Latest / Best of Business / Zion Armstrong: Jamie Kay CEO on the company expanding across Asia and the US

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Zion Armstrong: Jamie Kay CEO on the company expanding across Asia and the US · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B.
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  Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio now.
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  Speaker 2: Iconic Kiwi kids clothing brand Jamie Kay, as I told you,
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  Speaker 2: was taking on the world. They launched their flagship store
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  Speaker 2: in christ Church last year. Now rapidly expanding into Asia.
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  Speaker 2: They got four stores in Japan, two Asian locations in
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  Speaker 2: the pipeline. America is proving to be their strongest play.
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  Speaker 2: The market is now making up thirty percent of their
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  Speaker 2: total sales. Their chief executive is the former added AS
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  Speaker 2: North America president Zeon Armstrong.
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  Speaker 1: Who's with us?
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  Speaker 3: Z On?
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  Speaker 1: Hello?
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  Speaker 3: Hey, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm very well mate?
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  Speaker 3: How are you living the dream?
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  Speaker 2: How did you end up at Jamie Kay?
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  Speaker 3: Was actually coincidence. When I returned to New Zealand, I
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  Speaker 3: took some time off and our children we're going to
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  Speaker 3: the same school, so we literally bumped into each other.
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  Speaker 3: It had a kid's school car park and that led
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  Speaker 3: to a conversation. And fast forward a year later we're
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  Speaker 3: working together.
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  Speaker 2: And do you dress your kids head to tail? Now
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  Speaker 2: in Jamie Kat.
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  Speaker 3: I was actually doing a bit of research here that
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  Speaker 3: you haven't purchased from us since January twenty five, So
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  Speaker 3: we need to talk.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, you can look me out.
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  Speaker 2: But have you seen that I have been on your
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  Speaker 2: website in the last week.
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  Speaker 3: You can't track me that I can track your orders.
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  Speaker 3: But my kids a little bit older now, So just
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  Speaker 3: getting to the correct But zee on, you.
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  Speaker 2: Must have like with your CV, you must have your
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  Speaker 2: pick of going anywhere. So what is it about Jamie
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  Speaker 2: Kay that convinced you to join up?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Thank you, it's a kind comment for me. When
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  Speaker 3: I came home, I wanted to really find a new
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  Speaker 3: Zealand company that I could take my skills that I
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  Speaker 3: had and transfer that and then just so lucky to
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  Speaker 3: have met Jamie and her incredible team and what they
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  Speaker 3: had created. I was just turned thirteen, so when we
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  Speaker 3: first met and she said would you like to be
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  Speaker 3: the CEO? I was like, I'm not sure if any
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  Speaker 3: founder can actually let go. But she's been excellent and
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  Speaker 3: we've found a great yin Yang. So she's the creative
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  Speaker 3: director and my focus has been taking us around the world.
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  Speaker 2: Now, what is it about you guys that is appealing
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  Speaker 2: to the world, Like this is a reasonably fast expansion.
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  Speaker 2: It has been very successful, So why.
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  Speaker 3: Quality one of our four values is quality, and that's
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  Speaker 3: stood the test of time when parents are reselling their
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  Speaker 3: product that they've had for year after year, and we
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  Speaker 3: want to keep those resale pages going because it means
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  Speaker 3: the community can give back to each other, means the
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  Speaker 3: productice is standing the test time, both in terms of
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  Speaker 3: quality but also design aesthetics. What is it?
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  Speaker 2: How are you going to break into the US, because
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I suppose you've got thirty percent of your
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  Speaker 2: sales are already to the US, but you need to
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  Speaker 2: get in there in a big way. How do you
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  Speaker 2: do it?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Correct, So, so it's always been our number one market
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  Speaker 3: until last year with obviously the tariffs et cetera through
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  Speaker 3: a massive curveball to us. So we made the bowl
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  Speaker 3: call to set up a distribution center in Kentucky, which
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  Speaker 3: eliminated all the confusion to the consumers so they could
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  Speaker 3: just buy from ourselves and then have that ship locally.
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  Speaker 3: So it came a big investment, but we managed to
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  Speaker 3: get that up and running within three months. And so
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  Speaker 3: now we've actually had a team in the US for
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  Speaker 3: the last few weeks and we've attended five trade shows
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  Speaker 3: and getting some fantastic results.
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  Speaker 2: I was thinking about about. In fact, funnily enough, I
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  Speaker 2: put my boy in one of your jumpers this morning,
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  Speaker 2: so it got me thinking about the color scheme, and
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  Speaker 2: I wonder, are you guys, like, is it possible that
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  Speaker 2: you're at the tail end of a trend that's about
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  Speaker 2: to change? This is the only concern I have for
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  Speaker 2: you is that I see a lot of the kids
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  Speaker 2: running around at kindy at the moment are starting to
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  Speaker 2: wear like neon colors like we wore back in the
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  Speaker 2: late eighties, early nineties, and that kind of scandy beij
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  Speaker 2: vibe that you guys have got going. Is it maybe
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  Speaker 2: the fashion changing and you're going to miss a trick here?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. So we had the courage about a year ago
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  Speaker 3: to stop trying to design so far out by having samples,
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  Speaker 3: et cetera. So we decided we're going to be the
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  Speaker 3: brand that delivers at once. No other brand in the
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  Speaker 3: world does this in this space. What that means is
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  Speaker 3: every month we drop a new collection, which allows us
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  Speaker 3: to continue to push the needle in terms of our
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  Speaker 3: product design, materials, colors, and trends. So if you look
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  Speaker 3: at our products that we've launched this month versus this time,
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  Speaker 3: twelve months ago. We're a completely different brand.
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  Speaker 2: So the idea of getting into the neons and all
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  Speaker 2: that kind of stuff is not impossible for you.
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  Speaker 3: No, that's not our space. We'll stand our lane. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: and we'll continue to make sure that we innovate in
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  Speaker 3: our space. But that's not somewhere that will go.
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  Speaker 2: Your lane is heritage, isn't it correct? Like you could imagine,
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  Speaker 2: you could imagine some of the royals being in your clothes.
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  Speaker 2: You can send some samples to the royals, mate.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, if this keeps going, well, we'll send you
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  Speaker 3: up some samples and make sure you.
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  Speaker 2: Don't worry about me. I'm not an influencer you. Janey
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  Speaker 2: had a baby the other day, didn't she send them
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  Speaker 2: some clothes?
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  Speaker 3: Her kids are growing up as well. But the other
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  Speaker 3: pieces we have your warehouse of four brands. So we
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  Speaker 3: acquired Marino Kids, which is another amazing New Zealand story
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  Speaker 3: that was about to be sold to an offshore company.
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  Speaker 3: We caught window it and managed to keep it here
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  Speaker 3: in New Zealand. So for the last two years we've
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  Speaker 3: been behind the scenes redesigning that product as well, and
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  Speaker 3: just recently relaunched that. So give us another avenue to
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  Speaker 3: your point in terms of design direction, it just gives
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  Speaker 3: you another brand, it to allow you to appeal to
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  Speaker 3: a broader set of audience.
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  Speaker 2: Good on you, Okay, So if you could, what would
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  Speaker 2: your perfect business look like? What's your goal in ten years?
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  Speaker 3: You know something I actually wrote down that Jamie said
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  Speaker 3: a few months ago, and it's aspirations to make it
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  Speaker 3: the best it can be. And if we can continue
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  Speaker 3: to do that across all four brands, and then have
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  Speaker 3: aspirations to have the best relationships with our distributed partners
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  Speaker 3: around the world, then I don't think you know, the
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  Speaker 3: sky's the limits, just the view. We've opened up in
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  Speaker 3: sixteen markets in the last three years with some fantastic
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  Speaker 3: partners and really focus on AI now the US, so
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  Speaker 3: it still leaves all of Europe, Latin America, et cetera.
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  Speaker 3: So is so much more opportunity. But we want to
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  Speaker 3: make the bigger before we start trying to spread ourselves
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  Speaker 3: too far and too thin.
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  Speaker 2: Oh good on you man, I'm so excited, Zion, Thank
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  Speaker 2: you so much. Look after yourself and go well with
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  Speaker 2: the business, Zion Armstrong Jamie k CEO.
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