jews d
on the cover
in
the
Dressed
For Success
Local woman launches
dress business in
Kenya.
JOYCE WISWELL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
J
ABOVE: Zuri dress
RIGHT: Ashleigh, Felix and
Andrew Miller
8
July 6 • 2017
jn
ust like workers everywhere, the people who sew
Ashleigh Gersh Miller’s dresses like to go to the water-
ing hole after their factory shift is over. But it’s not
alcohol they’re seeking; they’ve come to see the sunset and
watch the elephants drink.
That literal watering hole is just one of the many charms
of Miller’s life in Africa, where she’s lived since 2013 when
her husband, Andrew, got a job at a private equity fund in
Nairobi, Kenya. It’s a long way from Bloomfield Township,
where they both grew up.
“Andrew did the Peace Corps there when he was 24 and
loved it,” Miller said. “We visited a couple of times and when
the opportunity came to move there, I thought it was time
for a change.”
What a change it was: The couple had been living in New
York City for some 10 years and Miller was a new mother
to baby Felix. (Ten months ago, she gave birth to daughter
Raffi.)
“We figured it would be a new experience,” said Miller, 37,
who never imagined her new life would include launching
Zuri, a dress company that is red-hot and poised for great
expansion.
At a wedding last year, Miller complimented the dress
designed by a fellow expat, Sandra Zhao of Denver.
“There is not a lot you can buy off the rack here so every-
one has a tailor,” Miller said. “She had her tailor make me
one of the dresses, and I said, ‘I want 10 of these and I want
to wear it every day.’ Sandra and I decided to make 20,
which felt like a lot, to see if they would sell — and they did,
immediately.”
The women knew they were onto something with their
comfortable, boldly printed tunic-like dresses, which are
produced in limited runs of bright wax cotton fabric and sell
for $145.
“The cut is really easy to wear, and it looks good on every
body type and every age,” Miller said.
Seeking ethical manufacturers, the women partnered
with Wildlife Works, a company with a conservation strat-
egy based on job creation, and Soko, which helps create sus-
tainable livelihoods and an alternative to prostitution and
poaching in a region with Kenya’s highest rates of unem-
ployment. Zuri dresses are crafted at a fair trade-certified
eco-factory that employs mostly women.
“It was really great to meet everybody at the factory. It’s a
lovely indoor-outdoor place and they are happy,” Miller said.
“We wanted to do the right thing, and it turns out that this
is something people seek out.”
That’s an understatement. In April, Zuri was mentioned
in the New York Times and orders started pouring in from
around the world — Morocco, Europe, Thailand, Australia.
Since launching in November, the company has sold 4,200
dresses.
Miller spent June in the U.S., visiting family and doing
pop-up stores in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Manhattan. She’s
now back in Kenya, where she and Zhao are focused on
growth, including another pop-up in New York and expand-
ing the product line to shirts for women and possibly, men.
“We would like to be as big as we can possibly be,” Miller
said. “It’s still just the two of us; we need to hire someone to
grow.”
Meanwhile, Andrew has a new job at a logistics startup
and the Miller family continues its love affair with Kenya.
“The people are amazing, so sweet, very chill, and they
love kids. In the U.S. when you bring a child to a restaurant
people think, ‘Oh no.’ Here, there are literally playgrounds
at every restaurant. It is very family-focused,” Miller said.
“Swahili culture is so lovely. It’s a wonderful place to live.”
Nairobi, she said, is unexpectedly sophisticated. “The hos-
pital is totally first-rate, and when I needed to buy a French
coffee press, I went to Nakumatt, which is like the Walmart
of Kenya, and they had three choices! It is not this rustic
place that people imagine.”
Still, she admitted, “I would kill for a good bagel.”
Though they are not especially religious, the Millers
always get together with a group of 20 or 30 fellow Jews for
the holidays.
“Growing up, my dad was Jewish, and he wanted us to fig-
ure it out for ourselves,” Miller said. “Those values of choice
have guided me a lot “When we got to Nairobi, we imme-
diately found a Jewish community. I can’t explain why, but
that was important to us.” •
Visit shopzuri.com.