A former high flying financier is now taking the fashion world by storm with a range of real fur accessories, made from pelts such as mink and fox, after Kim and Kylie went wild for her products.
New York-based, Nina Cheng, 31, was born in Liaoning, China, and while growing up in Sweden and the US, she fell in love with fur during the icy winters and designed the phone cases because of her own need for cosy accessories during cold weather.
Less than a year after launching Wild and Woolly, she’s quit her job to focus on her brand full time and counts models, style icons and royalty including Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Lady Amelia Windsor, Caroline Vreeland and Princess Elisabeth Thurn und Taxis among her clients.
In the UK, her phone cases are stocked by high end retailers such as Harvey Nichols and Browns, costing from £305, and while Nina insists all materials are ethically sourced, she admits there have been negative reactions to her use of real fur.
‘I definitely have. It’s been severe at times,’ Nina told Femail. ‘My view is that if you’re arguing against the use of fur for animal welfare reasons, you should probably try to influence the brands who have no concern for where their furs come from and are just buying the cheapest out there, as opposed to terrorising those that go out of their way to buy from the strictest and most reputable sources and countries.’
New York-based, Nina Cheng counts the Kardashians and royalty as fans after setting up her own range of real fur phone cases and accessories
When Kim Kardashian was spotted using one of Nina’s fur phone cases, the brand’s profile took off
Prior to founding Wild and Woolly, Nina worked in investment banking at JP Morgan and private equity at Fortress Investment Group, but always knew she would branch out on her own.
‘In university, my mentors had advocated starting my career in investment banking for its rigorous training in corporate finance and exposure to core business issues such as strategy and marketing,’ she explained.
‘I eventually moved into a consultant role with more flexibility so that I could pursue my various entrepreneurial ideas, and left the finance industry for good to launch Wild and Woolly.’
The idea for her brand came about due to Nina’s own need for warmth when using her phone during a freezing winter in New York.
The idea for her brand came about due to Nina’s own need for warmth when using her phone during a freezing winter in New York
Kylie Jenner clutching one of Nina’s furry phone cases in yellow
‘When I couldn’t find an existing product on the market that met this need, I ended up creating a case for myself,’ she explained.
‘Little did I know, the first I night I brought it out with me, I was non-stop barraged by fanatical strangers asking where they could buy the same case, and within an hour, had my first paying customer.
‘After this first night, I knew that this idea was something that was worth considering as a business.’
Fast forward to Spring 2017, and once Nina launched street style stars were soon spotted sporting her phone cases and earrings.
Nina’s Wild and Woolly mink cases are stocked by Harvey Nichols and Browns and cost from £305
Style blogger Camille Charriere is one of the many style influencers that have helped to boost Wild And Woolly’s popularity
‘After that, one of my first buyers told me that she was seeing my products everywhere during Fashion Week, and a buyer from a major American department store said he received more emails about my collection than Comme des Garcons,’ she recalled.
‘Suddenly, big name stylists started emailing me out of nowhere, my retailers were getting requests from celebrities left and right.
‘And a major magazine announced that my accessories had officially reached “it girl status.” Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner both started using Wild and Woolly cases soon after that.’
Friends in high places: Nina strikes a pose with model-of-the-moment Bella Hadid
Nina enjoying some rare downtime. While setting up her business she would regularly pull all nighters, but said she was used to is after her banking career
Nina puts her success down to spending a year researching how to build a high-quality product with good design and usability that would be more than just a passing fad and made sourcing ethical fur her priority.
‘Most of the fur products available in the world comes from unregulated sources, and most designers do not care about the origins of their fur,’ she explained.
‘I wanted to prioritise using sustainable fur from the most regulated sources available.
‘I source most of the fur from Saga Furs, considered the industry leader in responsible fur farming and transparency.
‘I exclusively use furs from Saga’s Certified Collection, which has the highest level of animal welfare requirements in the world, greatly exceeding EU regulations, which already have the strictest fur farming laws in the world.
The fashionista has ditched a high flying career in finance to concentrate on her brand, but says she always knew she’d one day branch out on her own
As well as phone cases, Nina also produces a range of furry earrings made from mink
‘The farms Saga buys from must meet 32 criteria around animal well-being and stress elimination, farm hygiene, environmental management, and more, and are second party inspected and third party audited.’
Another source is the Yup’ik Eskimo village in Alaska where people still live a traditional Aboriginal lifestyle, hunting and fishing.
‘Fur is their sole sources of income in the winter,’ Nina explained. ‘Buying directly from them helps to support a small local community considered one of the poorest in Alaska who wants to uphold their Inuit traditions.’
A year after launching Nina is still running the business solo, with help for areas such as legal, distribution, PR, and accounting to help me out,
Nina said she only uses furs from Saga’s Certified Collection, which has the highest level of animal welfare requirements in the world
‘For the majority of the first year, I was “living and breathing” the company, and would spend the entire day at my factory in NYC’s Garment District overseeing production, fulfilment, and design, and then go home at 5 pm to start working on everything else, often until 3 or 4 am,’ she recalled.
‘Having worked in banking where I was doing all-nighters probably once a week on average, this seemed pretty normal, plus it was a lot more fun.’
And her hard work paid off when celebrities began to take notice of her brand.
‘Even my retailers in South Korea have told me that they have customers who come into the stores saying they know Wild and Woolly because of Kim or Kylie or someone else,’ she said.
Nina with singer Cody Simpson: She admits that she’s received some negative reaction to her use of fur but insists her materials are ethically sourced
But the reactions to her goods have no all been positive, due to the use of real fur.
‘If they’re reasonable and calm, sometimes I respond to them and have an open conversation.
‘More and more consumers are starting to realise that not all fur is bad fur—similar to how some consumers have realized there is a difference between grass-fed, pasture-raised cows and grain-fed cows raised in crowded feedlots.
‘In countries with regulations in place, such as the US or in the EU, fur is the strictest of all the animal industries, far more than leather, dairy, or meat.’