Two Peas in a Pod

Sue Dunmore, co-founder of New Zealand Lingerie Company Rose & Thorne, knows a thing or two about how to achieve the perfect collaboration - as she has designed with the world’s best.
 
After qualifying as a three dimensional designer by trade (with an undergraduate degree specialising in gold and silver-smithing and a post graduate diploma in restoration studies), Sue discovered that her true passion rested in the lingerie industry.
 
For the past twenty years she has held senior and executive positions in both public and private companies, spanning two hemispheres in a range of roles from designer, merchandiser, buyer and selector.
 
Prior to launching Rose & Thorne in 2011, Sue designed for industry heavyweights such as Marks & Spencer, Fayeform and Bendon Group.
 
At Bendon Group she led a design team of 37 and had the enviable task of collaborating with the worlds’ leading fashion minds such as Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs and Elle Macpherson.
 
With her proven record of translating fashion into the technical rigors of lingerie, she shares her secrets on a successful collaboration.
 
How do you collaborate well?
 
Be very open minded and do not dominate with your view.
 
Relating back to my experience, when you are collaborating with someone like Marc Jacobs, you have to absolutely understand that you are working with them on their brand, not your brand.
 
You bring to the table your particular expertise in the field that you are familiar. In my case it was knowledge and proven expertise in the lingerie industry combined with a deep understanding of the fundamentals of the Marc Jacobs brand.
 
A successful collaboration is a merging of your collaborator’s ideals and aesthetics with the functionality of your technical understanding from your particular field. It would be exactly the same scenario if you were designing handbags or footwear.
 
I applied an identical approach when dealing with Stella McCartney with whom I collaborated for a very long time on many collections.
 
My challenge when working with Stella was trying to understand and translate her signature straight lines into the curved and three dimensional form that is required in lingerie. It was very, very difficult.
 
What are the differences between collaborating with a fashion designer versus an established lingerie designer?
 
It’s very different working with a fashion designer compared to an established lingerie designer.
 
Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney were extremely driven and both shared a hugely commercial eye with an innate knowledge about their customer and what they buy.
 
When creating lingerie with a fashion designer, the objective is to capture the designer’s ‘handwriting’ to your form. It’s a ‘blue sky’ situation which means that you have the pick of whatever expensive lace takes your fancy with the added luxury of not being limited by a price point.
 
This is in contrast to collaborating with an established lingerie designer like Kelley McNabb at Rose & Thorne due to having a totally different set of parameters. It’s a far more difficult proposition because the design must not only look gorgeous but it has to fit within a restrictive price point.
 
The real skill is to make a $25 bra look like a $100 one! That in itself is the hardest challenge and I believe we have achieved this at Rose and Thorne through effective collaboration.
 
With a lingerie designer it’s about building a ‘collection’ and not crafting a stand-alone, beautiful item. When Kelley and I collaborate we must cater to all the women that we are designing for so our collection spans sizing from 10A-20G.
 
Although due to licensing, the lingerie collection with Marc didn’t eventuate to production in the end, it was sheer joy working with him. He left the biggest impression. Such a fabulous designer, yet a true gentleman who was delightful at the same time.
 
5 P’s of a Perfect Collaboration:
 
1.       Pragmatism       Be open to each other’s point of view.
 
2.       Patience           Listen, look, sit back and think about what the other person is trying to achieve, it
 
can’t always be articulated.
 
3.       Parameters       Commercially you need to be aware of the framework that you operate within.
 
4.       Perseverance    Never, ever give up.
 
5.       Principled          Treating others as you wish to be treated.
 

About Rose & Thorne
 
Rose & Thorne was established in 2011 by Stefan Preston and Sue Dunmore with a desire to design the world’s best everyday intimates using a truly contemporary blue-sky approach. 
 
Design thinking with a focus on innovation led to the creation of unique intellectual property like ‘Forgiving Fit’ technology, the ‘Cocoon Cup’ and the ‘5 Perfect Shapes’.
 
The company triumphed last month at the 2013 Entrepreneurs’ Challenge by convincing the ‘Dragons Den’ of judges that it has the right combination of leadership, innovation, governance, persistence and international expansion potential to rightly deserve its half share of the $1m award in growth funding.
 
The New Zealand company is 100% employee owned with its design and logistics team based in Drury, South Auckland and manufacturing operations in Mainland China.
 
www.roseandthorne.com
 
www.facebook.com/roseandthorne
 
www.twitter.com/roseandthorne
 
www.pinterest.com/roseandthorne


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