![[Interview] Jess Stern of Mustard Made](https://www.theretailbulletin.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Jess-Mustard-made.png)
[Interview] Jess Stern of Mustard Made
Jess Stern, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Mustard Made, sits down to share with us the journey of building a vibrant and stylish brand from the ground up.
In this interview, Jess offers insights into her daily routine, the challenges of running a global business, and the joys of seeing a vision turn into reality. Mustard Made is celebrated for its vintage-inspired lockers, a success largely driven by Jess’s vision and leadership. After more than a decade in the fast-paced world of fashion buying, Jess took a leap of faith in 2018 to co-found Mustard Made with her sister, Becca. What began as a shared dream has rapidly grown into a global brand, spreading colour and joy across homes on three continents.
Please tell us about your background and how you got into retail work. What attracted you to this field?
I always wanted to be in retail. I had dreamed of it since I was about 14 (my Dad can attest to that!) so as soon as I was old enough, I started doing work experience in fashion offices and then got a job at Topshop Knightsbridge.
At 18 I enrolled in a Diploma course to become a fashion buyer. The irony was, I enjoyed working so much more than doing the coursework. Work gave me energy – I loved being on the shop floor, meeting people, it’s where I got my buzz. At the end of the course I was offered a job in the head office of BHS, where I had done an internship. At BHS I got straight in to the nitty gritty of fashion buying and I loved it! My job involved buying wedding dresses for 30 retail shops across the country as well as online. It was such an incredible experience and exposed me to so many aspects of big business. It was a very grounding experience as an 18 year old going into my first big corporate role.
From there I moved on to other roles and became a bra buyer at Primark, which taught me a lot about merchandising for the masses and was so different to what I had done before. But in the background, the seeds of Mustard were sowing. After 12 months of working on Mustard while still working full time, I took the leap and left the corporate world.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I always start my day with a shower to wash the night away and start fresh. I used to be such a morning person but since having my daughter Poppy, my mornings are a little slower! I drop Poppy to nursery and then head into work with my husband Marc, who is our Technical Director.
I’ve just started drinking coffee so I’ll grab an iced latte and sit down at my desk to tackle emails and Trello notifications. Because we are a global business, a lot can happen overnight so the mornings are my time to prioritise. I’m conscious not to respond to things straight away if possible, only responding to the urgent things. I will label things ‘to-do’ or ‘for later’ so that I have some time to think about my response and be really considered.
Mornings are usually booked with meetings, particularly with Australia as we catch the end of their day. I’ll get everything from Wholesale updates to Creative team updates. Then it’s a walk to get lunch from Camden (a struggle to decide every day!)
In the afternoon I’ll have my 1-2-1s with my direct reports, and time at my laptop to respond to those bigger, non-urgent emails. I’ll head out to pick up Poppy and then I’m offline while we do dinner, bath and bedtime.
I’ll often finish my day back at my laptop to decompress, get back to anything outstanding and get prepped for the next day. This is often my most productive time of day and I really quite enjoy it! Work has always been what drives me and I’ve always given 110%, whether that was in my own business or when I was working corporate. The challenge now is learning how to balance that drive with my other priorities, like my family I don’t think there is really such a thing as the ‘right’ balance, but I’m trying to be ok with that.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your role? How do you typically handle difficult situations with customers or within the team?
The reality of being a founder is that we do new things every day, and every day we face new challenges and surprises. I like routine, I like knowing how to tackle something, so having to be ok with this has certainly kept me on my toes!
Just the other day we had a customer receive a completely empty, fully sealed box of packaging from our warehouse. There was no locker or anything inside. In six years, we’ve never ever had this happen, so it completely stumped us! That’s a small bump in the road in the scheme of things, but we’ve had everything from the Suez Canal blockage stopping our stock from moving, to fires on container ships, to COVID – these are all things we just couldn’t have prepared for. But that’s also part of what makes this job so rewarding. You have to embrace the unknown because we’re doing something we’ve never done before. As the team has grown, it’s been so great to have people on the ground in the UK with me, instead of me waiting 12 hours for Becca to be up!
What aspects of your job bring you the most joy and fulfilment? Are there any particular moments or experiences that stand out?
Working with my team is such a joy. I love working closely with others, and a really big turning point for me personally was when I made my first two hires. We were actually only hiring for one role, and I found myself trying to choose between two absolutely incredible applicants. In the end, I decided to back myself and hire them both, trusting that Mustard was only going to keep growing. 30 hires later, I’m so glad I did!
I love to see people grow and blossom, and I love promoting staff and watching them thrive. I know I’m not necessarily the best or most knowledgeable in the room, so I love bringing on people who are the best in their field and taking their feedback on.
Another huge joy for me is the charity aspect that we’ve built into Mustard. We donate a portion of every sale to our partner Beam, and I used to run the Beam report every month and just smile as I did it. Being able to sell a product and use that sale to support someone else, it’s like a circle of joy. We recently released our first-ever limited edition product, The Rainbow Standard, to celebrate Pride. To see how excited people got about that piece just blew us away, and we were able to donate £39,400 to Outright International as a result. That locker didn’t just make an impact visually, but also with its meaning. That was such a full circle moment for me.
What have you learnt from working in retail that you didn’t expect when you started?
The data doesn’t tell the whole story. Looking at sales and numbers was so ingrained in my corporate roles. At Mustard, we’ve done it our own way and really leaned into instinct and feedback from our customers. Of course as we grow we do dig further into the data too, but it’s really interesting to look at what the data says, compared to what our community says. It’s really exciting!
What do you consider the best part of your job and why?
Working with Becca, hands down. I wouldn’t have done this with anyone else.
If you could have any superpower to help you in your retail job, what would it be and how would it make your day easier or more fun?
Being able to teleport, so I could be in Australia for a meeting then pop back to the UK for the next one! Technology is amazing and we have a great system, but nothing beats being there in person.
Mustard Made to donate over £39,000 to support LGBTIQ human rights
