31 Oct 2007 - posted by By DAVID WILLIAMS in ARROWTOWN - The Press Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Tamsin Cooper is a step closer to making her Arrowtown-based fashion business a global brand, after launching her online shop earlier this month.
In the last 18 months her name has been more synonymous with a looming High Court battle with rival Trelise Cooper over the right to trade under her own name, a fight which had parallel proceedings with the Intellectual Property Office.
Since an out-of-court settlement in June, Tamsin Cooper – who is best known for her handmade, embroidered accessories, accounting for about 90 per cent of her range – is putting her energy back into the business, with immediate results.
Her new boutique overnight bags, shown at a gift fair in Auckland earlier this month, are popular.
One style, the Poppy, sold more than three times the amount originally made.
The online shop is receiving orders daily.
Cooper is negotiating with a potential client in Chile and is now considering exporting.
That is on top of filling orders for the summer season, some of which have sold out and are up to six weeks behind.
"In New Zealand we have got fantastic representation, with more than 100 stockists, but it's a small market, " she said.
"For this to be the breadwinning business to support my family and staff, we need to create a bigger market for our products.
"The online store is one of them and the other one is to export."
Cooper will exhibit at a trade show in London next year and is looking at the possibility of a market visit to Dubai.
In the next financial year, turnover at her fast-growing business, which employs three local women, mostly part-time, will top $500,000.
Not bad for a business started in a spare bedroom in her Arrowtown house in 2003, with father David and sister Emily.
As
Cooper's business expands (her business has occupied the two-storey
house behind her home since late last year) she hopes her husband Graphic Designer Luke
Calder will be able to be more involved
Already Calder also a sculptor, is having a larger influence on the fashion side of things.
"This is our most collaborative range. We've drawn on other people's skills."
She maintains accessories will always dominate her business, with her range of luxury clothing only available in 12 stores around the country, including Ballantynes in Christchurch.
Admitting that her ambitions are tailored by reality, she says her locally designed, Vietnamese-made products could not possibly explode into a production line.
"An overnight bag takes two to three days to make, and a coat five days.
"We can't just pump them out. These are special, handmade items."
Cooper is quick to concede her legal battle had a silver lining.
"I'm sure it's helped but the business was already growing."
She feels obliged to update people on the demise of the stoush with her similarly named rival, but is obviously revelling in the freedom of getting back to business.
" It's quite hard being creative when you're under so much pressure."
© Lua Ltd |