Project
Product Line Development (Rave, Gym, Running)
Founder / Head of Growth & Ops, Dansu
Took Dansu from a single product to a structured multi-SKU range across festival, gym, and running verticals — each with distinct material specs, positioning, and margin models.
- Owned the full development cycle end to end: GSM and weave testing, prototype rounds, QC negotiation with manufacturers, packaging design, and commercial viability gating before any bulk order.
- Vertical expansion reduced seasonal concentration risk and opened differentiated positioning that moved the brand away from commodity towel territory.
Overview
Dansu launched with a core product, but a single SKU in a niche category has a limited commercial ceiling. Expanding into defined verticals — festival, gym, running — wasn't just a product decision. It was a business architecture decision that required new materials, new specifications, new supplier relationships, and distinct positioning for each use case.
The Problem
A generic towel brand competes on price. A product brand with clear vertical positioning competes on differentiation. Getting to the second requires actual product development work: understanding what performance characteristics matter in each context, building specs that deliver on those characteristics, and sourcing materials that hit quality targets at a viable cost. Aesthetics alone don't create a moat.
What I Did
I ran the full development cycle for each vertical from scratch:
Material and fabric selection: Tested multiple GSM weights, weave patterns, and fabric compositions across synthetic and natural fibre options. Different verticals had different requirements — gym use prioritised quick-dry performance and compact packability; festival use prioritised durability and print-hold quality over multiple washes; running prioritised lightweight construction and sweat absorption.
Technical specifications: Built complete tech specs for each SKU including dimensions, weight tolerances, edge finishing, print specifications, and care label requirements. These fed directly into manufacturer briefs and provided the basis for QC sign-off.
Prototype cycles: Managed multiple sampling rounds — reviewing against spec, identifying quality deviations, feeding corrections back to suppliers, and signing off production-ready samples before committing to bulk orders.
Packaging and presentation: Designed packaging formats suited to each vertical's retail and gifting context. Festival SKUs needed eye-catching DTC packaging for unboxing. Gym products needed functional, stackable formats that worked in fulfilment and on shelves.
Pricing and margin modelling: Built margin models for each SKU factoring in unit cost, packaging, shipping, fulfilment, and target retail price. Made go/no-go decisions on viability before placing production orders — not after.
Supply chain coordination: Managed manufacturer relationships, production timelines, and MOQ negotiations across the range. Coordinated sampling, bulk production, and delivery schedules with fulfilment capacity and seasonal demand windows.
Impact
- Dansu moved from a single-product start to a structured multi-line range with clear vertical positioning
- Festival, gym, and running SKUs each had distinct use-case framing, differentiated visual identity, and separate margin logic
- Margin models validated commercial viability before any production commitment — no speculative bulk orders
- Vertical diversity reduced seasonal concentration risk — festival-only is a Q2/Q3 business; gym and running provided year-round demand
- Product line diversity also opened B2B conversations with gym operators and running clubs beyond the DTC channel