Katie Switzer launches jean brand for hourglass bodies with the help of her MBA

Frustrated by never finding jeans that fit her body just right, and disappointed by the poor quality and boring styles of most "curvy" jeans, Ted Rogers MBA alumna Katie Switzer (’24) was determined to create pants that fit her body, in the high quality she wanted. 

Seeing a gap in the market for high-quality jeans tailored to hourglass bodies, without the “waistband gap” fit problem she experienced on a daily basis, Switzer leveraged her learnings from the Ted Rogers MBA program and the Entrepreneurial Experience Capstone to launch the denim brand Form Era Studio (external link, opens in new window) . One of Ted Rogers School’s strategic goals is to support student entrepreneurs with curricular and extracurricular education, business service programs and funding initiatives.

Here is what the recent graduate had to say about her start-up, and how she is applying what she learned in the Ted Rogers MBA program to her business: 

Tell us about your company.

Form Era is a slow fashion denim brand made in Canada. Our jeans are designed especially for the hourglass body type, eliminating the “waistband gap” fit problem known to many. We use premium materials to create timeless designs that are both artistic and built to last.  

All of our products are made in our midtown Toronto studio, and are cut and sewn in small batches to reduce waste. We offer a range of 17 sizes, from waist sizes 24-48”, and use exclusively 100% cotton denim in our manufacturing. Form Era was launched to market in October 2024.

What inspired you to start your company?

I was inspired to start the company because it responds to a real problem that I face on a daily basis: pants never fit me off the rack. In my younger days I blamed myself, thinking that my body was the problem; as I got older, I realized that the problem actually exists because nearly all fashion companies create clothes for the same median body type, which is different from mine.

Why did you pursue your MBA and why did you choose the Ted Rogers MBA program?

I decided to do an MBA because I wanted to really hammer out the specifics of the business, including how our sizing would work, what types of products we would offer, what our price point would be, etc. I had the idea for over a decade by the time I started real development on it, but still had many unresolved questions around the exact shape that the business would take. I also thought that since fashion is famously a very hard industry in which to succeed, business training would be a very good strategic decision that would hopefully increase my chances of success.

I chose the Ted Rogers MBA program because of its flexible scheduling, and the real emphasis placed on student diversity. I have an arts background, and was looking for a program that would view my difference as a strength rather than a weakness. I feel like I definitely found that in the Ted Rogers MBA. I also made the decision based on the fact that the program had connections to the TMU Fashion Zone, which I thought would really be an ideal support to my business (and which did in fact prove to be quite foundational).

How did the Ted Rogers MBA program help you on your entrepreneurial journey?

The Ted Rogers MBA program helped me on my journey in several ways. Firstly, the academic training in the program was quite comprehensive and covered a lot of important components of business development, administration and strategy.

Secondly, I found that in many classes the projects were flexible enough that I was able to focus on research questions highly relevant to my business idea, which enabled me to both support my business directly with my in-class learning, and support my learning with a real-world application that I actually cared about. 

At the conclusion of the program, I felt that I had just spent two years conducting in-depth market research and competitor analysis, and could answer basically any question about what my future competitors were doing, how they were doing it and why.

Thirdly, I found the Entrepreneurial Capstone course to be completely invaluable as an exercise to undertake before launching a business: not only did it help me test key assumptions that I would be relying on in launching my business (and in several cases, disprove them, allowing me to avoid costly mistakes), but its focus on interviews gave me the motivation to reach out to a lot of key people in my industry and hear their advice and opinions, and take a look under the hood of their businesses. Most importantly, though, it left me with many varied and friendly industry connections, which have been hugely instrumental for the actual launch of my business.

Anything else to add?

I would encourage any aspiring entrepreneurs to consider doing an MBA, and to engage in the transformative journey of the program and its teachings.

I will also say that in TMU I found a very vibrant community that in many ways pushes for progress in both society and industry, and after having gone through the Ted Rogers MBA program, I leave with a very high opinion of the school overall.