Discovering the Body Was the Missing Data Point: Lessons from Gillian Ridley Whittle

Hi everyone and welcome. Today I'm very excited because it's going into a topic that most of us, even as women, probably don't talk enough about. And when we talk about reimagining women's health, fashion, or leadership, we're not just talking about better products. We're talking about what we're still afraid to say out loud. And I think that that's a really interesting way to think about it. So Gillian Ridley Whittle, Whittle, Whittley?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (00:34)
Correct?

Whitley. We're just going to keep going exactly because

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (00:35)
I love it! Weirdly whittle. Yes.

names are also something interesting too, isn't it? We'll talk about that a little bit later. Has spent over 25 years inside the world of big fashion and then she walked away and she walked away to create something incredible. Peachhaus House. So Peachaus is a values driven brand and it's built on dignity and comfort and care. And that's, think, also an important part that we don't talk about enough is the care piece.

But even now in some spaces, certain words are still off limits, which surprised me and I can't wait to dive into this a bit more. And that actually says everything. So in this episode, we're gonna talk about what happens when you stop shrinking yourself to fit and start recreating from the body, the truth and the soul outwardly. So, Gillian and I had the opportunity to meet actually when I was preparing for moderating a panel and...

I remember the first time we spoke, you said, I feel like a bit of an imposter. What am I doing on this panel about women's health? And we immediately had this instant connection, which ⁓ I loved. Getting this episode up and running has also been kind of a testament to that, that we were getting to know each other.

And we've both been very patient and understanding. I think this is try number three, and we heard it also in the introduction. We're just gonna flow with things and to take time and have a breath and enjoy this conversation. So thanks for being here. Trial number three.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (01:53)
you

lovely.

I love it. Let's just see how it rolls.

Let's see

how it rolls. But I would like to understand a bit about you. Tell us about you and some of your drivers and how you decided to start Peachaus, which is a great product, by the way, because I have ordered a few things and I'm really enjoying them.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (02:24)
Thank you. First thing to say is you're right, I've had a very long fashion career. It's a career I always wanted to have. I had my first sewing machine when I was seven, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And I always knew I was going to come into this industry. I did a fashion degree and then I started a corporate fashion career. I worked for Marks and Spencer's in my first apprenticeship job. And then I worked around the industry.

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (02:49)
I latterly in, I guess the last few years of my old life, I call it, I ran Marks and Spencer's underwear. I launched their beauty. I had four years in turnaround businesses in Australia and then Topshop, fashion director. I was their last fashion director before they got sold to ASOS. And tell you about me, well, I'm incredibly passionate. I am very driven. I call myself unstoppable actually right now, Sabine.

Mmm.

Mm, how are

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (03:15)
I'm very

you?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (03:16)
I curious and I actually pride myself in my energy. It's interesting actually, my mother's just been staying and she said, do you know what, Gillian, I really think you need to be more careful, you're gonna burn out, which is quite funny because I have been there and I'm like, no mum, I'm actually in a great place. I have amazing energy. So yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. And what's the

difference? That's interesting that you say that because you're right. You can also, hear that also quite often and the level and the pace of what we do, but it's different if you're thriving and loving what you're doing as compared to potentially being pushed under. For you, what's the difference between the burnout piece and then thriving and where you are now?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (03:59)
Yeah.

Yeah,

goodness me, I literally, have to at this point go, I have an old life, which I talked about before, and I have a new life. And I had a four year transition to my new life. My old life and burnout was deep anxiety. Every day, well, my normal became...

living in fight or flight in my nervous system was very rattled. I was always tired. I was probably quite

hyper in many ways. I remember my mum particularly used say, go you're just hyper. My thoughts controlled my every day and my thoughts actually weren't all good. I became very obsessive with work. I was determined because I've always been this ambitious person and always had goals, which was to be a very high achiever and be perfect. I was determined no one was going to see that. So I was brilliant at putting a mask on and hiding.

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (04:59)
that. So my old self was uncomfortable. Now, rolling the clock forward to where I am now and I've done a huge amount of work to rewire my mindset, my brain, my mind, my physical, my whole life.

Just a different person and I can honestly say I mean I use the word bliss recently my everything feels just so calm, peaceful, aligned, happy, blissful, confident, no doubts.

Wow, that's incredible not to have any doubts. And when did that happen? Was there, you know, I think sometimes we think about these changes in careers, because you definitely had a shift in your career. You stayed in the industry, but it was a shift for you, and instead of working for someone, you've become an entrepreneur. And was it kind of this...

sometimes when you think about this aha moment and the light coming down and reflecting in, it one of those or was it a gradual shift?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (06:05)
⁓

It was a gradual shift. I mean, my discomfort became my normal. So I just thought, well, this is the career that you've chosen and it's just like this. So you just have to suck it up and put up with it. I think probably the turning point was when I left Marks & Spencer in 2014, we moved to Australia and I was in a turnaround job and I had thought this was my eternal happiness job because it was the most of everything I thought was going

give me happiness of the most money, the biggest teams, the most responsibility and I...

I embraced that job. I knew it was going to be amazing. And actually what I learned probably six, nine months into the job was that it was really playing on my anxiety levels. I think probably I put a huge amount of pressure on myself because I didn't want to fail. The whole family had come out to Australia. like I said, I just bought new dresses to make myself feel better. I glided along on the

as like a swan but underneath I was paddling away and

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (07:13)
Yeah, that for me was kind of a real turning point for me. And then at the same time as that, I realized that the industry that I was in was cruel and destructive. I mean, this had been building up, you know, discounting of products just to drive market share and compete, going to cheaper sources so that you could drive your profit, your bought-in margins, that's not even your net margins, and taking the beauty out of design.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (07:41)
and creativity to again get things into cast so it was all just race to the bottom and I'm just thinking what am I what am I doing? I'm in meetings all day, I don't see daylight, I'm like a performing monkey.

Hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (07:55)
And actually, just had one day I was walking on the corridor, was a Monday, and I just said, I hate today. I hate my life. I've never ever said that about my life. And I just thought, what is happening? So you've kind of got this double whammy going on, this anxiety, realizing I'm in a situation I hate, huge amounts of pressure because of moving out to Australia and all the... ⁓

responsibility and then realising that the industry I was in was really quite disrupt, disgusting actually. And I was like, what am going to do? So that was it. It was about that time and I just, I've got to do something about it. And I found a book actually, which was called Plant, it was about planting seeds to change your life. And I thought, I have to do this because I can't, I don't know where this is going to go, but I just have to find a way to start to make a change.

Yeah. Well, congratulations that you did because look what's evolved from that. And That is also, you know, Did you think, okay, well, I've made the decision and then to actually leave, was it clear for you when you decided to make the cut and to leave and to quit that you knew that you were going to start Peachaus?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (09:05)
No.

So I had an opportunity so I finished this first job in Australia and I had three months off and I was looking for a job or options where we come back to the UK or if I find another job in the three months before you get kicked out the country then I will stay. So I in that time actually was when I created Peachaus. House.

I love creating storyboards and moves and things and I literally just thought, you know what, I'm part of an industry that's so corrupt, but it's all I know. So actually, why don't I create a band? The antithesis of this. I always said I would when the time was right. So I came up with a concept. I created mood boards. I actually created a film, came up with the name. It was going to be called Beach House, because we loved the Australian free-spirited vibe. And then I decided it was going to be called Peachaus because the peach was

tactile feminine soft, it would travel globally if it ever became a global brand. Peace is within peace house community, AUS Australia free spirited vibe, each of us as individuals and us as a collective, it has deep meaning and actually what I thought I was going to do is create something which was utopia. I don't see why utopia can't exist in fashion. So no seasons, no trends, nothing that perpetuates throw away.

Products sourced from the right factories which pay their workers well, which are totally sustainable in their approach and their outlook. Fabrics which are soft and kind on your skin, products which flow with your life, they don't own you, challenging the sizing system on our bras, so our products are underwear, sleepwear, loungewear, athleisure, and just coming up with a new genre of clothing and a new way of living and building a lifestyle. I'd love it one day if people went, you know, I live a Peachaus life, almost like

you say yeah I use a Hoover for a vacuum cleaner that type of thing so yes that was that gave me so much joy and I realized this is there's something here but it took me six years to launch it from there.

Great.

This is it. Yeah, fantastic.

did

it, okay. I think that that's another also a reality that many people don't know is that you have the idea and it begins to evolve, but to get that out and thriving and moving and especially in products that you're creating takes a significant amount of time.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (11:24)
Well it does but it was actually because I couldn't work out how I was going to do it. How do you set up a business when you've been having a massive six-figure salary, walking away from it, all your lifestyle is built around that. Schools, know, your kids, everything. So actually what happened is it went on the shelf. I took my next corporate job in Australia and you you do the same thing the ultimate you get the same results. So a year down the line I was feeling stressed and anxious, returned home,

home to the UK in 2018 after four years in Australia. Then I tried to launch the business. It was post-Brexit. It was a tricky time. I tried to look for funding. I here I am. I'm totally out of my depth. I didn't know what I was doing.

And I was also looking for a job, I mean at this time the anxiety was really, really bad. I mean, this is probably one of the lowest times of my life. So I was looking for a job too. And then I got the Topshop Fashion Director job, which was everything I said I'd never do, but I did it because I had to, I needed a job. But actually, do you know, it's funny, isn't it? When you have something which really takes you to such a low point, you can either sink or swim.

And I'm a fighter. I'm a winner. I'm unstoppable. Something drove me and all the way, I was at Topshop all the way through COVID in the background. Every Monday I set myself my intentions for my week. I wrote them down. On a Friday I checked in, have you done what you said you were going to do? I held myself to account and I built the business in terms of an investor deck, the story, the whole marketing business plan, all the finance

plans and I was then introduced to someone which I know I must be on the right path because...

it's a man called Cedric Wilmotte who was at the time the president of Michael Kors in EMEA, Europe, Middle East and Asia. And he was looking to invest in sustainable brands and human-centric brands. And so my friend was coaching his exec team and she said, you have to meet this man. I'm like, why would he want to meet me? And he did. And we had a wonderful call. And he said, I'm really interested in investing.

and six months later I was made redundant from ASOS and he invested. So that was four and a half years ago now. Lucky stars!

Fantastic.

Look at that. Lucky,

well, I don't know, you position ourselves in places as well, right? And you had been doing the work even in the background to think about what you wanted to do with the brand and what it meant to you. So it wasn't, it was maybe on the shelf, but it was still alive and you were still thinking about it and what you wanted to do. So incredible.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (13:53)
Yes.

Yeah, yes, no,

it was such a monumental shift for me in my life, but...

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (14:15)
And I think this is, you know, think my story, everyone has versions of my story and I see this all the time. So at that point where he invested, my confidence was so low. I was riddled still with this anxiety. I was uncomfortable in myself. So I actually from there on in, whilst...

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (14:37)
learning to run a brand and be a CEO, which I'd never been, I also had to heal myself and recover. And so the two things have gone hand in hand really nicely.

So Peachaus

has been part of your healing process.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (14:54)
Yeah, Peachaus, interesting enough, I've really noticed this, it finds people, people find Peachaus and it's a place to heal. It's really, it's beautiful actually. And I have, yeah, I started that journey of actually stepping into who I am, who I was born to be, which I'm hugely grateful I found it in this lifetime. And...

I mean years of lacking in confidence and I guess traumas and stuff that I've just bottled away. I used to pride myself on my strength and my resilience and all I was doing was just pushing things down and ultimately things come up and you have to deal with them. So for me four years of looking after myself, learning to see what makes me happy, I always used to think I didn't want to be on my own. I had

You have to deal.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (15:46)
an injury to my knee and I had to go and spend some time at our cottage on my own for for 10 days just because of logistics of family and stuff I had to do it and it was the first time I'd ever spent any time on my own in my life and I loved it and I realized how much peace and quiet and stillness meant to me and I learned that I love nature and to connect with nature and I mean I've always been an active person but I know

now what I have to do to keep myself in balance. I learnt to get out of here and go into my heart. I live in my heart centre now. I connect with energy. I'm a very, I'm a multi-dimensional being I'd say now and I lead in that way.

Fantastic. So we've had a couple of conversations and I've been shocked at some of the things that you've dealt with with actually your products because one of the main things in that you pride yourself on are bras and bra fittings.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (16:44)
Yeah.

And I think

that that's incredible because so many women, you've told lots of stories around women who are wearing bras that weren't comfortable, that weren't fitting right. And that was a bit of the direction that we spoke on when you were on the panel for this women's health theme. And can you tell me a bit more about that? How do you see also...

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (16:49)
Yeah.

Yeah.

bras and bra fittings and actually being with the well-being of a woman and taking care of her breasts as well in the garments that we wear.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (17:08)
Yeah.

Yeah,

well it's, this is such a deep subject. You know, we think of a bra just as a piece of clothing. What I've really learned is it's not, and I think the industry treats it like it is a bit of clothing and a product that creates an aesthetic. A bra is such a fundamental part of how a woman feels. That...

piece of engineering that goes around a woman's body can either give her confidence and make her feel feminine and sensual and beautiful or it can actually be an inhibitor to comfort, posture, emotionally, how you feel.

I see too many examples of women who take their bra off during a bra fit and they have red marks around their body. They, and they just think that's normal. So the industry has failed women because it has not one, told women or explained to women what comfort is in a bra, two,

totally confusing because brands fit differently some put you into a structure that restricts you and others don't so this product is such a key part of how a woman feels and aligns with herself so that's I'm really passionate about this and

our bra fits are not just that we don't we don't go into sell we go in to create a really beautiful memorable experience which talks to a woman as a human being surrounds her in care and demonstrates through fit

how that can be life-changing, your bra can be life-changing. And you're right, I've had so many beautiful moments and experiences with women who discovered through their bra how it can bring them...

to life. I have women going, is that me? Looking at themselves in mirror, is that me? Is that really me? ⁓ my god, looks, I don't, you know, it's like that. I don't believe what's just happened to me. So I am on a mission to fit as many women as I can, to help them through their fitting, ignite their power, because it's transformational, and

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (19:38)
step into their comfort zone, find their comfort. And yes, coming back to what you talked about, I'm coming up against some really interesting, I'm learning a lot. So the first thing that I had learned in, our bras is actually by putting them on Facebook. So obviously we advertise through Facebook and this is TikTok too.

Images are banned if they're nipples, if your nipples are showing. So we, our bras are really light, beautiful, laces and meshes. So you do see the shadow of your nipples through the bras and we, we have them, had them banned off Facebook because apparently women shouldn't show their nipples. So that was the first thing for me. thought, what's this about? This gets deeper.

What?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (20:24)
and I'm sure I'm going to find out more. So one of the things that we're doing, because women are in the wrong bra size, living with discomfort, not having bra fits, that's a whole other story, we'll come onto that in a minute, we are taking bra fits, we're taking the friction away and we're taking bra fits to where women are. Where are they? Well, they're everywhere. They're in offices, health clubs, festivals. And so this is the journey we're on. So we've been going into some corporate businesses and

Yep.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (20:53)
It's been a massive learning curve. But I was really quite shocked recently. We went into one business and everything was going along really well. We had a few weeks booked in to be doing bra fits and two weeks before we were due to go in and start, we were told we won't be using the word bra on our marketing and we won't be promoting bra fitting.

So night.

That's the main, that's what the goal was, correct? To do that? That's why you're here.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (21:26)
Well that's why I'm here because you know what we're solving a problem that 80 % of women are in the wrong

bra size and it's like well why won't we talk about this because we might make someone uncomfortable so it was a really interesting moment for me that makes me more determined to bust these myths I don't know are they myths?

Is it a myth? It's incredible that the word that you, I was really surprised to hear that you couldn't use the word bra. It's like, that just doesn't make any sense at all.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (21:58)
Yeah. Yeah.

No, I'm still scratching.

And they felt that it would be

uncomfortable for individuals there to hear the word bra.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (22:09)
To read it, to see it, to hear it. I do understand we're taking bra fitting into corporate environments, but we're coming from a wellness point of view. This is about making sure that the women in these organizations are functioning to the best of their ability in every way. And what we're saying is we've worked out that they don't, so, because of a bad bra.

Because

it's a bold step in itself, right? I think this idea that organizations are bringing you in to do bra fittings for their employees is incredible. I live in Germany and I have never heard that a company were to do that. I don't know, is that something that you've seen or are you one of the first to do this?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (22:55)
I think that,

well I would say that there is no one doing it at scale. So no one is doing at scale what we're planning to do, what we are doing. I have heard of a few companies just doing a little bit of a pop-up here and there but not what we're doing. You know, I think it's a really interesting time for...

Mm-hmm. Nothing.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (23:16)
in every aspect of the world, retail, consumerism. I think...

Hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (23:25)
that we are at the forefront of change and we are, I believe, driving a new behaviour, a new way of operating in a consumerism environment. So, yes, obviously, everything we do is about putting back to the planet more than we take, but it's actually putting the human being at the forefront. You we're in a world of distraction. We are, we don't have peace in our lives.

Hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (23:53)
We are always on and we are actually challenging that and we are saying we're going to bring calm and peace and care. We're going to remind ourselves that actually we are human beings and we are

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (24:07)
all about the human connection. So we're driving a very different lifestyle and it's all around wellness as well. So we call our model actually the IRM, the integrated retail model, if you've got to put a little term on things. So which means we go in first, talk about the experience, how we can provide education and knowledge to make better choices and learn about your bodies. And then product, if the product

we don't go into sell, the product will sell anyway so it's a very upside down way of looking at things.

I love that. Well, I hope more and more companies do this. And also, you we had talked about some kind of wild ideas too about, you're right, festivals. think that you, recently saw some posts that you were at a festival as well and ⁓ doing bra fittings there. So I love that. I love taking it to women because oftentimes they're rushing, even when they go shopping, you just pull something off the rack and you're like,

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (24:55)
Yeah.

could it and you hold it up and you purchase it and then you get home and it doesn't fit and then you wear it anyway and I think that if this experience of wearing something that is really uncomfortable and if you're presenting and you you want to be at your best that matters because how you feel under your clothes and if you're being pinched or if something is poking or prodding you then you're not at your best so you can't.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (25:07)
Yeah.

Yeah.

of perform at your best. So it is so important and and I think it's fabulous that you're that you're doing this and you're making it natural and beautiful to have a bra fitting as it should be.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (25:38)
Yeah.

Yes,

yes as it should be and actually we're making it so memorable.

That actually, if you put your kind of commercial corporate head on, it's all about customer retention and customer loyalty. And when you've had an amazing experience, you go and tell your friends about it, you'll go back to that brand. So the loyalty is built in the experience. And it's not about profit at any cost. It's actually about human care and connection at any cost.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (26:11)
And that's how I will, how I'm training all the women who are, you know, now coming in to be our Peachettes, we're calling them our Peachaus brand ambassadors. They're not, it's a very special role and it requires people with empathy, human connection and genuinely wanting to make a difference and to create a movement of change.

Yeah, that's incredible. And also what I saw with your products is that you, and you've spoken about this, is your sizing. And that is also something that I think is, what are the right sizes to buy? And it's been confusing. you know, I've been buying bras for, yeah, not for 60 years. Okay, that's how old I am, but I didn't get them when I was born, but for quite a long time. And, and.

and you change as you evolve and grow and then what is the right size? So tell me a bit about your process in rethinking that.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (27:05)
Yeah.

So I think one of things I'll say first is that as women you're right our bodies do change all the way through our lives. know whether it's hormonal, whether it's childbirth, menopause, we put on weight, we lose weight and one of the things which we aren't really told is during your life you should have a bra fit at least once a year to take into account all those body changes. So

that's a really, really important thing.

In the underwear industry, sizing was introduced probably over 100 years ago and just imagine what women's, how their wardrobes were like, what they wore, what they ate, what their lifestyles were like 100 years ago, very different to now. So actually that sizing system is totally out of date and it has never been updated. So we challenged ourselves when we creating the brand and we said, okay, so how can we simplify this? Because it's just so confusing. One brand measures differently to another. So we said, well actually,

Women generally know their body frame size, whether it's an S, an M, an L, an XL. And we then said, well, why don't we just simplify the cup sizes? So, you know, we start at a cup size one and we go up to a cup size eight. So we do S, M, L, one to eight. So that covers 32 is an S, 34 is an M and 36 is an L. We will go up to bigger sizes and our cup sizes start at B, which is a one.

Go up to a G which is an 8. So simple. So I for instance I'm in a medium body frame so I'm an M and my cup size is a D which is a 3 so I'm an M3. So when you talk to a woman and you say and by the way we haven't just thrown out the old sizing we keep that in parallel because otherwise that would be just too much for women but when we say to a woman you know what let me talk to you about our sizing do you know why we're challenging it and then you say this is this

Right.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (29:06)
what your size would be actually. We don't use tape measures, it's all visual. It's all about how you feel. You know, you own your body, you know how you want to feel. you know, I would go, oh look, you're a medium body frame and I'm from sight, you're a D cup, so you're an M3. They love that simplicity. They go, oh that's brilliant, it's just so simple.

It is. Yeah,

it is simple.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (29:28)
So

again, you know, we're challenging everything here. We go on, it's your body, you own your fit. It's how you want to feel. So I did fit a woman a couple of weeks ago and she was in a 36 back, so that for us is an L. But she asked me, she wanted to go down a size? She liked it tight around here. So we ended up going, and I said, that's, you know, this is your body, you,

you tell me how you want to feel. I'm not dictating to you in any way. And that's really important. It's a real shift.

Yeah, that is a real shift. And your customers stay then. So I'm assuming that how do they when they get their first fitting?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (30:11)
Yeah.

⁓

How does that go? Do they feel more comfortable then? Are you seeing that they really stick with you and the product and expand in the products that you're offering?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (30:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I'd love to talk you through what happens in a fitting. So when a woman comes for a fitting, and by the way, when we go into a corporate office, we make a beautiful environment. We transform a room, which is like maybe a meeting room, into a really beautiful pop-up. We bring in our gorgeous Japanese screens. We have lovely mirrors. We have lovely candles and pottery that we also do. And so we've got gold rails and we put all our beautiful

Yeah.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (30:53)
products, all in their color themes and stories. So you get immediately a beautiful visual experience. And then they step in, most women, let's say in a corporate environment, they may be a bit time-poor, so you have to be quite cognizant of that. But we go, how was your last bra fit? And they'll go, how was it? Or when was it? And then you've opened the door to understanding what's going on behind that mask. And then they go, my gosh, you know what, I haven't had a fit since I was

18 or well actually very rarely I'll get I had one last year but more often than not it's either never or I only have ever had one once but I know I should but I never do because I tried to go into ⁓ M&S once and I couldn't get bra fit they told me I had to book online I'm just not that well planned I was passing the door or you know they maybe had a bad experience or they just they just got used to wearing that bra they've worn for five years ten years I once had a woman who probably wore

And keep reordering

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (31:52)
the

it, yeah.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (31:53)
same bra since she was or the bra size since she was 16. So then you say well let's let's let me tell you what size you are so you do it visually you ask about what size they think they're wearing if they are the boob stories start coming out oh you know and it's which is wonderful and then you then we choose some bras and we have only like we have these icon products we don't have loads of styles that's not our model we just have these beautiful perfect works of art products so we try them then in

few of them and that's when the transformation starts, that's when my god I can't feel I'm wearing this bra, it feels like I'm wearing air and then they look at themselves in the mirror and go my goodness, my goodness that's so you know and it's beautiful and we've got lots of beautiful colours so that's what happens in a fit and that's where the transformation happens. and We have actually got some amazing stories I'm just going to go on to because I think this is really special about women who have

had very special stories in their fits and there's one where she was actually at this festival in Wales recently. It was insane, we did 188 bra fits in three and a half days. Because women know they need to and when it's put in front of them, then they just go for it. But I had this one woman, Linda, and I'll never forget, I saw her standing in our tent and she was like, kind of like, yeah, she was just,

Wow.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (33:18)
I felt like emotion all over her. And I just went up to her touched her arm and I said, I'm the founder of the brand, can I help you? And she said, well, I've had nine years of cancer treatment and I promised myself that I would have a bra fit when I finished my last reconstruction. And that was three weeks ago.

Ironically, here we are at this festival doing bra fits. So she then kind of burst into tears and she said, don't know if I can do this. And it was massive for her. I said, look, we can do this together. So we did and we picked some bras and she showed me her breasts and she showed me, she talked about the choices that she'd had to make in her reconstruction. Was she going to go for hard tissue?

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (34:09)
or soft, she had just had her nipples tattooed on, she talked, you know, she talked to me how she rebuilt her femininity and herself as a woman and can you imagine,

me going through this with her at this moment after nine years, it was such a privilege and I knew this had to be a really beautiful experience for her and we tried on the bras, she looked amazing, I mean her figure was amazing, she'd had also tissue removed from her belly to put into her breasts, in what...

she'd had to go through to reconstruct herself and now she was coming out as a new woman. But yeah, and then she loved the bras, she bought bras. I mean, it's just such a special story. This is what we're here to do. We're here, we held, know, and that for her was a really important moment in rediscovering who she was and her femininity. And we were there.

Mm-hmm.

That is a very special story.

That's an incredible story and I'm sure there are so many more and I can imagine. because you do identify as a woman, know, especially after having treatment.

There are no words to even to share about that because I just can't imagine how emotional it was for her and for you to be a part of that and share that with her and to help her ⁓ take that step.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (35:27)
Yeah, but this is the space.

This is the space that we're in. And this is why you and I, you know, when we started talking, connecting, we both feel so passionately about identity, you know, someone's identity. And what I'm now learning where I've got to is that over time, women, we, you know, we've been, I mean, looked this up actually this weekend, I looked at when did women lose their, their power? When will women

marginalised, when were we stereotyped into roles and actually looked back over history as to how things changed. and you we're

We're trying to have it all. We're trying to be a career woman, a mother, a sister, a friend. And we, in all of that, we actually forget we've got to give to ourselves. And this is what I see in the bra fitting. there's this whole thing for me, which is actually as women. And I think I'm not saying men have their own version of the story, but we're trying to rediscover our place in society and humanity.

Absolutely.

Yeah,

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (36:35)
It's quite deep.

It is very deep and it goes to the point, one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about as well is that we live in such a society and you've mentioned it several times now, speed, speed, speed. We also had this when we were starting, when I was starting the session, I was also, had lots of things before and I'm like, okay, just take a breath and I'm here and I'm with you and.

let's stop moving so quickly. And that's such an important piece. And actually what a company going back to this idea of organizations bringing this into their space and supporting women in that way, that they give them the time and space to kind of come down and to do that and to take care of themselves, which is so incredibly valuable. Yeah, that more and more. So I love this idea that companies can actually give that to women by bringing you in,

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (37:17)
Yes.

and giving them some time. And actually to smell the candles and not rush in between meetings, but to take some time and to reflect on who you are and what you want and where you want to go. Who knew that a bra fitting could give you that space?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (37:37)
That's it.

I know and I really hope that we can expand on what that time actually is. So when we were putting our model together, we wanted to allow 45 minutes for a woman to come into the space, to have a beautiful experience and then walk away. But actually what we learned from our first corporate bra fittings was actually women are a bit time poor,

rushing from meeting to meeting. My boss is actually waiting for me. So actually we realized we needed to reduce the time to, you know, now making it half an hour. But that would be wonderful for me if I were a company actually would say, do you know what? Every year we want you to come back every year or every month, however many women there are, but we're going to, we want you to have an hour. We want you to book out that hour out of your calendar. You know,

in advance, it's our gift to you, for you, which is a Peachaus Bra Fit moment. Love that.

Yeah, that's a beautiful

idea. I love that too. And again, it goes with the values that you're talking about. And I think one of the things that the shift that you made in your career had to do with the values and what you wanted to bring into Peachaus and how you wanted the company culture to be and the values that you have. And tell me a bit about those. You get a very good, clear picture of what your values are listening to you talk about the company and what you want to give,

⁓ to the women that are coming in and experiencing the fittings and also purchasing other beautiful products. as well.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (39:14)
My values are very much rooted in how I want to feel. always want to be able to feel that I am shining my diamond, I am comfortable and not...

Hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (39:34)
in any shape or form, not feeling centered and balanced. So I always said my values are how do I create that in my environment? in terms of the people, it's very much around acceptance and accepting we're all totally different, we're all differently, different experiences. I cannot apply

my view of the world on anyone else. So there's a whole thing around letting people's diamonds shine, accepting them for who they are and actually encouraging and nourishing and allowing people to blossom and bloom. So that's a really important value to me. Total honesty, transparency, authenticity is really, important to me.

Yeah, I mean, look, can feel it. I just want people to be living their best lives, supported by each other. I mean, if you call it utopia, it is utopia. We've become such a fear-based, aggressive world, and we've really lost who... This is a gift. A life is a gift. So actually, I'm the antithesis of that. I'm creating an environment which is all about the human being, living a great life.

Bye.

Yeah.

It is.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (40:43)
connecting as humans and genuine care and love.

Yeah,

that is a good thing. We need more of that. And if if you reflect because the podcast is called Be the Ripple podcast. So what ripple do you hope the Peachaus leaves for women, for the industry and also for the next generation?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (41:04)
So I think the ripple that I would love to be a tsunami is actually shifting away from a retail model which is so based in profit at any cost. It's not just a fashion, it's how we built our businesses,

to be and actually the ripple is that fashion can be a force for good and fashion actually mends and repairs and nourishes rather than distracts.

A beautiful ripple and you're well on your way. The tsunami is starting. ⁓

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (41:46)
I'm sorry.

Well,

Gillian, I'm just, feel so lucky to have met you that our paths cross. Thank you, Samuel, right, for bringing us together on this panel. And I'm excited also about the ripples of that because we still have, we're exploring ideas on, can we do an event together? know, does something make sense with a bra fitting and then a book reading and bringing that to organizations.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (42:09)
Yes.

feel really blessed about that. And sometimes it just takes a bit of time to figure all that out too. So let's see where that evolves. And I wish you so many ripples and thank you for what you do and the values that you bring to this and for bringing such special moments to women and doing a very important thing with a bra fitting and also the other products because I've I can also speak from firsthand.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (42:20)
Yeah.

I hope so too.

I've purchased a couple of other things and they're really beautiful. They're very comfortable there. It's so interesting sometimes to try things on that there's no pinching and and uncomfortableness when you put something on. You're like, yeah, that feels that feels really nice. So thank you for that. And if people would like to find you, where can they find you? I you have a beautiful Instagram where you actually ⁓ share some really nice videos that I love to watch. And where else can people find you?

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (42:55)
Yeah. Pleasure.

Yeah,

so if you want to follow us on our Instagram it's peachhouse, P-E-A-C-H-A-U-S underscore life and our website is peachaus.com and yeah I'd be delighted to have people come and find us there. I have a blog within the website as well and obviously on LinkedIn and you can follow me Gillian.

Mm-hmm.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (43:29)
Ridley Whittle on LinkedIn. I'm getting quite active. ⁓

I know it's a lot of work to be so active

on the social media but you have to because that's how people find you and that's so important.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (43:39)
Yes, and actually

yeah that's I should really say that as well. I have my own Instagram it's very small but it's gillypridleywhittle but you see a lot of as a founder what I'm up to on that Instagram which is always quite interesting.

Yeah, and also I think it's interesting for people to reach out because of this shift that you made. We've talked about your beautiful product, but also having a shift in your career and doing something that feels just intrinsically like the right thing to do and to make that shift. And sometimes it takes time, sometimes you have aha moments, but it's also like listening to yourself and listening to your intuition, your body, and what you need to do.

So you're such an inspiration for that. So I'm sure people could potentially reach out to you to talk about that, about this change. How do I know and what should I do? Because not everyone is willing to take that jump. And sometimes it doesn't have to be a jump, it can just be a step.

Gillian Ridley "Whittle (44:16)
Thank you. Yes.

It's what should I do? Yeah.

Yes,

I think it is a very important step to discovering who you are and actually what depths of happiness and joy exist if you go and find them. Yeah. Thank

Thank you.