Established in 2008 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Merino Mana is a family business creating the finest quality merino wool blankets, wraps and beanies for babies. Their adorable baby wear range is soft, natural, unique and New Zealand made. They also sell a carefully selected collection of high-quality organic baby products from New Zealand and Australia. Here, Jennie Tylee-Porter talks about the passion behind their business.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
We were inspired to start Merino Mana when we found it increasingly hard to find quality, New Zealand-made merino wool baby blankets.
With an eye for detail, love of natural fibres and desire to create garments made in New Zealand, Merino Mana was created.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
Being an online-only business, our beginning was very small. Initially, our sales were mainly within New Zealand, but very quickly we started gaining customers from all over the globe. It is always exciting to see what countries our products are being sent to.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Merino Mana is very much a family business and we all have many different roles. At any point, any one of us could be designing and creating garments, gift wrapping and packing up orders, organising photo shoots – the list goes on!
Thankfully, we all have a love of merino wool so it doesn’t really feel like work!
