“I know perfectly well what I can do and what others are better at. I don’t see myself as a pioneering entrepreneur. To me, that too is management: knowing your own strengths and weaknesses.” For this ‘Entrepreneur explicated’, we sat down with Kim Castermans, manager of clothing chain noba. A candid chat about how it all began, the tough Dutch learning curve, and her vision on e-commerce.
A Fiat 500 and a few rolls of fabric—that’s how noba started fifty years ago. “My grandmother went door-to-door to sell. In the evenings, she would take out her sewing kit to make all those custom orders. Eventually, she couldn’t keep up with the workload and started selling ready-to-wear clothing. Later still, she set up part of her home as a clothing store. That is also my first conscious memory of the family business,” Kim Castermans recalls.
“Noba has always been very present in my life. And I’ve always found it fascinating. From the moment I could talk, I said it: I want to do what my mom does. She had also started in the business by then. So I went to study fashion management in Utrecht. You often hear that education in the Netherlands is much more vocal—I can only confirm that. If you didn’t learn to stand your ground there, they would pull the rug out from under you. Learning to stand up for myself is something I still reap the benefits of every day.”
“Although… I love talking about purchasing and marketing, my own responsibilities within noba. But as soon as it’s about another subject, there’s that lack of self-confidence that sometimes still gets the better of me. You’ll rarely see me at events unrelated to my fields of expertise. I’m not that typical networker socializing with everyone and everything. I see myself more as a manager,” says Kim Castermans. “Not as an entrepreneur.”
“To me, an entrepreneur is someone who launches new ideas and questions structures. Someone who likes to deviate from the traditional path and tries new things, even if the old methods still work perfectly. And that’s not exactly my strongest point. That’s why it’s good that we are a family business with six of us at the top. As the third generation, my cousin Dennis and I can count on the guidance and support of our parents, all four of whom are active within noba. This way, everyone can play to their strengths in their own field. Because for me, that too is management: being able to accurately assess what you are strong at, what others are better at, and daring to delegate things.”
“My strength as a manager is that I know my weaknesses.”
Just like in every sector, digitalization is making a strong impact on retail. How does Kim view this evolution? “Specifically for my field, purchasing? To be honest: with mixed feelings. I know there’s no point in trying to stop it. And I wouldn’t want to. But at the same time, I find it a scary idea. It’s my job to pick the right ones from all those collections and all those items. To predict which trends will score, and which of those trends will appeal to our customers.”
“To do that, you have to be able to break a collection down into pros and cons. To fully absorb a garment. That, in turn, has everything to do with real craftsmanship. With intuition and knowing your customers inside out. I don’t believe an algorithm can do that better than I can. What I do believe is that data can play a supporting role and help me make better decisions.”
When you say digitalization, you say e-commerce. “A train we couldn’t afford to miss. Something we must continue to expand. Yet, I still find e-commerce a difficult one. Unlike noba, e-commerce is very impersonal.
Our strength is precisely that contact with our customers and a personal approach. We combine the wide choice and the square footage of a large chain with the service of a small boutique. Our sales staff build a bond with their customers. They address them by their first names, know what they like, and which brands they prefer.”
“That service, that family feeling, that chat while shopping—that’s what we do it for. Because to me, shopping is more than just buying. To me, it’s about taking the time and looking around quietly, in a place where I feel good and where there’s something to experience. That’s why I rarely shop online. Not out of principle, but because it’s just not the same. You don’t get that experience behind a computer screen, you know. That’s why I’m also convinced that physical stores will remain important as long as we humans need social contact.”
A warm heart for this entrepreneur…
“My grandmother. Worked hard, took risks, endured a lot… a businesswoman through and through. And that at a time when it wasn’t at all obvious for a woman. It must have been really lonely for her sometimes. You can have nothing but a lot of respect for that.”
With an unlimited marketing budget…
“I would invest even more in the experience. At our Fashion Nights, for example, our stores stay open longer and we treat our customers to a snack, a drink, and a goodie bag. I want to focus more on that type of event. So that there is always something to experience at noba, without us always having to throw discounts around.”
When stress hits me…
“Then it gives me more energy. Of course, too much stress shouldn’t last. After a strenuous period, things have to normalize again.”
If there were 25 hours in a day…
“Then that extra hour would go to my family: quality time! You have to work hard and a lot, but at the same time, life is more than just work. I had a great childhood, but I often had to miss my parents. So I am very conscious about that work-life balance.”
Temporary wrong decision…
“I can’t think of one right away. Which of course doesn’t mean I never make mistakes…”