Its one of those classic Kiwi stories… Kiwi girl returns home from London, her love of fashion and all things associated with it fired up by years of shopping the High Streets and a long held dream of setting up her own fashion label. With a few pounds in her pocket and not really understanding the full implications of spending this and more on key money for a Broadway lease in Newmarket the dream was born. “Even today I still have that lined school pad and the 23 point business plan I wrote,” says Briarwood founder, Ange Marshall.
It was 1992 and driven by nothing more than a burning passion for making great fashion shoes and bags, Ange set up Briarwood from a small (very) space beside Route 66 on Broadway. The informal Mayor of Newmarket, Kevin Mayle (of Route 66 and 3 Bears fame) was Ange’s landlord. He had received literally 100’s of enquiries for this neglected space but rejected most as hopeful fashionistas in it for the imaginary glamour of the business. However, he didn’t hesitate doing the deal with Ange and her first shop opened late that year. The designs were by Ange and some of the finishing touches were done on a sewing machine in a back room the size of a wardrobe. The majority of the stock was manufactured by a couple of off site outworkers. By the end of the first weeks trading most of the stock had been sold -perhaps Kevyn’s hunch had been on the mark.
At this stage there were 19 fashion shoemakers in Auckland, many of them long established large family businesses – Briarwood was the 20th. Protective tariffs were being removed and New Zealand was coming under siege from Chinese imports. “Although it was an extremely difficult trading environment for NZ manufacturers as I look back on it today I see it as being a good time to start up because I knew no different,” says Ange. Enter Bruce Burton with his company Hermes NZ, a long standing manufacturing business that was going through the changes demanded at this time. This saw them moving into an importing and wholesale mode, but with highly skilled manufacturing capacity… just the sort of capacity that Ange and her customers were now crying out for. In 1993 Hermes and Ange formed a joint venture company Briarwood Ltd merging the design talents and manufacturing expertise that has made Briarwood such a strong brand today.
Today Briarwood is one of only a few fashion shoe manufacturers in New Zealand. This demise of the local shoe manufacturing business has had an unexpected upside for Briarwood customers ?it means that their Briarwoods are being manufactured locally by the very best in the industry, meaning that we can push the design and manufacturing envelope and get some quite remarkable results. Ange is first to admit that the business has been underpinned by strict design principles that keep Briarwood unique – you can buy any number of European knock offs out of China but if it is detail and edge that you are looking for NZ women are learning that they can treat themselves to Briarwood and enjoy something quite ’singular.’ Fashion from that great little country New Zealand has character. It’s proven on High St and nowadays more often than not it is Briarwood that they are wearing when their heels hit the pavement ?it has taken over a decade but this year Briarwood is celebrating their best ever year. Year on yea r it has got better to the point that “We can now say for sure that we have arrived,”says Ange. It’s a story and to appreciate Briarwood you just have to get it. “It’s OK if you don’t because we plan to be around for a long time more making great shoes and bags that say a thousand things about the wearer ?they say design principle, they say detail, they say edge, you sure won’t see them on everyone (thank goodness for that), but above all they say that you get what being unique and having attitude is all about.
Enjoy Briarwood because every day we take great pleasure in bringing them to you.