As we celebrate International Women's Day, we are honoured to kick off our series of interviews with inspiring women who have not only conquered the challenges of entrepreneurship but have also redefined the narrative in their respective fields.
Our inaugural conversation takes us into the visionary realm of Nina Briance, the brilliant mind behind Cult Mia. Stepping into her entrepreneurial journey, Nina has carved a distinctive path in the fashion landscape, bringing forth a brand that seamlessly merges elegance with sustainability.
Nina's International Women's Day Collection
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When I look back (now that we’re 4 years in) there are three key lightbulb moments that sparked Cult Mia.
First, when I was working at Moda Operandi, it became very clear to me that the model for online luxury fashion that had been so successful in the 2000s and 2010s was starting to lose steam. Growth was stagnating and customers just didn’t seem as satisfied with the traditional curation (same designers and experience across platforms led to competing on price). More than that, the value systems of shoppers weren’t being supported - and with that the incumbent platforms lost the real reason why customers wanted to shop with them to begin with.
Simultaneously, the more I spoke with designers, the more I realised that many brands that were on the cusp of rapid growth were looking for space on a platform that can really tell their story, with proper global visibility, but were unable to access existing platforms (for a wide range of reasons - for example, complicated inventory requirements, working capital challenges or unsustainable marketing spends).
Second, when I was working at the UN, I noticed that when we were vetting the unique products that our independent fashion designers offered, we noticed that often incumbent luxury brands either purchased or replicated these original designs. The opportunity to lift up independent fashion designers was glaringly important and obvious to me. Through Cult Mia, I’m excited to build on this mission and provide the platform to shop independent brands locally, directly, and online with ease.
Third, whenever anyone asked me about what I was wearing, it was never about my high street boots. It was always about my handmade enamel earrings from Mexico. I used to have to disappoint and say that you needed to travel to Oaxaca to get them.
Now, I can point you to Cult Mia: we connect designers to our global fashion community seeking exactly what our brands offer from a values perspective, as much as the product they sell. Our curated, accessible, discovery shopping experience solves the process and the pain points for independent, emerging designers and for customers who are starved of unique, values-driven fashion.
Making this connection between shoppers and sustainable brands is important to us, as we know that today’s luxury fashion customers want to shop ethically from sustainable brands. All of the current consumer stats validate this (more than 77% of shoppers consider environmentally-friendly factors, 76% prefer to shop mission-led brands last year). But we also know that it is too hard and time consuming to find these types of brands, especially when it comes to vetting the values that underpin them. They need a platform that will do this for them - Cult Mia.
The incumbent platforms have been slow to respond to this changing consumer behaviour. At Cult Mia, sustainable shoppers shop with confidence versus with competitors that don't make any or enough sustainability compromises. Every brand on our platform is vetted and meet at least our baseline sustainability and conscious requirements.
This mission started for me at the UN, where I worked in the Women & Trade team focused on lifting up female-owned microenterprises in the least developed countries. My team and I are truly proud that today Cult Mia is the only platform in our space that not only vets and classifies brands on the sustainable and ethical fronts, but rewards brands if they make improvements on their ESG scores - a framework that we developed alongside Positive Luxury, as part of our Butterfly Mark Certification process last year. When it comes to prioritising sustainability within the fashion industry, I believe it has to be a shared mission between platforms, designers and customers.
Our long term mission is to be the leading destination for sustainable and ethical luxury, with fashion being the first vertical we focus on. As a two-sided marketplace, success at Cult Mia is defined by the positive impact that we have on both our brands and customers. For me personally, as our business and team has grown, I have re-defined success to mean enabling my team to succeed in order to collectively achieve our northstar goals.
Find the right support networks to tap into throughout the building journey - both formal and informal, and both personal and professional. You may be surprised how much knowledge and support a simple female founders Whatsapp group can bring you! You don’t need to uncover the answer entirely on your own, most likely, someone else has tried and tested some version of the problem that you are trying to crack (even in a different industry - for fashion founders, look for inspiration, innovation and knowledge in other sectors too!).
75% of the brands listed on the Cult Mia platform fall under our Cult Power value, one of our four core company values. Via Cult Power, we are constantly promoting and supporting minority-owned businesses, with a focus on women-owned. We’re your go-to platform for growth for women-led fashion labels and provide support every step of the way, from digital marketing, logistics to accounting. We equally want to ensure that as a platform and through our brands, we remind women of their sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others. Many of our brands do just that and are a constant reminder of how much we can achieve! Additionally, Cult Mia donates £2 for every order placed, where every 3 months we select a new donation partner based on where support is needed most to directly impact our Cult Power cause outside of the platform.
Knowing that sustainability in fashion is a vast topic, we decided to define the strategic pillars of Cult Mia's sustainability strategy that address the most important areas / challenges facing the sustainability of fashion and how we could contribute to making the industry more sustainable. One of our focus areas is Incentivising circularity to extend the lifespan of items and materials - AirRobe has enabled us to offer resale opportunities for Cult Mia purchases. We’re incredibly grateful for the partnership and fully align with the AirRobe mission of a more circular economy to come sooner, rather than later.
“By partnering with AirRobe, we’re making it easier for shoppers to extend the lifespan of their garments, and foster their continued story from maker to owner to next owner. AirRobe is solving some of the biggest barriers to circularity, while delivering a valuable post-sale customer service.” – Nina Farran, co-founder and CEO, Fashionkind