Brands Built By Women: The Ferm

Celebrating emerging female-founded brands you'll want to know.

Since November 2025, we've been spotlighting inspiring consumer brands built by incredible women from all walks of life - founders who are creating a positive impact through their businesses.

We started Mindful Brand to support women succeed in business. Not just through what we do, but also in how we shop.

Deciding which businesses to support is a personal choice.

If, like us, you prefer to champion female-owned brands, we hope you enjoy this series.

Today, we’re featuring The Ferm, founded by Rebecca Ghim & Maylin Stanic in 2021 in the UK.

About the Brand

The Ferm is the UK’s first zero-waste, vegan fermented food brand. It produces kimchi and pickles from overlooked ingredients like cauliflower leaves and broccoli stalks, transforming them into probiotic-rich, seriously delicious products using the founders’ grandmothers’ recipes.

Driven by the founders’ heritage, The Ferm is manufactured in the UK. Its mission is to bring the bold, authentic taste of homemade fermentation to UK consumers, while leading the fight against food waste and proving that sustainability and flavour can thrive together.

Meet the Founder

The Ferm was founded by Rebecca in London in 2021. Originally from Gwangju, South Korea - a city known for its kimchi - she moved to the UK to study MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures at the University of the Arts London.

Co-founder Maylin, who grew up in Berlin, is a former competitive athlete, corporate business consultant, and holds a PhD in Leadership & Sport.

After hearing about Rebecca at a networking event, Maylin reached out via LinkedIn. They instantly connected, and Maylin joined The Ferm in 2025.

How She Started

What does a Korean and a German have in common? A shared love of fermented food.

Rebecca secured a highly competitive entrepreneurship visa, endorsed by her university, to remain in the UK. With no prior business experience, she built The Ferm around what she knew best - kimchi - drawing on her upbringing in Gwangju. Combining her heritage with her academic focus on food waste, she uses fermentation as a way to tackle waste.

After completing her PhD in Leadership & Sport, Maylin set out to build a business centtred on plant-based food, gut health, and zero waste. After discovering Rebecca’s work, she reached out on LinkedIn - they quickly formed a strong bond, became close friends, and later business partners.

What She Learned

They have quickly learned that teamwork makes the dream work, and that the bond they share makes even the toughest and hardest days enjoyable.

As co-founders, they are each other’s biggest cheerleaders, with no egos involved, and blindly trust one another. This not only brings out the best in them, but also enables strong synergies.

They apply this same mindset to the rest of their team, making strategic hiring decisions that enable them to grow both sustainably and quickly.

Where to shop

The Ferm is available to buy at www.theferm.net, where stockist information can also be found.

Instagram: @the.ferm.london

TikTok: @the.ferm.london

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