A risky business

What Comes First: The Market or the Idea?

In business, people often ask: ‘should I take the risk and create something, whatever’?

Should you design something first and then look for buyers? Or should you find the market first and then create what people want?

The safe answer is usually: find the market first. That way, you’re not taking risks with something nobody wants. Traditional business models start with research — surveys, reports, focus groups — and then build products around what people are already asking for.

But here’s the truth: many of the most exciting movements didn’t begin with market research. They began with an idea, a vision, or even just a gut feeling. Someone created something because they believed it should exist, not because someone filled in a form saying they wanted it.

The Daadi Beginning

Daadi was exactly that.

When we started, there wasn’t a detailed plan saying, “the Costa Blanca desperately needs a clothes swap shop.” There wasn’t even a roadmap. What there was, was a seed of an idea — a design for a different way of shopping, where clothes would circulate, where waste would shrink, and where people could take part in fashion without the guilt.

The idea came first.

And then something magical happened: the market revealed itself. People walked into the shop. They told their friends. They arrived from villages miles away with bags of donations. Suddenly, we realised we weren’t just building a shop — we were part of a bigger shift already happening.

Head vs. Heart

Somebody once told me we should lead with our heads, not our hearts. To some extent I agree — our heads keep us practical and grounded. But it is the heart that fuels passion. Without it, there’s no fire.

I don’t tend to play safe; I jump in with both feet. I’m not afraid to fail either — and that helps.

I also remember being told years ago that there are things out there people don’t yet realise they need — and perhaps our job is to turn need into want. Many of us can’t imagine living without our phones now, yet once upon a time, no one thought they needed one.

Turning Nothing Into Something

Just the other day, I made a few items from textile waste and placed them on the counter. I have no market for them yet. Nobody came asking for them. But by transforming a pile of scraps into something new, I turned nothing into something — something that might just be useful to the right person.

Maybe no one sees the value yet, but I’m willing to take the risk.

Fashion’s Great Risk Takers

Fashion itself has always been moved forward by risk-takers with vision:

• Coco Chanel dared to strip away corsets in the 1920s, freeing women from the rigid styles society told them they needed. She created comfort and elegance when nobody asked for it — and in doing so, she changed women’s lives.

• Vivienne Westwood took safety pins, ripped fabric, and punk rebellion and put it on the catwalk. No market research said punk belonged in fashion, but she believed it did — and a cultural movement was born.

• Stella McCartney launched a luxury brand without leather or fur at a time when critics scoffed. Today she’s a pioneer of sustainable fashion, proving that the industry could change its values and still thrive.

All of them jumped with their hearts first. And the market followed.

Our Small Corner

We’re not trying to change global fashion houses. We’re just here, in our small corner of the Costa Blanca, turning waste into something useful and giving clothes a longer life. But the principle is the same: sometimes you have to take the risk, create what doesn’t exist yet, and trust that the right people will see its value.

So, what comes first?

For us, it’s always the idea — fuelled by heart, backed up by a little courage, and sometimes rewarded by a community who were waiting all along.