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Running a Fabric Led Sustainable Fashion Brand | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 278: Nancy Zeffman + Eileen Willett, Cucumber Clothing

Running a Fabric Led Sustainable Fashion Brand | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 278: Nancy Zeffman + Eileen Willett, Cucumber Clothing

Running a Fabric Led Sustainable Fashion Brand | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 278: Nancy Zeffman + Eileen Willett, Cucumber Clothing

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  • Running a Fabric Led Sustainable Fashion Brand | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 278: Nancy Zeffman + Eileen Willett, Cucumber Clothing
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Click a timestamp below to be taken to the exact spot in the episode…

My guests this week are Nancy Zeffman and Eileen Willett, co-founders of Cucumber Clothing. Their brand offers luxury, cooling, sustainable clothing and nightwear for women.

After meeting at school gates 20 years ago, they became friends and started Cucumber four years ago. They wanted create clothes for busy women who wanted luxurious, everyday clothes without having to wear sky-high heels and uncomfortable garments. 

Their simple, multifunctional designs slip perfectly into every woman’s wardrobe, and the ultra-modern performance fabrics mean the clothes move with you, not against you and always feel beautifully soft against the skin.

4:41 – Nancy 101

  • Nancy is from London and started her career in advertising. She took some time off to be a mom and do some charity work before starting Cucumber. 
  • She also mentors small businesses and gives talks about female entrepreneurship.

5:57 – Eileen 101

  • Eileen is Japanese-Canadian and was born in Vancouver. She moved to England for several decades and started a family. 
  • She loves mentoring women and helping them with mid-life pivoting. 
  • Eileen and Nancy also love to exercise. 

9:32 – How Cucumber started

  • They wore workout gear a lot and wanted to replicate the comfortable feeling in something that you could wear all day. 
  • Their company is all about sustainable, comfortable fabrics. 
  • Making anything leaves a carbon footprint, but they try to do it in the lightest way possible, in a way they feel proud of.

12:09 – Fabric-led fashion

  • It’s a fabric-led fashion brand. 
  • You can wear Cucumber clothes to bed, to work, to the club, anywhere. 

17:20 – Customer feedback

  • They launched with six nightwear clothes, and they branched out after customer feedback. 
  • Some people said the clothing was great for breastfeeding moms. 

19:00 – Researching fabrics

  • You can work with agents who work with mills that make fabrics or you can approach mills directly to get samples of their fabrics. 
  • Their fabric feels like cotton and is lightweight but doesn’t absorb sweat.

24:47 – Preloved section

  • Some pieces are pRELOVD returns and are clearly labeled as such. Others are end of line, new or unused/never made production samples.

33:52 – How to get started

  • If you want to start a business, just start. At some point, you just have to go for it. 
  • Having a co-founder is a fantastic thing, because it allows you some flexibility. 

38:07 – Get to know Nancy and Eileen

  • Nancy’s favorite thing about being a Londoner? She loves being a city girl
  • Eileen’s most versatile clothing piece? Her Cucumber strappy top

FEATURED QUOTES

We wanted a business we could feel proud of. – Nancy

Making anything leaves a carbon footprint, but it’s trying to do it in the lightest way possible, in a way that we feel proud of. – Nancy

Our clothes look really lovely, and you can dress them up, you can dress them down. You can wear them to bed. You can wear them out clubbing, if you want to. – Eileen

CONNECT

https://www.cucumberclothing.com/ Discount code: purpose15

ABOUT NANCY AND EILEEN:

Co-founder at Cucumber Clothing, Nancy is a born and bred Londoner. She began her career in advertising, working at Saatchi and Saatchi on some major blue-chip clients and FMCG brands. Following this she worked for several years in the charitable sector before co-founding Cucumber Clothing, a fabric led fashion brand. Chosen as one of small business Britain’s #ialso2020 celebrating top female entrepreneurial talent, Nancy is also a speaker on female entrepreneurship and slow fashion. She also mentors start-up businesses and co-hosts round table events on a variety of female facing subjects.

Born in Vancouver to Japanese parents, Eileen trained in fashion in Paris and San Francisco before settling in London to work at Nicole Farhi where she was instrumental in growing the menswear brand. She founded and ran her successful bespoke accessories brand before launching Cucumber Clothing with her Co-founder Nancy Zeffman in 2017 making ‘luxurious clothing for everyday’, using ultra-soft technical fabrics. Shortlisted for the 2020 Asian Woman of Achievement Awards, Eileen is a speaker on female entrepreneurship/slow fashion and co-hosts i:Entrepreneur’s weekly Wednesday Lives series of interviews featuring entrepreneurs from a diverse background.

Thank you to our partner of the show: 

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Wash your high-quality sheets, linens, delicates, and organic fabrics with a Fine Linen Soap to keep them looking newer and softer longer. 

Use 3-4 capfuls for high-efficiency machines on delicate cycle, 4-6 capfuls for regular machines on delicate cycle. 

Head over to MamaSuds.com and use code MOLLY for 15% off your order! 

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Help me pick a new headshot! After almost 6 years I finally got updated headshots and one gets to go on the back of my book! I’m very indecisive so help me pick, if you are so inclined.

Shoutout to the amazing @stellaandbirdiephotography for the new pics and to @kns.ellis for her makeup magic. #authorphotos #headshots

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Help me pick a new headshot! After almost 6 years I finally got updated headshots and one gets to go on the back of my book! I’m very indecisive so help me pick, if you are so inclined. 

Shoutout to the amazing @stellaandbirdiephotography for the new pics and to @kns.ellis for her makeup magic. #authorphotos #headshots

Here are a few things I know to be true:
👉🏼 we can be having the time of our lives while also experiencing great disappointments
👉🏼 we can laugh so hard our stomachs hurt while in the depths of grief
👉🏼 we can feel confident in the work (or art) we’ve created while also fighting the battle of imposter syndrome
👉🏼 we can feel grateful for the life we are living while also lamenting that which we’ve lost
👉🏼 we can lament the life we are living while being grateful for where we’ve come from
👉🏼 we can document a really fantastic hair day and then also document the horrors of how we feel when we have the stomach bug (swipe for a real life example) 🤣

The beauty and brutality of life is in the both / and, not the either / or. And if we are blessed to live long enough, we will experience all those things and so much more.

What both / and are you sitting in today?

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Here are a few things I know to be true:
👉🏼 we can be having the time of our lives while also experiencing great disappointments
👉🏼 we can laugh so hard our stomachs hurt while in the depths of grief
👉🏼 we can feel confident in the work (or art) we’ve created while also fighting the battle of imposter syndrome
👉🏼 we can feel grateful for the life we are living while also lamenting that which we’ve lost
👉🏼 we can lament the life we are living while being grateful for where we’ve come from
👉🏼 we can document a really fantastic hair day and then also document the horrors of how we feel when we have the stomach bug (swipe for a real life example) 🤣

The beauty and brutality of life is in the both / and, not the either / or. And if we are blessed to live long enough, we will experience all those things and so much more. 

What both / and are you sitting in today?

Selah Farm Thanksgiving 2023 ✅
Carrying on the tradition my parents started so many decades ago. Love breaking bread with family, friends, strangers, international students, and more. Missing some family today, but feeling thankful. 🧡

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Selah Farm Thanksgiving 2023 ✅ 
Carrying on the tradition my parents started so many decades ago. Love breaking bread with family, friends, strangers, international students, and more. Missing some family today, but feeling thankful. 🧡

I thank God every single day that social media didn’t exist in 2003. #highschoolthenandnow

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I thank God every single day that social media didn’t exist in 2003. #highschoolthenandnow

She’s been gone 21 years, but it feels like I blinked.

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She’s been gone 21 years, but it feels like I blinked.

God is in the details.

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God is in the details.

Happy 30th Anniversary to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial! What an incredible day with incredible veteran friends. I pray that I was able to honor my mom 🇺🇸 She should have been here. ❤️

Happy Veteran’s Day to all who have so selflessly served. ❤️

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Happy 30th Anniversary to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial! What an incredible day with incredible veteran friends. I pray that I was able to honor my mom 🇺🇸 She should have been here. ❤️

Happy Veteran’s Day to all who have so selflessly served. ❤️

Today was so special. I had the privilege of representing my mom as she was posthumously honored (among six other incredible women veterans) at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery @womensmemorial. I was able to reconnect with and hug so many dear sister and brother Vietnam veterans that I hadn’t seen in a few decades. We hugged, laughed, and cried as we shared stories.

We ended the night with a candlelight ceremony at the Vietnam Veteran’s Women’s Memorial. And to answer your question, no.. I can’t get through listening to taps while I watch as a bunch of retired Veterans salute. 😭

This weekend, instead of taking advantage of mattress sales, thank a veteran for his or her service. 🇺🇸 #veteransday🇺🇸

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Today was so special. I had the privilege of representing my mom as she was posthumously honored (among six other incredible women veterans) at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery @womensmemorial. I was able to reconnect with and hug so many dear sister and brother Vietnam veterans that I hadn’t seen in a few decades. We hugged, laughed, and cried as we shared stories.

We ended the night with a candlelight ceremony at the Vietnam Veteran’s Women’s Memorial. And to answer your question, no.. I can’t get through listening to taps while I watch as a bunch of retired Veterans salute. 😭

This weekend, instead of taking advantage of mattress sales, thank a veteran for his or her service. 🇺🇸 #veteransday🇺🇸

My once in a decade “visiting where I grew up” photo dump 👉🏼

1️⃣ where I carved my name in the cement of the sidewalks I lobbied the town council for when I was 8
2️⃣ in front of my childhood home
3️⃣ on my sidewalks. Yes. They are mine. I put them there.
4️⃣ crying in front of the abandoned Tortilla Factory. May it rest in peace.
5️⃣ peering in the windows of the Tortilla Factory - the back room where the Tuesday night Folk Club met every week. Literally hasn’t changed in the 12 years it’s been closed.
6️⃣ downtown Herndon
7️⃣ at the Veteran’s memorial in downtown Herndon that my mom helped to dedicate when it was established.
8️⃣ visiting grandma
9️⃣ with my mama

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My once in a decade “visiting where I grew up” photo dump 👉🏼

1️⃣ where I carved my name in the cement of the sidewalks I lobbied the town council for when I was 8
2️⃣ in front of my childhood home
3️⃣ on my sidewalks. Yes. They are mine. I put them there. 
4️⃣ crying in front of the abandoned Tortilla Factory. May it rest in peace. 
5️⃣ peering in the windows of the Tortilla Factory - the back room where the Tuesday night Folk Club met every week. Literally hasn’t changed in the 12 years it’s been closed. 
6️⃣ downtown Herndon
7️⃣ at the Veteran’s memorial in downtown Herndon that my mom helped to dedicate when it was established. 
8️⃣ visiting grandma
9️⃣ with my mama

👇🏼SHARE IN THE COMMENTS: what or who are you grateful for? Tag them and tell them why! 🩵 #countyourblessings #countingmyblessings

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👇🏼SHARE IN THE COMMENTS: what or who are you grateful for? Tag them and tell them why! 🩵 #countyourblessings #countingmyblessings
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