 3D virtual catwalks on Instagram.

The competition

Where my marketplace fitted

Print on demand (Printful, Printify)Manufacturing platform (CALA)AmazonMy marketplace
High-quality, full-custom productNoYesVariesYes
Help to sellNoPaidPaidBuilt in, through the community
MarketingCreator's problemExtra costAdsThe crowd tests and promotes
Financing—Yes—Costs come out of sales
Can a new creator be found?NoNoHardYes: discovery is the point

From my 2021 venture proposal. Competitors' offers will have changed since.

What happened

How it grew, and where it went

  1. 2018/19: a group project

    The idea started in a third-year transdisciplinary group project on doing something completely new.

  2. 2019/20: my own demonstrator

    In my final year I took it on alone and built the demonstrator, including the paid-promotion trials.

  3. 2020/21: a sharper model

    I kept developing it, running it from Lisbon without funding, and it grew into an advanced crowdsourcing strategy: creators and fans shaping products through open briefs, testing and pre-sale.

  4. 2022: into music

    In March 2022 I moved from fashion creators to music creators with the same mission: help creators held back by money turn a passion into a profession.

That crowdsourcing model became the backbone of the music concepts that followed, starting with my Spotify and SoundCloud research.

What I took from it

Community first, then commerce

Then → Now

Then: I designed the whole service before testing demand. Now: I'd test one step, such as fan pre-orders on a single design, before building the rest.

Then → Now

Then: Made-to-order to cut waste and risk. Now: "nothing paid until it sells" is still a rule I design by.

Then → Now

Then: Organic beat paid in one trial. Now: I treat that as a hypothesis to retest, not a law.