At the age of 16, Tess Verwoert went to her father with the idea of opening an online shop. To her surprise, he was immediately enthusiastic and gave her the green light to start her own business alongside her schooling.
“I started with a rack of purchased clothes,” laughs Verwoert, not yet knowing that at the age of 24 she would be running a million-dollar business. Within eight years, her online shop has developed into a fashion brand popular with young girls. Tess V now has two stores in the Netherlands and will open a third branch at the beginning of April. FashionUnited spoke to the founder about the new store, business operations and her plans for the future.
What is it like for you to be at the helm of such a rapidly growing company at a relatively young age?
I don’t actually find that exciting. There are challenges every day, but that’s what’s fun. I’ve grown my business over the last few years and learned to trust my gut.
When I started Tess V I was sixteen and a bit naive. “I’ll just start and see where it ends,” I thought at the time. To be honest, I found the initial phase, when I was just running the web shop, the least fun. I felt lonely. My colleagues at the time didn’t have any I have no idea what I’m doing. When I hired the first employees, it started to be more fun.
What role do your employees play in the success of Tess V?
I see my employees as ambassadors for Tess V. Everyone puts 100% effort into building the fashion brand every day, and I am very grateful for that. The team feels like a group of friends. We do everything together, discuss things openly and if there is a problem, we all look for a solution together. That also says a lot about our management.
I never dreamed that my small online shop would develop into a full-fledged fashion brand. I really enjoy it to the fullest. It’s great to see that more is possible every time. The things we are doing are very successful at the moment and that is just fantastic to see.
When did Tess V evolve into a full-fledged fashion brand?
Things got serious about three to four years ago. At some point, more and more employees started working at Tess V, which gave us room to expand. Since then, the focus has been more on branding.
Tess V now has 55 employees, including store staff. This number has grown quite quickly and I am proud of that. This is also a sign of our growth in recent years. We are strong and the fashion brand is becoming more and more mature.
Where is Tess V now?
We have grown rapidly in recent years; We have opened two stores and are currently working on a third. In addition, the organization is growing and our processes are evolving. Over the past year we have focused on our systems and made many improvements. For example, we recently launched a new web shop with new integrations and implemented several innovations in logistics. We are now ready for the future.”
My vision for Tess V has never been clearer than it is today. Tess V is a fashion brand for women with a comprehensive range. We launch a new collection every week, which motivates people to come back to us. I also think that the personal aspect is typical of Tess V. We let our customers take a look behind the scenes by sharing via social media who works in which department and what exactly is happening. For example, we make videos of what a day in the camp or on a shoot looks like.
What is it like doing business at a time of economic and geopolitical tension?
I realize that the market is very fluid, but I have never felt uncertain about Tess V’s existence. Our base is very strong. By this I refer to my team and the systems. My team is very committed and this ensures that we can act quickly. For example, at the moment there are tensions on the Red Sea, so deliveries are arriving late or not at all. My employees immediately know what we can do to ensure that we can still offer our customers something new every week. For example, another project is brought forward, or we highlight a collection that is normally less advertised.
Regarding the delay in transportation, what further steps will you take?
All deliveries now take much longer to travel and it becomes significantly more expensive. We always try to find a solution. We currently have everything transported by plane. This is normally absolutely not what we want, but it is currently almost impossible otherwise. We’re waiting almost three months for deliveries, and that’s simply not possible for Tess V given the new collections every week. We also choose to place multiple orders at the same time. For example, we have already ordered something that we wanted to order next month. These orders are shipped by ship. In this way, we hope to get back on track soon.
Can you say something about the company’s sales and profit development?
In 2023 we achieved sales of 7 million euros. For this year we are aiming for a turnover of 10 million euros. 2024 has started well; We met our goals for January and February, so we are on track. Normally January and February are two quiet months, but compared to last year, sales doubled in both months. This is a good foundation for the rest of the year.
As far as profit numbers are concerned, I can say that we are at least profitable.
In 2022, Tess V opened the first store in Nijmegen, which was followed relatively quickly in Utrecht. The plan is now to open a third store. Why was Breda chosen?
We want to settle in cities where people go out and where there are a lot of young girls. That’s why we’re looking at the so-called student cities. Nijmegen was actually pure coincidence. I fell in love with the space. Utrecht was then a logical step because it was pretty close [Nijmegen] lies. The Utrecht store is a great success. It’s a busy city with lots of day trippers.
After Utrecht we wanted to spread Tess V around a bit, so we looked at Breda and Den Bosch. To be honest, Den Bosch was my favorite. We looked around a lot, but we didn’t find the perfect property. We found that in Breda. I didn’t know the city, but I was surprised by its hospitality and friendly atmosphere. She fit our image exactly.
In the meantime, the team in Breda is ready and we want to open on April 6th.
Can you already say something about what the store will look like?
In the third store, Tess V’s image comes into its own. So while the focus remains on clothing, the jewelry range in this store is expanding. There will also be similarities to the other Tess V stores, such as the “bulge closet” where our Friday Denim jeans hang. Another thing that can’t be missed is our pink funky mirror with lights. Everyone really loves it.
You just mentioned that the stores are a success. What is the secret of Tess V’s physical stores?
We have a very clear vision that we want to convey online and on our social networks. We are also trying to transfer this vision to the physical store. We do this by connecting online and offline. For example, we use Tiktok a lot, where we post videos of visits to our stores. It often happens that I see girls who then use their cell phones to navigate to the store.
At Tess V there are two types of customers. The focused customer who knows what item she wants to buy and the discovering customer who has yet to get to know the brand. She then often goes around and later orders something online.
In addition, we do not operate wholesale, so the offering in our stores remains unique. We do get a lot of requests from retailers, but that’s not something we strive for. It feels like we are then competing with ourselves and, on the contrary, we want to remain unique.
Do you have other cities in mind where you would like to establish Tess V?
Den Bosch and Maastricht! We have a lot of Belgian customers, so I think it would be good to open a shop on the border to attract more foreign customers. As for Den Bosch, we have a pop-up store there in 2022, which we really liked. A permanent business in this city is therefore at the top of the list.
What else is the company working on, apart from opening the store in Breda?
Very much. Anyway, in April we are launching our own calendar. We’ve been working on this for a long time. The idea came about when we noticed in the office that everyone was writing their plans on separate pieces of paper. As a result, we sometimes lost track. Then we sat down at a table and designed what we thought was the perfect planner that would provide overview and make it easier to complete ‘5-minute tasks’, daily tasks and longer-term projects.
We also want to open more stores to put Tess V even further on the Dutch map and we are focusing on optimizing our systems.
What other future plans are on the agenda?
I want to make Tess V the brand you think of when you buy clothes. It has to be a brand that people recognize.
I used to have the ambition to become as big as possible. I don’t have that anymore. I realized that you can achieve much more with a committed team. Tess V will of course continue to grow, but I want to expand in a controlled way so that the team remains involved in all the processes we go through together.
We are also striving for controlled growth in the future. We don’t have any investors on board, so we do everything on our own. We continue to focus on our foundation so we can build on it.
If you had to put Tess V’s ultimate dream on paper. What would it be called?
A pop-up store abroad.
This translated article previously appeared on FashionUnited.nl