User blog comment:RainDance96/RWBY's first murder?!/@comment-5739379-20140725160115/@comment-4010415-20140725172354

The thing about Velvet's sole purpose is right. The only reason Velvet is still in the show is because fans love her. Originally, they planned for her to only appear in two episodes in volume 1 and then vanish, forever.

But since everyone loved her so much, they thought "Well, shit, we should keep her. But we don't have a battle outfit or a team designed for her." Monty brewed up a team and decided it was a perfect opportunity to do a contest, since he'd already planned to do a contest for something, just to connect with the fans.