Latest / Best of Business / Jenny Joblin: Federation founder on the brand celebrating its 25th anniversary

Transcript

Jenny Joblin: Federation founder on the brand celebrating its 25th anniversary · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News talksed Be follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: A new era is on the way for one of
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: our iconic fashion labels, Urban Streetwear Brand Federation is celebrating
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: twenty five years and business this year, and to celebrate
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: founder Jenny Goblin, Joblin is taking a step back, handing
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: the reins to her children to evolve the business for
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the next generation. Jenny Joblin is with me now, good morning,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Good morning. Firstly, you're twenty five years in the fashion industry. Congratulations.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: It has been a bit of a rollercoaster though, hasn't it.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Jenny, Oh, completely, yeah, yeah.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: So how significant does this milestone feel to you?
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: I guess it's just kind of a bit crazy life.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: So much of the time you don't really pause and
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: stuff along the way. And then when we hit the smilestone,
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: we were like, okay, we need to pause for a
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: moment and you know, just really look at all these
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: different chapters and celebrate it and the fact that all
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: three of my not so young children now a part
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: of the business.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: It was, Yeah, it was just.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: A time when I went, okay, it's probably time to
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: start entrusting them with a little bit more in myself
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: with a little bit less of it.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: So it hasn't been easy. As we mentioned, you went
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: into liquidation in twenty fourteen, you rebuilt the brand from
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: the ground up. What have you learned about creating and
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: running a successful fashion brand in New Zealand.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: I think just the fact that it's, I guess, in general,
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: with having a business. Sorry, i'm a little bit sacofh
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: I'm sounding a bit nasally.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Oh no, you're good.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, with having a business in general, it's a matter
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: of especially if you're a creative person, you've got to
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: always balance the business and the creative and it's yeah,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: it's just a matter of looking at it constantly and analyzing.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, there's only so quickly you
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: can pivot a business, especially when it's moving at a
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: significant rate and there's other people involved and you know
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: it and it's a significant size. So I've learned a
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: lot about the balance of facing reality, Like I'm a
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: definitely a half full person, like the cups half full,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: but facing that reality of okay, where are we at today,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: where are we at in six months? As well as
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: being optimistic that tomorrow is always going to be a
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: bit better. I feel like that's something I really learned
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: during that time.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I was interested to read about your experience overseas because
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: you were picked up by hundreds of boutiques around the world,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: but it wasn't a sustainable option for you. How hard
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: is it for a New Zealand label to really make
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: it overseas.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: I think that specific point was a really big one
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: when it did come to the point where we were like, okay,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: there's no choice. We had taken on a lot of
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: stores in Europe at that time, and I guess without
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: the foresight of like, we did send them a lot
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: of stock without payment in advance. I guess the kind
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: of excitement of having stores versus reality of you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: are you actually just sending product into the ABYSS was
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: a big thing at the time. And we did also
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: go through other smather issues with our facts and yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: that brought us to that point.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: So what have you learned as well over that period
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: of time of twenty five years about you know, having shops,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: you know, the actual brick and water shop, and also
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: dealing with online and the demand of online.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: That's been a huge change in our industry in New Zealand.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: You know, like when we.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Started twenty five years ago, I was driving around to
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: the factories and I did all the pattern making myself,
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: and you know, like watching everything get made to then
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: the reality that we weren't it wasn't sustainable to make
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: all our garments here anymore.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: So that was quite a big change in that way.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: And then also like a lot of different retailers, Like
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: we really loved the fact that you'd gone to a
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: store and it would be all the different brands, and
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: you know, just for that, I guess is reflective of
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: people's wardrobes a lot of different things. And then lots
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: of those stores then developed their own vertical product, which
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: is a big change for us. So it is really
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: coinciding that with then making sure making the most of
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: our own vertical and our own online business.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: So the new evolution of Federation, your children, Writer, Monty
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Dusty are about to take over the reins. How long
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: have they been involved in the business.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: A writer does all our marketing and sales, and she's
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: the most like a full time involved staff member. And
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: then Monty and Dusty both work part time. So Dusty
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: is still at high school. He's about to go off
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: to work now so brilliant.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: So what did they bring to the brand?
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: I think that it's just I guess in general, with
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: whatever you do as you age, it's really easy just
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: to age your whole brand with you, you know, and your
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: whole market with you, whatever you're doing. So it's good
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: to have those fresh eyes to give you the perspective
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: of someone who's literally.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: You know, not you know that generation younger.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: So that's been really refreshing and then balancing that with
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: maintaining our federation customers that have you know, loved our
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: brand so much and not losing them at this time
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: same time. So I guess it's just it brings like
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: a really great perspective, a little bit more of a
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: diverse than just yeah us as aging ones.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think you've seen it with Kate
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Sylvesta passing on with Sylvesta Range to her sons as well,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: who've sort of refreshed it and given it life. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I think when we see a lot of New Zealand
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: brands stopping trading, it's it's a wonderful option to have
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: a new generation come in, isn't it and give it
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: some fresh.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Ah, exactly, and I think that's and it's the truth
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: of the matter, Like to sell a brand isn't necessarily
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: going to reflect or the hard work that you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: someone like Caja or myself have put into it, and
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: my art's are like super important to me. So that's
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: something I'm really looking forward to be able to focus
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: on a bit more and let what's going to be
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: the crystal ball game of the fashion industry sometimes.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: So, Ginny, are you going to be good at standing
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: back and leading them, you know, take over?
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I think to a point like I'm it's sill going
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: to be involved.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: It's not like a full you know, change over, and yeah,
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: I still need to get you know. Unfortunately, it's just
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: not that realistic. I still need a day job. It's
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: not like we're mortgage free and fancy free of air,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: so you know, so I still will be part of it,
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: but it's just letting them guide the brand a bit
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: more and have that face to face withook customers is
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: kind of exciting.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Oh well, congratulations on twenty five years and thank you
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: so much for talking to us when you weren't feeling great.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: That was Jenny Joblin there from Federation.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: For more from news, talks, ed B Listen live on
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio