I have a reckless love of linen and our house is full of Foxtrot goodies. My respect for these two sisters is enormous – running a fantastic business together, growing a great brand and product while working remotely.

Linen is equal parts functional and beautiful, it has breathable qualities, a great depth of colour when dyed, and the more it’s used (and washed) the softer it gets. Keep it on your bed all year round, because linen is warm in winter and cool in summer too.

Here’s what our friends at Foxtrot had to say.

Foxtrot Home - we have to ask about the story behind this fantastic name?

When we were thinking of a name for our business, we wanted something fun and memorable and that could potentially encompass different homewares other than just linen. We went back and forth on names for a few days and Foxtrot just stood out to us!

Kiwi sisters in a creative biz together, we love that. What do you enjoy about working together?

Working with a close family member could be quite difficult but we know each other well enough to be able to recognise the others strengths and weaknesses and to be able to read each other’s moods. We can be completely frank with each other and can easily say ‘I need some time out to focus on something else’. Being in different cities also helps as we are not in each other’s pockets. We share the same core values and it is very satisfying to build something together that we can be proud of. Nothing like a sibling relationship!

To come up with new ideas for Foxtrot Home, tell us about your creative process. How are colours decided upon, and where do you draw inspiration from?

This is one of the really fun parts of our jobs!! We spend a lot of time online looking at fashion, colour and homewares trends from around the world. We are big fans of Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration as well as interior design blogs from around the globe. It is very satisfying when you spot a trend and then start to see those colourways coming through consistently. We generally find that NZ tastes follow those seen globally, but can just take a little bit longer to get here.
Having said that, we try to be customer-led as much as possible, we have a very open dialogue with our customers so they can be a great source of inspiration too. If we think our customers will like it, we get it. And as we try to be pretty down-to-earth and all -encompassing, our wonderful customer base covers a pretty broad range of people. If neither of us like it ourselves, it doesn't get into our range (although we both have our favourites and those we don’t like as much...but that’s where the art of sisterly negotiation comes in!). We are also very lucky to work with a “small” supplier who is flexible and works with us to find the colours we want.

Small biz life is a rollercoaster, can you tell us about the people who inspire, encourage or even mentor you in business?

Prue and I have both realised that our main inspiration comes from other businesses/brands/people who show exceptional customer service and who envelope their customers in the shopping experience in a different way, every day. So we do not draw inspo from other decor businesses per se...we feel our main focus is the customer, not the product as such. So we are constantly looking for ways to improve our product, message and delivery so that our brand is recognised as having that exceptional customer experience also. We both have favourite overseas brands that constantly surprise and delight and inspire us.
Our closer family inspires us. We and our brother were raised on a gorgeous farm in the back blocks of Gisborne and we have always been inspired by an unflinching work ethic and old fashioned values (we believe manners and a genuine desire to do good go a long way no matter what business you're in).
Lastly we do draw inspiration from other ethical , sustainable brands as this is very important to us. We're on a journey with our ethical sustainable practices and we're constantly looking at ways to improve our business to reflect these values. We're not perfect but we aim to improve and always strive to do better. So many great businesses out there doing this, genuinely.

Prue, we understand that you’re also working in marketing while balancing Foxtrot Home. That must be a tall order at times. Any advice for those contemplating the juggle of wearing two hats?

Having two roles was great when we started the business as Foxtrot was my side hustle while I worked full time in my marketing role. As Foxtrot has grown it has been quite a juggle to be able to do both, so at the end of last year I went to part time work at my marketing role and this week I finish up at my marketing role altogether to focus all my attention on Foxtrot. My advice to people with a job and a business is to ensure that you still have some time for yourself to do exercise, socialise etc so that you keep that awesome balance and flexibility that can come with being your own boss.

*Image Credit: Florence Charvin Photography*

Let’s touch on Covid-19. Any take-outs, lessons or thoughts on this pandemic for your business?

Like most small businesses in New Zealand, we have been affected by Covid-19. Our supply chain has been disrupted meaning we have faced many delays in restocking our linen. We were also unable to send orders out during Alert Level 4 as we didn’t see ourselves as “essential” . What we have found is that the NZ community has shown huge support for local businesses and that people are making conscious decisions to try and shop with smaller business, which we really appreciate. Being an online-only business, we do not have the overheads associated with a more traditional retail space, but lack of cashflow is hard on any small business. We were so pleased that we were able to start trading at Level 3 and hugely grateful to everyone who has supported us. We love our customers!

Lockdown has us all spending a few more hours in bed! Why is linen such an appealing fabric for a quality rest?

These are uncertain times in the world and there is a level of anxiety around what is happening, so one way of creating a sense of peace and calm is to have your bedroom as a sanctuary, somewhere you can go to relax and have a good sleep. Linen is such a tactile and comfortable fabric and has the benefit of an amazing aesthetic as well. Linen is made from bast fibres of the flax plant (not our native harekeke, though) which lend itself to the incredible breathability properties of linen bedding. Moisture is drawn away from the body so your sleep is made more comfortable this way. Also, it’s amazing thermodynamic properties mean it keeps you warm in winter. We’ve had customers stop using their electric blankets now!

Finally, when the levels are lowered in this beautiful country, where will you escape to?

Prue: Apart from getting around to see some friends and family in the North Island, I had a trip booked to Akaroa at the start of April that we had to postpone, so I’m looking forward to getting down there as soon as possible! I’m looking forward to a change of scene but also to be able to support local tourism and businesses during this time.
Kate; our family are looking at the map of NZ now! I worked in Fairlie for a while some time ago and would love to return to the Mckenzie country soon. Our kids are young though so would appreciate some more action other than boring Mum and Dad scenery! We’re very conscious of trying to spend money where it’s most needed so will be looking into that prerequisite most of all :-)

Foxtrot Home

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Emma Hayes Textiles