Dutch Stars Launching Businesses: New Ventures

There's a shift happening in the Dutch celebrity world, and it's worth paying attention to: the biggest names aren't just signing endorsement deals anymore — they're building their own companies. Owning the brand outright means keeping the profits, controlling the story, and having something that outlives a hit song or a season on TV.

This week I'm rounding up the Dutch stars who've turned business owners — from NikkieTutorials' fully self-funded beauty empire to Memphis Depay's fashion label, plus the fresh October announcements. If you follow the stars on Instagram, you'll have seen some of these drops land in real time.

NikkieTutorials' Nimya: The Blueprint for Owning Your Brand

When Nikkie de Jager launched her beauty brand Nimya in September 2021, she did something almost unheard of for a creator her size: she turned down investor money and self-funded the entire thing to keep full ownership. Five years later, that bet keeps paying off. In late September 2026 she dropped a new product — "Trash Until The Lash V2," a trio of strip lashes at €13.99 a pair, selling through nimya.com.

Why it matters: most celebrity beauty lines are licensing plays where the star rents out their name for a royalty check. Nimya is the opposite — a creator-owned company where every product decision and every euro of margin flows back to the founder. For the Dutch beauty market, it's become the case study in how influencers can become genuine entrepreneurs.

Tess van Zalinge Teams Up with Hunkemöller

Dutch couturier Tess van Zalinge designed a collection with lingerie giant Hunkemöller as part of its 140-year heritage campaign, announced in early October 2026. To be fair, this one is a collaboration rather than her own company — but it's exactly the kind of move that builds a designer's commercial credibility before a solo brand launch. Watch this space: heritage-brand partnerships are how European designers test the mass market.

Memphis Depay: From Football Boots to Fashion Label

Dutch footballers have a long tradition of style, but Memphis Depay went further than most — he launched his own clothing label, MDC ("Blind and Deaf to the World"), back in 2020. The line grew from personal merch into a proper brand, eventually landing a collaboration with PUMA. It's the footballer-as-founder path: leverage a global personal brand while the career is hot, then let the company stand on its own.

Depay's move looks smarter every year. Analysts at EU-Startups noted in October 2026 that celebrity involvement gives young businesses instant global visibility, commercial networks, and industry expertise "well past initial funding rounds." A footballer's jersey number sells shirts for a season; a brand built around the player sells long after the transfer window closes. For more off-pitch stories, check my roundup of Dutch football stars making headlines.

The International Benchmark: What €3.75 Million Buys

For context on how big celebrity-backed business has become, look abroad: in October 2026, former Barcelona star Gerard Piqué and streamer Ibai Llanos led a €3.75 million funding round into Plesh, a Barcelona startup making chocolate snacks with no added sugar. That's not a cameo in an ad — that's leading an investment round. It shows the ceiling of what athlete- and creator-led capital can do when it gets serious.

Similarly, the BOSS by Beckham menswear line opened a pop-up in Amsterdam's De Bijenkorf from 1 October to 2 November 2026 — a British footballer's brand getting prime Dutch retail real estate for the autumn/winter season. The pattern is global: fame opens the door, but the business has to hold up once customers walk through it.

The Amsterdam Angle: Pop-Ups and Flagship Moments

The BOSS by Beckham pop-up at De Bijenkorf is a reminder that Amsterdam remains one of Europe's prime testing grounds for celebrity brands. A six-week pop-up (1 October to 2 November 2026) is the retail equivalent of a pilot episode: if Dutch shoppers bite, the brand has its European beachhead. De Bijenkorf has hosted plenty of celebrity-driven launches over the years, and the Beckham line getting that slot for the autumn/winter collection signals how seriously the industry takes athlete-built brands now.

It also shows the flip side of the ownership question. Beckham's brand is a partnership with BOSS (Hugo Boss) — a licensing-style deal where the fashion house handles production and distribution while the star supplies the name and creative direction. Compare that with de Jager's fully self-funded Nimya, and you see the spectrum: from renting your name to owning the whole machine. The middle ground — Depay's founder-led label with a PUMA collaboration — may be the sweet spot for athletes still in their playing careers.

What This Means for the Next Wave

If the pattern holds, expect more Dutch creators to follow the Nimya playbook: build the audience first, then convert attention into ownership. The economics favor it — a beauty or fashion line owned outright can generate more over five years than a lifetime of sponsored posts, and it doesn't depend on an algorithm's mood.

For footballers, the Depay model is the one to watch. A career is short; a brand can run for decades. The players already building businesses while still active are the ones who won't need a punditry chair when they hang up their boots. My football stars roundup tracks who's making moves on and off the pitch each week.

And for designers like van Zalinge, the Hunkemöller collaboration is the classic audition: prove you can sell at scale with an established partner, then launch your own label with the receipts. Fashion history is full of designers who made exactly that jump.

Why Dutch Stars Are Building, Not Renting

A few things make the Netherlands fertile ground for this. Dutch audiences are famously skeptical of inauthentic advertising — a star who slaps their name on anything loses trust fast, as the couples making headlines can tell you about public image. Owning the business forces authenticity: you can't fake quality control when your name is on the company, not just the campaign.

There's also the creator-economy reality: ad revenue fluctuates, algorithms change, and a TV show ends. A brand is an asset. Nikkie de Jager's self-funded route is the purest version — no investors to answer to, no timeline but her own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Dutch celebrities own their own businesses?
Nikkie de Jager owns her beauty brand Nimya outright after self-funding its 2021 launch. Memphis Depay founded his MDC clothing label in 2020, which later collaborated with PUMA. Tess van Zalinge designed a collection with Hunkemöller in October 2026 — a collaboration, not her own company, but a step toward building her commercial footprint.

What is NikkieTutorials' brand Nimya?
Nimya is Nikkie de Jager's own beauty brand, launched in September 2021 with her own money after she turned down investor offers. She keeps full ownership of the company. Its latest release, "Trash Until The Lash V2" lashes (€13.99 a pair), dropped in late September 2026 on nimya.com.

Do celebrity business ventures actually succeed?
Sometimes spectacularly, sometimes not — the difference is usually ownership and involvement. Analysts note celebrity backing gives startups instant global visibility and networks, but the ventures that last are the ones where the star is genuinely running the company (like de Jager with Nimya) rather than licensing their name.

What new Dutch celebrity businesses launched this month?
The freshest Dutch story is Nimya's late-September 2026 product launch from Nikkie de Jager, plus Tess van Zalinge's Hunkemöller collection announced in early October. No new Dutch A-lister company launch has been confirmed for mid-October yet — but the pipeline of creator-owned brands keeps growing.

About the Author

Sidra Salman is the founder of Dutch Stars Daily, where she writes practical, research-backed guides on Dutch entertainment. Every guide is tested and written in plain English for a US audience.