“I walk in here and it’s always a celebration — it’s never that I think: I don’t feel it.”
Tell us, who is Daan Broekman?
**“My name is Daan Broekman, I’m 30 years old and co-owner of De Rode Winkel and Thom Broekman. About five years ago, my brother, sister, and I took over the family business from our parents. I didn’t come from this industry at all — I studied sports marketing.
About seven or eight years ago, we went bankrupt. After that, we made a restart with the stores we still have today. At that time, I was approached by my brother, sister, and the team with the question of whether I wanted to work for the company again. They wanted to approach things differently, with more focus on service and sustainability. Fortunately, I could really relate to that, because before the bankruptcy it was very difficult to communicate that with so many stores. You end up managing a crisis rather than truly running a business.”**
Working at De Rode Winkel suits Daan very well. After the restart, he saw opportunities in marketing.
**“At that time, the marketing department had disappeared. We didn’t really do anything with websites, and we weren’t actively using social media yet. Many stores had grown in that area, but we were still very much at the beginning. Marketing became my place, but then the question is: how do you set it up properly?
A physical store opens and closes, but a webshop is online 24/7. In the beginning, I was working on the webshop day and night and sometimes ran into my own limits.”**
How have you experienced 2022 so far?
**“It’s actually complete chaos. The market is very foggy — you simply don’t know what’s going to happen. You keep asking yourself: do I still have enough staff? Fortunately, that hasn’t been an issue for us yet. We’ve continuously hired new people to keep our teams staffed.
COVID still plays a role. We finally reopened in February, but you still wonder: will we have to close again? You hope not, of course, but you don’t know what’s coming. On top of that, inflation and the energy crisis play a major role.
The future is just very unclear. Fortunately, Utrecht is an attractive shopping city that draws many visitors. So far, we’re not experiencing a crisis in the store — it’s busy every day. That’s very positive, but sometimes you wish you could pause and ask: what is actually happening? Is everything still going well in the store? Do I still stand behind the current concept? Do we need to change things?
But the train just keeps moving, and there’s no pause button. You try to keep the store as neat as possible. Sometimes you have a quiet afternoon and can reset everything. Other times you think after three weeks: this really doesn’t look good! So on one hand, the busyness is great for revenue and staff, but on the other hand, it demands a lot.”**
What are you most proud of?
**“What I’m most proud of is the atmosphere we’ve created as a company. People want to work here and want to stay longer. I walk in here and it’s always a celebration — it’s never that I think: I don’t feel it.
On one hand, that’s part of company culture — something you consciously want to create. On the other hand, it’s also thanks to our store manager Roomil, who has been working here for almost 20 years. He’s very sensitive to that. Actually, we all are. Everyone needs to feel good in their role.
We try to facilitate that by being there for people and helping them during difficult periods. My parents are a great example of this. They come here for lunch on Tuesday afternoons and then come upstairs (to the office) saying: ‘I just spoke with this person, and they need this — we want to help with that.’ That’s truly embedded in our company culture.
When people leave here, they leave as the best version of themselves. At De Rode Winkel, you can grow and develop yourself.”**
What are you looking forward to in 2023?
**“We’re going to sell more second-hand clothing and vintage items. We already have some vintage pieces in the store and have photographed some items for online. We’re 185 years old and have a large archive of old items. We have beautiful pieces that we may not sell, but would love to exhibit for our customers.
Second-hand clothing is becoming increasingly relevant, and our employees are actively involved in this as well. We also have gems that you don’t want to sell, but that you can frame or display and tell a story around. I’m really looking forward to that.
We also want to make the circle more complete. When you sell something, you want the item to eventually return to the store after use. Many companies are becoming responsible for this through the new UPV legislation. We’ve been working on this for some time. We already have collection bins at De Rode Winkel and Thom Broekman. You want clothing to end up in the right places.
In 2023, we’ll offer a number of exclusive second-hand items exclusively online — really cool pieces! We’re working with tritonX to see whether we can offer store credit (a reward) when people return second-hand items. We also want to differentiate between credits. For example, if you return a pair of jeans, you might receive 5% of the value as store credit, but if you return an amazing Carhartt jacket, after evaluation we might offer €100.”**
How has EK Fashion supported you in recent years?
**“Three or four years ago, we started working with tritonX. At that time, I personally had little contact with EK Fashion. We sent emails and set up campaigns. Now we have a full marketing team and want to push forward with email personalization.
We started using the RFM module at the beginning of the year, and you can really see results. Together with EK Fashion, we’ve set up flows and evaluate what we want and whether it works.
The technical setup in tritonX isn’t our strongest point, and EK Fashion supports us very well there. Because of that, we’re making huge steps. We’re also currently in the pilot phase of the Loyalty Loop (RFM is part of this).
I was already very enthusiastic about tritonX, and you know there are many customer groups. When the Loyalty Loop came along, I thought: this is what we were missing. Now I can clearly see how many customers are inactive or extremely loyal. This allows you to send very targeted emails and truly engage people. That helps the organization tremendously.”**
What do you do in terms of sustainability?
**“We’ve had an in-store tailoring atelier until the end of 2019. That was always staffed by someone from Oerania. Now we have two employees who are also very skilled behind the sewing machine. Depending on the schedule, someone is assigned to that role.
If customers are shopping and decide their jeans need to be shortened, we can arrange that immediately — the jeans are ready an hour later. Compared to five or six years ago, so much more is being repaired. Every day we have a stack of pants in the atelier.
We’re also now a repair partner for Nudie. Customers who bought Nudie jeans can have them repaired for free. We also make sure second-hand jeans are repaired and given a new life.”**
Is there anything you’d like to pass on to the reader?
**“We run the business as a group of five: my parents, my brother, my sister, and me. We’re a family business, but the way we work together is quite unique. We celebrate Christmas together, but Sinterklaas is still a question mark. We see each other a lot on the shop floor, but not as much outside of work.
If I had had to do the past two years on my own, I would have hit rock bottom. The most important thing is that you don’t have to do it alone. You have people around you to do it together with. There are five of us — and if one person is struggling, the other four are there saying: come on, let’s go again. That’s how you keep going and don’t forget why you’re doing it in the first place.”**
Photo: De Rode Winkel Utrecht
About De Rode Winkel
De Rode Winkel has been located at Lange Elisabethstraat 13 in Utrecht since 1837. Within the family business, the fifth and sixth generations are currently active.
Website: www.derodewinkel.nl | Instagram: @derodewinkel | Facebook: @derodewinkel | YouTube: derodewinkeljeansutrecht
