SPEAKER_00 0:01

So, welcome back to What's in the Books. We are here live at the Retail Technology Show on day two, and I

Live From Retail Technology Show

SPEAKER_00 0:09

am sat in the speaker's lounge and have managed to catch up with none other than Jodie Ploughs. Jodie, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hi there.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

So Jodie and I are shortly to uh go on stage and we're going to talk about Nobody's Child along with Andrew Zenny, who's the founder, and Jodie the CEO. So Jodie, let's just start. Tell us about Nobody's Child. The early days, where did the name come from? All that sort of sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

So I joined

The Brand Name And Early Days

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Nobody's Child at the end of 2019. Andrew appointed me as CEO after holding many roles in biomerchandising and in the industry. The brand was in its infancy, had a very small but loyal following and really strong foundations. Andrew had chosen the name Nobody's Child, which was very distinctive. And we aligned very early on repositioning the brand to be a leading sustainable brand, a brand accessible to all women of all ages, and a brand that was affordable. Affordable but had a premium handwriting.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

That's a good timing. So what did just talk about that for a little bit? So that would have been March 2020 when we all went into lockdown. How did how did you manage that?

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Presumably

Lockdown Hibernation And Relaunch

SPEAKER_01 1:38

there weren't any stores at that stage, were no, so the brand has been a digital first brand since Andrew founded it, and I yes was appointed just before the pandemic. We decided to hibernate the brand for three months where I could work in the background on the strategy and the repositioning, and then we relaunched the brand in June 2020. Whilst we were in the relaunch, we also were in discussions with MS to launch as the first brand on MS.

The Marks And Spencer Launch

SPEAKER_01 2:08

So I was working on that project as well with a very small team. And in October of 2020, shortly after we relaunched the brand, we launched on MS, which gave us the platform for growth for brand awareness.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Wow, well, it must be incredibly energizing and exciting to be launching a new brand. And you know,

CEO Life In A 12-Person Team

SPEAKER_00 2:29

do you find you know CEO when it's that sort of situation, it's a new brand and so forth. Do you have to get your hands dirty and a lot of things that maybe in a much in a larger organization you you wouldn't you'd be able to delegate and so on and so forth? But is that fun?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I think that yes, you could say that. I mean, I would speak like there was 12 of us at the start, yeah, and I'd come from leading teams of hundreds of people in big corporate organizations, so a very big mindset shift, but so exciting and the best thing I've ever done. Yeah, and I had to wear many hats. So at that point, I was involved with every part of the business and would very much roll up my sleeves to get stuck in in any area of the business that I wasn't an expert. I did courses on it in the evenings, yeah, and anything to sort of get me prepared for the next stages of growth. Um we still keep that mindset, we call that high low thinking in local child. One minute you'll be doing a three-year strategy, and the next

High Low Thinking And Morale

SPEAKER_01 3:33

minute you'll be stealing close to open a store, and that keeps us grounded, that keeps us humble. That culturally has been really important.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah, yeah. I remember having a similar conversation with um uh Penny Grievier. Um she left rituals and uh and then joined joined Aroma uh zone. Similar sort of thing with their new store at uh Westfield, White City, literally the day before uh a media day that we had there. She was helping, yeah, stacking the shells and making facing up and all the rest of it and so forth. And again, seemed to really enjoy that.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

I think that's so that energy and essence of our brand has been really important. It keeps in a growth, high gross environment, it there can be really big pressure moments, stretcher moments for the team. We have found that taking everyone, getting everyone's support with projects keeps everybody motivated and morale high. So Amy just uh sample sale in East London, and the whole team went up just weeks ago. Everybody downpoured, and then it was like a huge team. So I'm trying to believe that.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Yeah, yeah. Now you mentioned growth there, and I think it's fair to say that um it's uh sorry it's got me on a podcast. That's all right. So we're we're on the the what's in the box, and the founder Andrew has just turned up, so which is fantastic. You mentioned growth there, and I think it's fair to say that it's been nothing short of meteoric in the last so 20. I think it's 2022

From Dresses To Lifestyle Brand

SPEAKER_00 5:08

to 24 revenue quadruples. Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Well, we've had a very clear strategy over the last three years. Myself and Angela were very aligned that we would transition the brand from a dress's brand to a lifestyle brand, and that doesn't happen overnight. We've had to build the infrastructure for that, the sourcing, and but we've stayed very true to our strategy set out, and that has continued to deliver the growth. So we have launched different categories over the last three years, including outerwear, knitwear, most recently, footwear and accessories, and we have a test and learn model, and that works really well for us. So very measured, very considered, violet, and then grow it.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I wanted to uh to ask you in amongst all of that, you've managed to find the time, I presume, to

Training For London Marathon

SPEAKER_00 6:11

train quite a bit for something that's coming up. So this has been recorded, as I said earlier, retail technology shows. So we're now on the what are we, the 23rd of April. In a few days' time, you're going to be doing something slightly different to retail. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

They support the homelessness issue that we have. Also, bigger problem, which is technically housing and people being unsafe, which no one should feel that in the UK. And so the brand has raised a significant amount of money to shelter, and I've run a few times with them. They asked me to run the London marathon. How have I fitted it in? I have absolutely no idea. I'm exhausted, but I'm looking forward to the days. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

I bet you are. So just um to kind of finish off on getting back to Noble's chart, and and the you know, it does come, it is a sustainable brand.

Sustainability Strategy And Digital Product Passports

SPEAKER_00 7:12

I know that when we get on to the far side chat, Andrew's going to talk about the DPP, the digital product uh passports and so forth. But just in terms of sustainable sustainability, tell us a little bit about that and what it means, you know, for you and for the brand.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Both Andrew and I he had identified the gap in the market of a more sustainable brand and affordable price point. When I joined, I felt just as passionate about being part of a purpose-driven brand. So that's driven the strategy, but we had to set the foundations up, and for that I had consultants and experts guide me. I wasn't an expert on it. I knew I wanted to do the right thing, but it's a very complex landscape, and so we've made some mistakes and learn on the on the way, but we set ourselves a very ambitious way back. The DPP was one of those projects alongside V Corp, delivering an impact report and other circular strategies. Each member of our team has set objectives and sustainability and KPI, so it's sort of because across the business, it's not just an add on, it really is driven through everything we're doing. I think there's still a lot of work to do. We use the match progress and perfection, and I think that's very much so. So we just want to make better choices, and that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I think that's a great place. Jodie, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Well done for fitting this in, Andrew. Very impressed.