03 Magazine: March 31, 2023

Feature | Magazine 43
“It’s a bit different being
creative in a small town in
New Zealand, especially after
living in big cities. It’s been an
interesting process.”
“We design toward our values, that is huge to us.”
Deciding to remove zips from their clothing, especially pants,
has been a huge challenge.
“It’s taken a couple of years to get our heads around that but
challenges create new opportunities and we have finally nailed it.”
They now use buttons that can easily be snapped off a
garment and elastic which meets their standards. This means all
her pants now have elastic waistbands.
The range also includes tops, dresses and sweatshirts.
“We keep it simple. All our ranges are trans-seasonal but we
don’t do big winter coats or anything like that.”
They only follow seasonal trends that they feel are sustainable.
“We don’t feel the need for that. We have to rethink what
we wear. It’s really important we don’t design a sleeve that
people say, ‘that is so last year’. We design our silhouette with
that in mind.”
Looking back, she now sees the things that drew her to the
fashion industry as a young designer are the things that put her
off now.
“Back in high school, fashion sounded very exciting and I
was so inspired by what other designers were doing. I loved
Paris Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week but having done
fashion weeks for many years I’m very happy not to be part of
it anymore. I loved it for years but now it’s different parts of the
industry I’m drawn to.”