Nadine's ideas have Qredits!


Clothing, jewelry, and cupcakes.


In The Darling everything is special: the cheerful decor, the historic building and the fact that, in addition to the clothing and jewelry, you can also buy pastries. Exactly how founder and owner Nadine van der Zee intended.

Nadine sells clothing, accessories and shoes. Her shop, The Darling, is certainly anything but ‘just another cozy boutique in Amsterdam.’ Unlike other shops, The Darling has a unique and consistently applied design. Nadine, primarily a designer, drew inspiration from candy stores. "I want people here to feel like a kid in a candy store - you don’t know where to look, because everything is so wonderful and beautiful. Literally though, I make extensive use of candy as inspiration. The price tags on the clothing are cupcake papers. The cupcakes that are scattered about the shop - I sell those too."
What’s also special about The Darling is its collection. Nadine purchases new clothes every week, in small quantities, so that it’s constantly distinctive and unique. And the collection is an assortment of everything: modern, designer, vintage. All together, The Darling is most reminiscent of a warm and cozy living room, where someone has already lovingly displayed their own special things.

The shop is further distinguished by its pricing policy. "Because of the special interior design people expect expensive clothes," says Nadine. "But a dress costs an average of forty euros. That's almost an H&M price. "

Personal coaching

Since she was young Nadine dreamed of having her own shop. After graduating from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, she worked first as an employee, but the dream continued to lure her, and one fine day she decided to realise it. By word of mouth she heard about the possibility of microfinancing. That’s how she came in contact with Qredits. Why didn’t she go to a regular bank? "I considered it," said Nadine. "But this appealed to me more because of the personal coaching. An advisor came to my home who listened to my story. After that, another coach came by and gave me practical tips. Good, friendly coaching."
Almost simultaneously with the loan application to Qredits, Nadine received the chance to lease a unique place for her store in the popular Nine Streets district in Amsterdam. Its a building with historical value, which had already been vacant for two years. "For me it was a lottery ticket. Exactly what I was looking for!"

No time

The loan money was largely spent on the purchase of the collection. The interior of the boutique cost quite a bit less. Nadine: "I made the clothing racks myself, from trees. In addition, I was given a lot of things or purchased items second-hand and restored them myself."
In September 2009 The Darling opened its doors. Since then, it’s been going fantastic for Nadine. "I actually wanted to sell my own designs as well. But I don’t have any time for that at the moment. The shop is running very well, better than I had hoped. I had calculated how much revenue I had to make per day to survive. I make that easily."

Nadine's ideas have Qredits! - Qredits, Microkrediet in Nederland