Building A Sustainable Luxury Underwear Brand w/ Priya Downes | Nudea

Priya Downes: 0:00

You know, don't buy 20 bras you don't wear where you know, buy one that actually fits you, that you're actually going to wear. One of the reasons why I chose underwear was because it was such an overlooked category. People didn't think about it, didn't think about the throwaway nature of it. Probably one of the highlights, the best jobs I ever did was working at Burberry, but what burberry gave me was that kind of last missing piece was that introduction to product, understanding product, how to build product and how to build good product, and also, you know the flavour of marketing, like what it is to build a brand. And all of that really led me to where I am today building my own brand.#

‍Amardeep Parmar: 0:39

Today we have Priya Downes, who is CEO and founder of Nudea. It's luxury underwear that actually fits. Priya's got an interesting journey which many of you might relate to. She started working in the finance sector at the World Bank, before shifting into fashion, where she was really passionate. She worked at the likes of Tom Hilfiger, urberry and Chanel before becoming the director of merchandising at Fiorucci. From there she decided she wanted to build something for herself and she just knew there's such a big problem around sizing for underwear for women. She's really gone hard at this industry and making a huge difference here. I really hope you enjoyed today's episode. I really hope you enjoyed today's episode and hearing her story. So thanks so much for coming on today. It's incredible to see what you've done so far. I'd love to rewind to when you were growing up. What were your ambitions? What were your dreams?

Priya Downes: 1:26

Well, thank you for having me. First of all, I actually didn't know what I wanted to do, and my dad was a business owner, left school at 16. My mum was a homemaker, but she was an accountant. She sort of had a part-time job. So I didn't really have a lot of people to look up to, had these great careers right. So I didn't really know what I wanted to do and my dad's business was in Nairobi and I was. I grew up in the UK. Well, I lived in Nairobi for a while but I moved to but we to the UK when I was quite young. So, um, you know, his business was so remote that I didn't. It wasn't something that that I could go. Oh, I'm going to be part of that, right.

Priya Downes: 2:06

So, and my parents are very much about you find your own path and find what you want to do, and I didn't really know. So I guess I just fell into the sort of small sphere of what my parents thought were good careers, which were the sort of traditional careers of like lawyer, doctor, pharmacist, ophthalmologist, and I didn't ever really feel I could relate to any of those things and I went to a boarding school and so I was very independent from a young age and by the time I got to kind of 18, I was like, well, I'm good at maths, maybe I'll do something in the world of maths. So I ended up studying actuarial science of all things, I think simply because I knew it made a lot of money as an actuary at the time and I was just good at it. But was my heart in it? I don't think it ever was, but I knew it was a good career and I guess it ticked my parents' box like good careers. So that's the path I took.

Priya Downes: 3:06

And actually I don't, you know, looking back on it and now that I've got kids of my own, I actually feel like choosing a degree at 18 is just so. It just feels so wrong. You know, you're so young. Who knows what you want to do when you're 18 years old? And I look at myself and the last 20 years plus since, um, you know, I've had three careers and so I clearly didn't know what I wanted to do. So, yeah, I didn't really know I wanted to do. All I knew was kind of I had this very small circle of influence, um, and I, I mean it led me to where I am now, but but for sure you know it and it was a smart move because you know at least I went to. I did go to university, I, you know, got a degree, so it kind of it put me in good stead for good jobs.

Priya Downes: 3:51

But um, but certainly you know, I didn't really know.

Amardeep Parmar: 3:56

t's interesting as well, as you said about the degrees you picked were more about what you thought like if your parents would think was good or would lead to good careers. the early stage anything that you were interested in, that if you didn't care about careers and for other offers you might have picked instead?

Priya Downes: 4:10

I've always been interested in fashion, I think, um, and even from a young age I was.

Priya Downes: 4:15

But when I was 12 years old I was reading magazines, I was reading vogue and I always loved fashion. But I could never. I didn't know what you could do in fashion, right, like, I wasn't particularly creative, so I wasn't good at art and I tried to be. I did art GCSE and I did okay in it, but I wasn't particularly creative and I tried, and at the time the only way I could knew I could be in fashion was if I was a designer. Now, clearly, I now know there's a multitude of careers you can have in fashion, but at the time it was so limited that I didn't know. But I think if I had known I would have jumped into that, um, probably at that time.

Amardeep Parmar: 4:54

And then looking at so after university, what was the first career you then did go into?

Amardeep Parmar: 4:59

What did you choose?

Priya Downes: 5:00

So yeah, so I I obviously was on this very kind of I'd say like semi-apprentice type of degree, right. So as an actuary, similar to an accountant, you take exams and then with those exams you get a qualification. So I'd already sort of started on that path in university and I got a very good graduate job working in investment consulting as an actuary. So I was like this is great, I've already started my exams and it was quite easy for me because I pretty much walked into a graduate job which was well-paid, well-respected and you know I had a very comfortable graduate experience and so I went into working in investment consultancy and it was great because it suited me. It was client facing, because you work with clients on.

Priya Downes: 5:46

In this part of kind of the actuarial field it was very much around helping pension funds invest their money, right. So you work with clients to um decide what their portfolios would look like. You you're speaking to fund managers and I think I was always that kind of person on who was much more of a people person than most, most actuaries who were quite kind of geeks behind a computer, um, and so it really suited me to a t but it was not where my heart was, and I think I sort of did it because it was easy, walked into a great job and but by the time I was in it for two or three years I was just like I realized that this is not where I what I wanted to do. But it provided me with a good platform and, um, I'd always really loved the idea of working for the World Bank and at the time it was such a pipe dream. I was like.

Amardeep Parmar: 6:35

Why was that?

Priya Downes: 6:36

Because, partly because having seen, having grown up in Kenya for a small part of my life, seeing my dad kind of have this passion for Africa, and, you know, coming from that background of basically my dad working from nothing as a six-year-old with no education, building a business and being surrounded by poverty, being in a country like that, I've always kind of felt passionate about working for an organization with a bigger meaning and and so, and you know, and it doesn't get bigger than the World Bank or the UN. And also, I think part of me wanted to have a bit more international experience. You know, at this point, you know I was quite well traveled. I, you know, had lived between two countries in my life and I wanted to have the experience of being able to work in different countries. And that's what the world bank's about, you know operates in all these different countries around around the world, um, and you know it's headquartered in dc and I thought, well, this is a great experience, like something in their young 20s wanting to kind of escape a little bit and experience the world, and and so it was a bit of a pipe dream.

Priya Downes: 7:46

I was like how am I ever going to get into an organization like that and and honestly it was just perseverance, like I just I applied, I kept applying, applied to their, their analyst jobs and you know, just so happened that my skill set was what really stood me apart, because they were were looking for people with quantitative modeling skills to come in and help them with their advice to pension funds in developing countries and in developing like, especially in the Caribbean, there was always development banks they were building that they needed advice on.

Priya Downes: 8:16

The government needed advice on their pension funds. I was like this couldn't have been a more perfect job, whilst it wasn't what I wanted to do. It led me to an organization that I kind of really was sort of dreaming about working for, and as soon as I got there I just knew this was life changing. Like it was just the experience of being in the US and just having the just working for an organization like that, with what they do and the people they have I mean the most amazingly smart economists, project managers, sustainability experts I think was just mind-blowing and it completely opened my eyes to a whole new world.

Amardeep Parmar: 9:00

So you now got this role at the UN, which is incredibly exciting. You're working with amazing people, but it's not where you stayed in, right. So what came next, and why did you transition away from that?

Priya Downes: 9:10

I was really lucky in that there was sort of backtracking a little bit. The World Bank, as you know, is an organization that works in developing countries and its whole mandate is to deliver on the un sustainable sustainability goals or poverty goals and um. One of the things that they they had an issue with was young people. Because, you know, back then this is kind of like late 90s, early noughties there was this whole thing about actually the world bank's evil. Right, it's making um because of like the, the deals they're doing with government, with governments, and making women not breastfeed and input, take imported, imported like formula milk and things like that, banana republics, all of that kind of thing. So the president of the world bank, sort of five or six years prior to that, had started, I wanted to set up a youth organization within the world bank to try to get young people in the world bank to actually outreach to young people and the future generations in developing countries, to kind of get them more engaged in what the world bank was doing and to understand a little bit that actually it wasn't this evil organization trying to take over the world. And I ended up getting involved in that quite heavily and ended up being a chairman for it for a year and it reports directly to the president of the World Bank, so you get such great access to resources.

Priya Downes: 10:32

And I had this passion for fashion and I could see all around me all the great work that World Bank was doing in the textile sector, with micro artisans and supporting all of that. I was like nobody is showcasing that to the young people out there. So I decided to kind of take that on and I had this kind of vision to create the first fashion show at the World Bank, but based on projects the World Bank were doing. So it was all about bringing that all together and it was a really I mean, it sounds it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was a huge deal, right, and honestly I think it just blew up. I ended up becoming this like sustainable fashion expert in 2006, when nobody before it's cool yeah yeah, before anybody was talking about what the impact that fashion was having in all these countries.

Priya Downes: 11:28

And you know, fashion is the and this is something I learned from the world bank that every sector, every country has a textile sector and it's the most kind of universal language that everyone understands, next to music. People understand and express themselves in clothes and the music they listen to, and every country has that garment industry. So it was such a great way to kind of showcase what the World Bank was doing. And I ended up getting a feature in the Washington Post and I was like this is this has become like much bigger for me, right, and I loved that and I think the World Bank got so much kudos for actually, you know, engaging. And so it was, it was it was a real buzz and and I realized I was like, hang on, this is what I should be doing, because I have much more of an impact here than I'm doing in my day job. And by the time this all came out and this was kind of growing, it was 2008.

Priya Downes: 12:29

And my day job was quantitative modeling and at this point I had sort of switched a little bit my day job into working in the treasury department of the IFC managing liquid portfolios, which a lot of them were invested in short-term debt like mortgage-backed securities. So I was doing a lot of comp modeling for mortgage-backed securities. Then you had the 2008 crisis and and and I think this sort of like my day job getting more and more like I'm like what am I doing? Like I'm this is, this is not, this is, this is I'm modeling mortgage-backed securities. What are they even worth anymore? Um, and then alongside that, I had a. I had a kind of a blossoming interest stroke, you know, side hustle. That was kind of, you know, gaining momentum, and I think I just got to the point. It's like I can't, this is it, this is what I want to do. I'm just going to put this behind me. And that's when it kind of all started, and so I I had to be practical. I was like, well, look, how am I really going to be able to switch into fashion when I don't have any direct experience in it? Let's get practical. I was 28 at the time. I was like, look, I need to do this sensibly. So I applied for an MBA and actually it works pretty much.

Priya Downes: 13:48

With the World Bank, everybody who's a young person reaches a plateau and the World Bank almost encourages you to go and do something else and then come back because they want experts, they don't want people growing and they don't want to teach people. They want the best brains to come in and execute. So actually they have a graduate program but they kick people out as soon as they've done their two or three years. And I'd got to that point and so there wasn't much I could do anyway. Um, and I wasn't going to get very far. Even if I decided to internally switch into something else, I wasn't going to get very far really in the world bank. So I was like, right, I'm going to do what everybody else my age is doing and apply for an MBA. But I also was conscious that I didn't want to take two years out, so I sort of stayed away from the American programs and applied to INSEAD.

Priya Downes: 14:40

I got into INSEAD again another life-changing moment. Insead is an amazing school. For those that don't know it, it's one of the top MBA programs in the world and it's based between Fontainebleau, which is just outside of Paris, and Singapore. It's got a second campus in Singapore, and so I actually spent time in both campuses but went to INSEAD and I think it's such a hotbed of internationalism, of incredibly smart people, and that's what you do an MBA program for.

Priya Downes: 15:13

It's not the teaching, it's the people you meet, and I think that you know being around such accomplished people but also learning with them, I think, was another mind-opening experience, and in fact my best friends are INSEAD alumni and quite a few of them, quite a few of my first investors were in fact got lots of INSEADers on my cap table and it's just a really it's almost a bit like a very tight brotherhood, sisterhood of alumni. You know we support each other, have a lot of love for INSEAD. Anyone who comes out of that program, I think you know already I know what kind of people they are. I know what kind of people they are, and so I used the MBA really to kind of broaden my toolkit and kind of say, look, how can I switch into a luxury fashion industry and used it as a way to kind of come in as a mid level, I guess associate, to come into the fashion industry without having to sort of stop completely from the bottom again, and it worked really.

Amardeep Parmar: 16:22

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Amardeep Parmar: 16:59

So obviously you had like a really varied experience there yeah and it seems like the mba program was a massive launching pad for you too. Yeah, your time in fashion. Could you give us a quick overview of that in terms of, like, where did you work? And then, like, how long were you in the institute before, before we start getting into what you're doing today?

Priya Downes: 17:16

So I ended up working in the fashion industry for about a decade and just under a decade, and I very much focused on luxury fashion.

Priya Downes: 17:25

So I worked at Chanel and then I worked at Burberry for most of my career and I think I was so fortunate to work at Burberry under Angela Aronst, who ended up going to be SVP of Apple. One of the most inspirational leaders I've ever known, and it really was.

Priya Downes: 17:41

You know, I I credit so much of the of my knowledge in the fashion industry my knowledge and just commercial um business down to my time at Burberry, and I think that I, when I look back on it's probably one of the highlights the best jobs I ever did was working at Burberry, and I think I learned so much about product, which is exactly what I needed, you know. So I'd had this experience of understanding sustainability, understanding impact, understanding finance. But what Burberry gave me was that kind of last missing piece, was that introduction to product, understanding product, how to build product and how to build good product, and also, you know, the flavor of marketing, like what it is to build a brand, um, and all of that really led me to where I am today um, building my own brand. And you know, I think it's. You know, I can't take that for granted, because I don't think I would have been able or had the confidence to start a brand had I not had the experience I had at Burberry.

Amardeep Parmar: 18:40

And then so starting your own brand today. Right, It'd be great if you could tell us, like, what was the initial idea? So what was that problem that you thought this is what needs to be solved? And then, what gave you the courage to make it your full-time thing and go into it as you have?

Priya Downes: 18:57

So, ironically, having sort of spent almost a decade in fashion, I got to the point and said look, it's been brilliant to learn under Burberry, but do I want to be just another fashion brand in in the big wide world out there? And there's so many brands and I I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything differently to what other brands were doing brilliantly well already, and before I started my own brand, I ended up working, just cutting my teeth, into a startup. I worked for a small brand called Fiorucci and the owners brought me in. They were relaunching this old Italian iconic brand and they needed someone to help them with product. And I kind of came in and was given this big mandate. Um, and honestly, it was, it was. It was really interesting to see how to build a business from scratch because, yes, okay, they had this archive, but they, they had just got funded, they were relaunching a brand, so it was like a startup and um, and it was there that actually I got my experience in underwear, because the owner of Fiorucci used to be um, the old, the was the ex-founder of Knickerbox and so she actually had and she was, and then she ended up being chief design officer of Victoria's Secret and um, and she, she brought in swimwear and lingerie into Fiorucci and it kind of opened my eyes a bit to a category that, honestly, I'd never given a thought about.

Priya Downes: 20:19

You know, I'd spent a lot of time, you know I have a me personally, having worked in fashion, I've got a great you know wardrobe of trench, coats and what time at Burberry and you know lots and lots of great outerwear pieces, but I'm like I've never really given a thought to what I put underneath. And and then I sort of asked my friends and all of them were the same. They were like I don't know where to get decent bras. I don't know where to get. You know, and M&S has dominated the market for so long and I had just become a mother, you know, I had two young kids.

Priya Downes: 20:47

I didn't know what bra size I was. I didn't know where to go. I'd asked my girlfriends and then, you know, on the working at Fiorice, I also started to see actually the practical sides of lingerie, like the sizing, how to? You know the, the, the manufacturing side of things, and and I got a bit of a flavor for it. It was quite a short time, but I got a flavor for it, and so it was there that really kind of said hang on, there's a gap here.

Amardeep Parmar: 21:10

And that's what really started me on my journey to create my own brand and so you spotted the gap there, but then what was the trigger to say like, okay, I'm gonna do it, this is gonna be like the full-time thing. I've got the skills, because obviously what's interesting as well the different things you've done.

Amardeep Parmar: 21:24

Like you said, you had the product experience, you had the finance background, you had the fashion passion as well, so all these different things add up to it, but was easy for you to decide. Okay, I'm now gonna build this myself, or was it a difficult decision for you? It?

Priya Downes: 21:38

Was very difficult, I think you know I'd, I was, I'd say like I'm kind of a old founder, um, so I was at this point I was 37 and, um, I guess the older you get, the more risk averse you get. And having only ever worked at corporate, you know um been employed, um, that my, my instant reaction was like, well, why don't I just do this part-time? I'll get a part-time job and you know we'll start that way. And it was actually my husband who who said to me what are you doing? And I said well, you know, I feel like I need to have this. You know something? He's like I said I need to have something going on to keep my you know, just in case I need to fall back. He's like why? And then literally he kept going why, but why, but why? And in the end, when you boiled it down, it was because I was a slave to my CV. I was like, but what if I have a gap on my CV?

Priya Downes: 22:30

What does that mean?

Priya Downes: 22:31

And he's like, really that's what's holding you back, and when that's what's holding you back and would he? When we broke it down like that, I realized how stupid I sounded. And then it was then when he basically said look, if you're gonna do it, just do it, give it, do it full time, don't and don't look back. And then, and actually I've never looked back from that point. And now, honestly, when I think about that moment, I just think I cannot believe that it took me so long to have that mental switch, because had I actually had that conversation with him, even two or three years earlier, I could have started my business earlier because I probably was ready.

Priya Downes: 23:05

But I was holding myself back because I was so kind of I need to have a job, I need to have a job and best decision, because I think if you want to really give your business the best shot as a founder, you need to be in it full time. And particularly for raising money, particularly for all of those things, I think it's really important to be in it full time. And you know, I credit. I credit that moment to being where I am today, because I don't think New Day would have succeeded had I had only done it part-time, like the way I was intending to do it, I'd probably be still be sitting here like trying to get the business off the ground.

Amardeep Parmar: 23:40

What are the first steps you take to like creating the actual brand and getting your first customers?

Priya Downes: 23:45

Creating a brand is a really tough thing, I think. You know I had to do a lot of research. I think whenever you're creating a particular product brand and if you're filling a niche like I was trying to fill a gap, I think you have to kind of prove is there a gap, you know, does your vision align with what people actually want, what customers actually want? So I had to spend about a year and a half actually doing quite a lot of research. I ended up recruiting some focus groups with women across the country and sitting down with them and asking them questions about their bra shopping habits. I'm asking them, you know, what kind of price points do you want to pay? How do you get fitted? How do you want to be fitted? How can I help you get fitted? And I think these are all the things I think is fundamental because at that point, had I not done that, I would have probably made the wrong decisions about the pricing structure, for example, and that would have been a killer. Or, you know, I could have maybe realized at that time that actually there wasn't a gap in the market, could have pivoted right and not made an expensive mistake. So I think you really have to start by doing the research and really go out and speak to people. Don't just kind of look at, google a few things and go, yeah right, I've got it. I think you need to go out and ask people right, and especially with creating a product brand.

Priya Downes: 25:01

And then after that, it was very much about putting together a business plan going. Can you know, how am I going to fund this? I was lucky enough that I had some savings, so I was able to kind of put the first slug of capital in to. You know, build a website, get a minimum value proposition up, get some products going and that was always my goal was to kind of get a website up, start selling some product, prove that there was a market for this.

Priya Downes: 25:33

And then, obviously, the unlucky thing for me was, as soon as that happened, covid hit. You know, my plan was always to get to MVP and then go out to raise money. And then, as soon as I was ready to raise money in January 2020, that's when everything kind of went completely differently, in a good way, I would say. But I think that you know, as somebody who'd only ever lived through, I guess, great retail times, I was really like whoa, this is going to be a roller coaster and it has been to be honest. But you know I didn't know what COVID was going to bring at the time.

Amardeep Parmar: 26:03

So it's interesting that you said about the plan was to raise the money.

Priya Downes: 26:06

Yeah.

Amardeep Parmar: 26:06

And for people in the fashion industry and people in kind of consumer brands. I find a lot of people don't necessarily think about the fundraising element of it. Yeah, they often think about I can build a product and sell that product and use those profits and they kind of go down the bootstrap route a lot of the time. Yeah, what made you think, okay, I want to go down the fundraising route for this, and what was behind that decision and why did you go down that route?

Priya Downes: 26:27

well, I think, because I was kind of inspired. Part of part of my um motivation and research into building this brand was I looked at kind of comparables in the us and I could see that there was disruptive brands looking at victoria's secret, very much like I was looking at marks and spencers and going, hang on, these are these. These giants have dominated for so long but nobody's come in and try to do something differently. And there were d2c brands emerging and their path was very much, you know, like DTC online, um raising funds, and so for me it was always that I'm like you know, I also kind of at the time looked up to the Glossiers and the Warby Parkers and I was like this is, these are great way to build businesses. And so I that's was.

Priya Downes: 27:10

It was there was no question for me from the from the get-go, and I guess part of my business school background also was very much you know I'd kind of got you know this no-brainer. Of course I'm going to build a business by. You know that's the only way you scale is by raising money. So I'd never had a doubt in my mind that I was going to raise money. It was just about timing and I think this is. It obviously didn't work out that way. Actually, ironically, looking back, could I have done it just by bootstrapping, probably because that's ended up what that's effectively what happened, but it wasn't. It didn't work out the way I intended.

Amardeep Parmar: 27:43

So obviously you were able to raise funds there from angel investors and people like that. How were you able to convince people to get behind your idea?

Priya Downes: 27:58

Like how did you think that? What do you think really stood out that people can learn from? That helped you get funding. So, whilst my whole plan was to get an mvp up and then raise funds, it didn't quite happen that way, but actually it was a good thing, because covid was a massive tailwind for us. You know, we're a brand that is all about comfort, right, really good fit, about taking care of yourself, and actually, as part of that online proposition and people not knowing their bra size, I'd invented this bra fit tape that I trademarked and so people couldn't get fitted and, of course, I have this great tool. So it really put us on the map and we ended up getting a huge tailwind.

Priya Downes: 28:35

And because we were online only, we were set up for that we were just ticking all the COVID lockdown boxes and we had other problems. We couldn't keep up with demand and we actually did a lot better than our financial plan in 2020. And so we were able to go out for funding from a much stronger position, um, than I would have done had I gone and raised. When I actually did. So I got, you know, high evaluation, um, I was able to raise more. I'd obviously had much longer traction. So in the end it worked out brilliantly and so so my first round. It did drag out a bit because it was harder to get people around the table, you know, because you weren't, you weren't people weren't sitting around looking at product in natural actually like you would in normal pitches in real life, you were having to do things on zoom. So you know it took three meetings to kind of get to get you know the, the, the pitches over the line, and so it was a much longer process. But it was much more successful than I initially thought. And then, like, from there, I mean, I raised at that time we raised around 500 000.

Priya Downes: 29:43

Subsequent to that, we ended up doing a crowd fund very successful crowd fund and a couple more angel rounds. But I think it was absolutely brilliant in the end that we ended up having that level of traction, because it really helped and that's the argument, I think to a lot of people out there doing product brands that actually it's a very good idea to kind of bootstrap and actually gain that traction without funding, because you will end up in a much better position down the road, because I think, especially now raising money for a product brand that you don't have anything up and running or any traction. I just don't think you, if you're lucky enough to get any funding, you wouldn't get a very good valuation or you wouldn't get. You wouldn't get very much money, or at least not enough to really, you know, to help you gain that traction. So you're better off trying to bootstrap.

Amardeep Parmar: 30:37

And obviously, since raising that money, you've gone a long way further as well. Could you share, like, what are some of your biggest wins so far? Like what makes you proudest of what you've been able to do so far?

Priya Downes: 30:47

I think like one of the kind of the proudest moments for me was becoming B Corp and I think that it's not and obviously it's not a big commercial thing, but I feel like, as somebody who's quite passionate about sustainability, that you know that whole, my whole World Bank days has ingrained something in me about building a business for purpose, not just profit, and that completely encompasses what B Corp is about. And and you know we haven't really talked about the sustainability aspect of my brand, but you know, for me it was so important to build a brand that was a lot more thoughtful. And one of the reasons why I chose underwear was because it was such an overlooked category. People didn't think about it, didn't think about the throwaway nature of it, um, and I wanted to change attitudes and mindsets around the whole category. Don't buy 20 bras you don't wear. Buy one that actually fits you, that you're actually going to wear that kind of thing.

Priya Downes: 31:45

Becoming B Corp was a huge milestone for us. I was so proud of our crowdfund. You know that was. Another high point for me was to um, and it was. It was actually quite emotional because a few people, when you're a consumer brand or people all the time, say why don't you crowdfund? Why don't you crowdfund? You can give away product. It's the perfect type of business to crowdfund. I'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know it's a lot of work and is it really worth it? And you're putting yourself out there and I'd always kind of resisted it. And then I think it was my investors were like look, I think maybe you should think about doing a crowdfund. It's a great way to raise money and, of course, the last sort um crowdfunding has just been it's actually a really great way. And now my view on it's completely switched.

Priya Downes: 32:37

Having done it and so, having gone for the process of crowdfunding and having the success we've had, I think really I was so proud to see our customers invest in us. I just thought, god, that's amazing that there's people that you've changed our lives so much, they love your product so much that they're actually willing to put money and invest in your brand and not just like 10 quid, like we had some customers you know, put in 5 000 pounds or you know 10 000 pounds like this is amazing, um, and so I just thought that was amazing to kind of get that back from our customers, but also, interestingly, one of the great things and this is this is one of the reasons I tell anybody to crowdfund is that you get a lot of people who are not naturally angel investors or publicly investors and people who, because you're putting yourself out there, you, you draw in a lot of people. And so I had a lot of my ex-burberry colleagues, you know, wanting to invest in my brand. They said, look, we know you work with you and they're not. They're not angel investors, they're not people who would naturally, you know, put them, you know hear pitches, but they were there ready to write tickets and I just thought, god, this is amazing to have all these people that you know, so people that I, you know, worked with on a project at Burberry, maybe over a couple of months, but obviously made an impression on, and they kind of come back and you're just like wow.

Priya Downes: 33:56

And you know, I honestly was just so touched and so humbled by that. And then, of course, a lot of my INSEAD friends. I'm just like this is incredible, right, and so it was a real highlight for me on personally. So it's just like this is it's so nice to be able to well, great, to have a successful crowdfund and get the money, great, you get all of that. But to get that level of, I guess, people believing in you is amazing. It's also a responsibility. You kind of feel like, oh, it's a responsibility now, but no, you know, and it's nice because you realize that you've actually touched people and our customers as well, like feel passionately about what we do, and I love that.

Amardeep Parmar: 34:37

Just before we go into quickfire questions like it's amazing what you've done so far.

Priya Downes: 34:39

But what are you most excited about going forwards? I'm I'm really excited and obviously I'm very, as somebody who's very passionate about the environment, I'm really excited to see that the government's actually making some changes to change where the consumers behave, um, and I think that, well, you know, we're lucky, we're on that, on the right side of legislation and what's going to be happening. But I'm really, I guess I'm not, I'm not excited. I guess I'm just more curious and anxious to see what happens next. And you know, I passionately believe that we all have to do our bit for the planet and, um, and you know, I think that, in the same way that that carrier bag, um moment when you started charging for carrier bags and people thought more carefully about that, I'm really excited for that aha moment when people start to go, actually I'm going to start thinking a little bit more carefully about what I buy and what I wear. So, yeah, that's something that I think for my brand and for the future, I'm really, I'm really excited and curious to see where that goes.

Amardeep Parmar: 35:31

Awesome. So thanks for sharing your story so far. It's amazing. We're going to get to quick fire questions now, sure? So first one is who are three British Asians you think are doing incredible work, and you'll have to shout them out today.

Priya Downes: 35:43

So my first one is Kavi Thakrar, who is a fan, who is one of the founders of Dishoom. He's an old friend of mine from ifc, so I want to give him a big shout out. I think he's done amazing things with his restaurant and he's really brought something different to the British, I guess, high street now. So big shout out to him. And Jamie Chadwick, who is half Indian, formula One driver. I'm a big Formula One fan.

Priya Downes: 36:11

I think a lot of people can learn a lot of a lot from formula one, not just about driving, but also um competitiveness strategy and um I've all. And I think it's just admirable to see more women in formula one and I think Jamie and the fact that she's half indian, I think you know what an inspiration to young girls and um. My third one is Priya Ahluwalia, who is um. She's a. She's a designer um who came from menswear, but she uses dead stock fabric and and she's a true creative Um. You know she's. She won the British Fashion Council Award and I think she's doing some amazing things and, as somebody who comes from the fashion industry, I just think I want to celebrate people who are doing amazing things in. As somebody who comes from the fashion industry. I just think I want to celebrate people who are doing amazing things in the world of fashion. So I think she's she's just excellent.

Amardeep Parmar: 36:57

They all sound amazing.

Amardeep Parmar: 37:00

So next one is if people want to find out more about you and what you're up to and your brand, where can they go to?

Priya Downes: 37:06

Absolutely so. You can find us on instagram @nudea. underwear, but obviously we have our website, so go and check us out. If you're curious, check out our fit tape.

Priya Downes: 37:17

You can get it on our website at nudea. com

Amardeep Parmar: 37:19

And is there anything that you need help with right now or Nudea needs help with right now?

Priya Downes: 37:22

I think I would love people to spread the message of buy responsibly. And you know, I think for us come and support us Buy, and you know, I think for us come and support us buy a bra. Help spread that message. I think that would be amazing. Just spread what we're doing and I hope that you do love our products and tell your friends about it.

Amardeep Parmar: 37:43

So thanks so much for coming on today. Any final words?

Priya Downes: 37:46

Thank you for having me. No, I think it's amazing to be on with you and we've had such a great conversation about other inspirational British Asians. I hope my little conversation in part inspires someone else out there.

Amardeep Parmar: 38:03

Thank you for watching. Don't forget to subscribe. See you next time.

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