Liz Collins with sons Ethan and Max

SUE WARDS

Almost 20 years after starting the clothing label Chalkydigits right here in Wanaka, founder Liz Collins is putting her business "into hibernation” to focus on family life.

Chalkydigits came about when Liz, a graphic designer, and her then boyfriend, local lad Matt Squires, teamed up to develop his idea of a website to provide information about local rock climbing routes around Wanaka.

"We hung out at Cafe Zone and dreamed up Chalkydigits. Every company has a branded beanie or a hoody, so I started to add those onto the idea,” Liz said.

They created a basic website and Liz added pictures of T-shirts and hoodies with designs. "We thought we’d put a bit of a teaser line at the end of it: ‘coming to all good climbing stores near you soon’.”

Liz was shocked when, the next day, a large outdoor retail chain rang her and asked to see the products. "I said, ah - we haven’t made anything yet. Okay, um – sure, we’ll see you in six months.”

That decision sparked a clothing label which has become a "lovemark” brand in Australasia with the tagline (true to its word) ‘ethical fashion made in New Zealand’.

"We had the concept as there really wasn’t any cool clothes for climbers or outdoor enthusiasts,” Liz said. "There were obviously cool clothes for skaters and surfers, but the outdoor and climbing world only had really naff taupe zip-off trousers. I really felt like there was a gap there so we created some designs that people with a love of the outdoors and quirk could relate to.”

Liz was visiting Wanaka during a road trip around the South Island reconnecting with her homeland after a big stint in advertising in Sydney.

"I think i just stopped here on the way through and never left, because I loved it. I was over the whole world of advertising and the commercialism of it. It was just too intense and didn’t really align with what I was into or my values.”

With six months to create a small range of clothes, Liz and Matt started researching. "We didn’t have any idea. We went to Christchurch and found a pattern maker, found the zip people, the fabric people, and started talking to people.”

It was a challenging introduction to a challenging industry. Luckily Liz loves a challenge.

"When I have a vision in my head about something I obsess about it. If I can picture it I just have to get to that point. I really loved doing the designs then seeing them come to fruition as three-dimensional garments, it’s so satisfying. Seeing others love them and wander down the road wearing them was awesome too.”

After six months they created a small range which they took around New Zealand to sell to retailers, some of whom stocked it. "We had a classic contrast of people we showed: some very old school outdoor retailers who wanted to stick to what they knew and some really openminded encouraging retailers who were keen to try something new.”

She and Matt would drive to Christchurch from Wanaka, often sleeping in their little Honda Civic by the beach, madly go about creating a range of garments - until their phone bills got to $500 a week and they realised they really needed to move to Christchurch.

Now as a mother of two young boys, Liz remembers this time with disbelief. "Such a huge amount of energy I must have had. It feels like a lifetime ago.”

Having the garments made in New Zealand was not negotiable for Liz. "I can’t imagine anything else. That’s where my values lie - supporting local communities and local industry, and with that the quality, the ease of it, the boutique nature of being able to do smaller runs.”

An image from the last (for now) Chalky Digits range

Over the past 18 years Liz has mostly kept to providing seasonal ranges, but has done a few other things, including two fashion ranges and a kids’ range ("Chalkymidgets”). Chalky was the first brand to print on merino in NZ, pushing some boundaries to learn how to create something different the market hadn’t seen before.

The "lightbulb moment” for Liz was when the business got involved with conservation projects. The first was raising money, through marketing a wee pin badge of the South Island robin, to contribute to a fund for DOC to relocate the robin to Chalky Island in Fiordland. ("It’s not our island!” Liz said. "It’s called Chalky Island because of its amazing white chalky cliffs.”)

"That was an incredible project. When I realised we could do that, with people who share the same values, I thought ‘this is why I’ve been working so hard to keep the business going’. Otherwise yes, we’re creating awesome clothes, we’re employing local people, but we’re just making more clothes, in a world that has lots of clothes.”

Since then Chalky has been involved with "heaps” of conservation projects. 

"I’ve always had a real love for nature and the outdoors and birds. My inspiration has always come from there so I was stoked to be able to give back to something I feel I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from,” she said.

At its peak (around 2009) Chalkyigits was sold in about 60 retail stores around New Zealand and Australia. Since then, the industry has changed radically as online shopping developed.

"That was a massive change for us and for all the retailers we were stocking,” Liz said. Finding retailers who shared the value of New Zealand made clothing - a much more expensive option - was a challenge.

"Without open-minded and value based retailers like Bivouac Outdoor, Chalkydigits wouldn’t have survived,” Liz said. Decode in Queenstown has also been a long-standing supporter of the brand and Liz said she is grateful for these retailers who cared more for supporting New Zealand made and independent designers than the bottom line.

Retailers started dropping them because they were too expensive compared to brands made offshore. Liz (by then she was managing the company; she and Matt had gone their separate ways) had staff and overheads and needed to produce more units to break even.

Lots of people wanted to buy the brand, but it was hard to find retailers to stock it. Liz set up the Chalkydigits website and it started cranking. It was a harder business model (you have to hold all the stock yourself and take the risk you’re going to sell it), but the website gave Liz the freedom to control how the range was presented and she was able to get it to the small corners of the country.

The clothing industry in New Zealand has been decimated in the past ten years, Liz said. "Everybody’s gone off shore, it’s hard to get fabric, there’s no training for younger machinists coming up through the industry. There’s not much manufacturing capacity in New Zealand anymore. It's here but you have to work hard to find it and make it work for the demands a fashion label has competing with a lot of international brands. It's a shame because there is a lot of skill here."

"It is expensive to make New Zealand-made, because people get fair wages here and work under fair conditions so it costs a huge amount to make a good product here. A lot of people probably look at it and go, that’s so expensive; but actually what we’re making out of it, in terms of paying wages and overheads, is just enough to keep going. It’s such a fine line.” (Liz recommends people watch the documentary China Blue to put the costs in perspective.)

The Christchurch earthquakes had a big impact on Liz’s business, making it challenging to get anything done. After her son Ethan was born (he’s nearly four) Liz realised she couldn’t continue successfully with the business and being present in motherhood.

"It requires 120 percent effort to keep a business going in this difficult industry. You’ve got to be on top of your game, a step ahead of the rest all the time. Until I had kids that’s pretty much all I thought about day and night,” Liz said.

She stepped back from the business a lot, and moved with her partner Ian to Lake Hawea. Since then they’ve been joined by baby Max (he’s almost one).

"I’d like to say I’m putting Chalky into hibernation. I work better with just leaving things open-ended.” She feels too protective of her business to sell it and see the manufacturing go overseas and wants the option to grow on what she's built.

Who knows what the future holds, Liz said, but for she is looking for other pursuits, having realised in the past week how much she misses creative expression. She’s keen to do more local conservation projects, hands -on and using her marketing/design skills, is looking forward to getting back into climbing and spending more time with her boys.

"I’m at an interesting transitional stage, but I’ll need ways of expressing myself artistically - more hands-on, more crafty and less commercial,” she said.

Meanwhile the brand’s last summer range - for now - is for sale online (click MORE below to check it out) and also available at the Chalkydigits design store in Christchurch, which will remain open until mid-January. It may be your last chance to secure something from this lovemark brand conceived in Wanaka.

PHOTOS: Supplied