Super cute prints combined with fine soft fabrics and fun colours, that’s Zezuzulla! We are fan, because the clothes are not only really cool, but also great to wear! Time for an interview with Emilia, the founder of Zezuzulla.
Would you mind introducing yourself and your brand to our readers?
Hello, I’m Emilia, the founder of Zezuzulla – cool children clothing brand from Poland.
What was your background prior to starting Zezuzulla?
I’ve finished art-university in Toruń as a qualified painter and was working as freelance children-book illustrator for a while. After that I became a mother and that experience changed my life entirely.
How did you develop your skills as a fashion designer?
After our son, Julo was born, I was simply searching for the cool clothes that he can wear and found out that there’s very little choice in clothes that fits my specific-expactations. That’s when I decided to sew some of my own designs by myself.
At what age did you first notice fashion around you?
I wanted to design clothes since I remember but I never thought that it will be children’s wear.
What sort of clothes did you enjoy wearing as a child and what did youhate wearing?
I hated dresses and preferred rather hoyden-like-outfits. But, like all the girls I knew, I always wanted to have plastic-court shoes – the symbol of style in Polish ’80 :).
Why did you decide to create Zezuzulla? And where does the name of your brand come from?
When I was pregnant, I’ve started a blog and quickly it became quite popular. I’ve named the blog Zezuzulla – we have a female cat, Zeza and it’s a tender calling we’ve made-up for her. There’s no such word in any language. When we’ve published the pics of Julo in my selfmade clothes on our blog, we’ve received a lot of attention – everybody was excited and asking what is he wearing. And that’s how it started.
Do you have a particular muse for your children’s collection?
Yes, our son Julo. Totally!
Can you tell us a bit more about the new SS16 collection of Zezuzulla?
For this collection, I’ve focused on the bond between my childhood on the countryside and nature itself. There are many wild places in Poland – lots of free-growing forests and I’ve had one of such forests on the other side of the window, very close to my home. I was raised in a countryside and that’s a kind of a tribute to my childhood days.
What are the 3 must haves from the SS16 collection?
Julo Blouse Black Grain for the colder days of Spring, Brown Fox Shorts for the hot Summer days and Julong Pants Blue Hedgehog for the long forest walks.
How does it feel to see a child wearing one of your creations?
It’s an awesome feeling, really. And a bit strange too – when we see a child in our clothes we think our son has multiplicated :).
Do you like to children to be mini me’s?
Yes, but only when the adult is wearing clothes similar to child and not the other way around.
If you could dress any celebrity’s child. Who would it be?
To see any child wearing our clothes is a great honour for us. They are our stars and their parents are the celebrities, we don’t need any more prominents to wear our clothes and we don’t think about it – we focus on our clients, because we value them most. And, moreover, we don’t know who’s most popular right now, as we don’t have TV in our home!
What do you love most about your job?
I love the freedom to create whatever I like.
What is your greatest strength?
Our strength is our quality – if the customer buy our stuff once, it’s pretty sure he’ll come back for more.
What is your greatest weakness?
Some say that we’re expensive, for a newcomer. But we want to be fair from the beginning – we produce our clothes from best possible garments bought from local distributor and sew it all in Poland. We don’t aim to do it as cheap as possible, we want to do it good and give all that are involved in the production process their worthy share, a fair payment for the fair work.
Do you have children?
Of course – we have our beloved Julo, who is 4,5 years old and I’m currently pregnant. If all will go well, Teo will join us in August this year!
If you have children? Do they wear Zezuzulla?
Yes, of course! Julo love our clothes and he’s our main quality director. 🙂 Everything must fit ideally, otherwise he will never wear it! 🙂 Seriously!
Where can we find your creations?
We’ve started our international adventure about an year ago, when my husband Krystian quit his former job and joined our company. And I must say that the outcome is simply unbelivable so far! Zezuzulla is currently at more than 50 shops worldwide, mostly in Europe. Germany and Belgium are our best markets for now and there are a lot of interest, so we can’t be more happy with our progress than we currently are. Oh, maybe except of the fact that we’re in just one French shop and none with our current collection – but hope this will change soon!
If one of our readers is in your city, Torun, for 24 hours. What things would you recommend they do?
Come to us for a cup of coffe or tea!
And after that visit the Old Town, listed on UNESCO list – Torun have nice medieval architecture, which is rare in Poland, because most of the historical places were destroyed during the World War II. It was also homecity of Nikolaus Copernicus. But the most beautiful in Poland is it’s countryside, so don’t forget to take a camper or at least a tent!
Website: http://zezuzulla.pl
