From Customer to CEO: How One Woman Saved a Belgian Fashion House

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Listen to this article~3 min

A Belgian fashion designer nearly packed his bags for good. Then one customer saw what the brand could become and stepped in as CEO. A candid look at cashflow, failure, and building something that outlives you.

Nicky Vankets spent more than 25 years building a name for himself as a Belgian designer. But behind the runway lights and the polished brand, there were some genuinely rough years. A family business went bankrupt. There were moments when his suitcase was basically packed and ready by the door. Then Daphné Vandenplas walked into his life. She didn't just see a designer. She saw what House of Vankets could still become. Today she's the CEO, and together they're trying to blend creativity and entrepreneurship in a way that actually works. ### The Honest Conversation Most Founders Avoid In this episode, the two of them get refreshingly candid about what running a business really involves. We're talking cashflow and profitability. Hiring people and, yes, letting people go. Going bankrupt. Trusting the wrong people. Starting over. And the hard admission that you can't do everything yourself. That last one is where a lot of founders get stuck. We tend to wear our busyness like a badge. But Nicky and Daphné show that handing over the reins isn't weakness. It's strategy. ### Why the Exit Plan Matters Before You Need It Here's something that stood out. Nicky is already thinking about a company that one day has to run without him. That's rare. Most creative founders tie their identity so tightly to the brand that they can't imagine stepping back. > "Building something that outlives you is a different skill than building something that works right now." That mindset shift is what separates a hobby that grew into a business from a business that can actually survive its founder. ### What You'll Take Away If you run your own shop, a few themes here will hit close to home: - Cashflow kills more businesses than bad ideas ever will - Trust is essential, but blind trust is expensive - Failing once doesn't disqualify you from trying again - A strong second-in-command can change everything - Succession planning is part of building, not an afterthought This isn't a glossy success story. It's a conversation about entrepreneurship as it actually is: building, making mistakes, losing people, getting back up, and sometimes realizing it's time to do things completely differently. Whether you're in Belgium or the United States, the lessons travel well. A fashion house in Antwerp faces the same core questions as a startup in Austin or a family shop in Ohio. How do you grow without breaking? How do you let go? And how do you build something worth keeping? That's the real work. And it rarely looks glamorous while it's happening.