Final project for HBS Launching Tech Ventures course
1. Kismet Denim
Julia Kastner
4.24.2012
better-fitting jeans for sophisticated women
Look good
Do good
Designed to be flattering
• Sophisticated – not distressed
• Fit models size 8
• Construction – wide waistbands
• Fabric - stretchy
Fair Trade and Organic cotton
Handmade details
Sweatshop free and sustainable
2. Tested hypotheses to inform product design
Business goal: To serve affluent, sophisticated women 30+ and
reduce production costs we can reduce denim washing and
treatment processes:
Hypotheses:
• Women 30+ prefer dark jeans
• Women 30+ prefer fewer “whiskers” or artificial creases
• Women 30+ prefer less bleach
• Women 30+ prefer pencil legs or skinny jeans
• Women 30+ prefer simple but branded pockets
• Women 30+ prefer pockets without sparkles
• Hypotheses hold true for both premium ($100+) and non-premium jeans
K
K
3. Chose test design – conjoint vs. survey
Advantages
Conjoint
• breaks a product concept
into relevant attributes
• estimates the value
potential customers
attach to each attribute
Survey
• Show two pairs of jeans
Disadvantages
• Expensive
• ($1,500 student tool)
• Powerful
• Analyze each attribute
independently of others
• Low cost
• Ask survey taker to
choose preferred picture
• Relatively easy to
implement
• Mix premium and nonpremium
• Learn basics about
product features
• Recommended
• sample size = 400
• (by Survey Analytics)*
• Difficult to write and ask
non-biased, objective
questions
• Hard to recruit
representative
respondents
Decided this
was not
feasible
Chose to
conduct a
survey
*Conjoint
research
from
Jack
Geiger,
Survey
Analy<cs.
360.471.5514
4. Made and conducted survey
Filtered for age group:
Asked participants to choose
between pairs of jeans styles:
$89
un-‐distressed
jeans
(Banana
Republic)
110 responses
35 age 21-29
75 age 30+
$200
distressed
jeans
(Seven
for
All
Mankind)
7. Survey results - styles
• Most
women
prefer
dark
jeans,
clean
styles
• Women
in
20’s
prefer
skinny;
women
30+
are
divided
between
skinny
&
boot
Percent chose style:
Clean ($60)
(vs. distressed with whiskers)
Dark ($89)
(vs. very light $200)
Distressed, coated rear ($69)
(vs. clean $179)
Boot cut/flair ($179)
(vs. skinny/pencil $179)
No bleach ($179)
(vs. bleached knees $179)
Total
Age 21-29
Age 30+
68%
80%
62%
94%
97%
92%
26%
17%
30%
41%
31%
54%
65%
74%
61%
8. Survey results: pocket branding & design
• All
women
prefer
pockets
with
simple
designs
like
Levi’s
and
Seven’s
• Women
preferred
Levi’s
pocket
slightly
more
than
a
clean
pocket
• Most
women
surveyed
do
not
prefer
True
Religion
pockets
over
plain
pockets
• When
shown
pockets
without
designs,
women
30+
preferred
bigger
pockets
Percent chose pocket:
Seven for All Mankind ($200)
(vs. no brand)
Levi’s ($50)
(vs. no brand)
True Religion ($200)
(vs. no brand)
Sparkle ($179)
(vs. design without sparkle $179)
Bigger pocket ($50)
(vs. no brand)
Total
(79 women)
Age 21-29
(31 women)
Age 30+
(48 women)
55%
51%
57%
63%
59%
65%
16%
12%
18%
18%
6%
24%
59%
44%
66%
9. Progress made against business objectives
• Used understanding of pocket preferences to inform ongoing
graphic design of jeans pockets
• Using preferences around colors to inform wash development
process – darker colors
• Using preferences around leg shape to inform sample
development – will make both bell and pencil samples
10. General lessons learned
• Conjoint is really expensive and difficult for an
entrepreneur! But potentially solves survey problems.
• Surveys can surface customer preferences – providing
surprising results and confirm/disprove hypotheses
• Hard to know if sample is representative, sufficient –
especially when comparing 2 populations
• Nuances of writing surveys – some questions were
misleading – when more than one attribute was even a
little bit different (e.g. one pair distressed AND darker)
hard to disaggregate preferences
Editor's Notes
Kismet will make jeans that make women look beautiful and sophisticated –with handmade embroidery and fabrics from around the world and designs that flatter the female figure. At the same time, Kismet will do good by using materials with the well-known certifications of FT and organic (like this delcious tea), and sweatshop free and environmentally responsible manufacturing.