Summary
Chris talks to Siobhan from Hemprino, a luxury hemp and merino combination that creates super soft, light and warm clothing that is made from all natural fibres.
Links
https://www.hemprino.co.nz/
Photos
Show Transcript
** This transcript was generated by an AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you have questions about any of the information found here, please reach out to us.
Chris [00:00:21]:
Okay, so we’re here now with him, Hemprino, with Siobhan. Hi, Siobhan, how are you going?
Siobhan [00:00:28]:
I’m good, thank you. How are you?
Chris [00:00:30]:
Yeah, good. So it’s early days. We are here at field days, first day, early morning, but you guys have seemed to be quite busy already.
Siobhan [00:00:41]:
We have had lots of people coming to touch and feel our jerseys, which is really cool.
Chris [00:00:46]:
Actually, I haven’t done that yet. Oh, they do feel really good. So tell me what Hemprino is all about.
Siobhan [00:00:54]:
So we’re a blend of merino fiber with hemp fiber. So we’re 80% merino, 20% hemp. And what we do is make luxury knitwear out of that blend. And our whole goal is to make a sustainable knitwear that is going to biodegrade at the end of its lifetime. So every product that we have, all parts of it biodegrade when they get to the end of their very long and happy life, I was going to say.
Chris [00:01:17]:
So that’s the next question. How long a life are we talking?
Siobhan [00:01:21]:
They’re heirloom sort of jerseys, so you’re going to get a lot of wear out of them. And the hemp helps it hold its shape really well. And so it is going to have a lovely long period. And we’ve got what we call wardrobes, wardrobe basics, basically wardrobe fundamentals. So they are classic shapes like crew necks and vnecks. So we do have a hoodie. We’ve got scarves and hats, just those things that you can wear season after season so that you can get a lot of wear out of them.
Chris [00:01:43]:
And the the sort of things you wear under something else, that sort of thing.
Siobhan [00:01:48]:
Yeah. So we would call it a mid layer, so it’s not necessarily right next to the skin, like a singlet but it’s a light jersey that you would wear.
Chris [00:01:56]:
Yeah. And so tell me, why the hemp thing? What was the rationale to go down that track?
Siobhan [00:02:04]:
Well, we were looking for things to blend with merino that weren’t acrylic, that were not going to end up in landfill. And hemp came on our radar. Myself and my two co founders were all farmers, and we met on the rural Kellogg rural leadership course. And hemp was just something that was discussed at a macro level as being a plant that offered a lot to farmers, but also that offered a lot of uses. And the strength of hemp fiber is really fundamental and really important to our story in terms of being able to make a yarn and turn it into a product.
Chris [00:02:35]:
So is that quite common, the hemp as a fiber? Because I do know that it’s used in rope and sacking and stuff, but is it used in clothing much?
Siobhan [00:02:47]:
Not that much, no. And particularly blending with wool. That was something we had to work pretty hard at. We did about three years of R and D to get it right in terms of the right micron and the right length and the right grade of fiber, basically, and getting it right with the merino so that it all matched up.
Chris [00:03:06]:
And is that sort of a standard process that use?
Siobhan [00:03:10]:
I was going to say no, it’s not. And also, this isn’t something we did sitting around at home on our loom, right. This is something we did at scale with our partners here in New Zealand. And also, initially we had some trials, we rang in Shanghai and also in Italy, so we tried out a few different supply chain partners and a few different ways of getting it right, which is why it took us three years to get exactly the right blend. And we’ve been in market now we’re ecommerce only, so hemprino.co.nz, and already we have heaps of repeat customers, so we think we’re getting it right because the people are coming back for more.
Chris [00:03:45]:
No, that’s excellent. That’s excellent. And you got beanies as well, too, scars and stuff. So what’s the vision? Where do you think you’re going with this now? I mean, you’ve put a lot of time into it and I must say, you’ve put a lot of marketing, I guess, is the word. It looks good, the whole stand looks good, the products look good. I think they’re very classic looking and they feel great. So what’s the vision? Where are you going with this?
Siobhan [00:04:17]:
I think the vision for us is about taking this New Zealand made product and selling it to the world long term. So to start with, we just want more people to find out about us, more people to get their hands on it, have the chance to touch it and experience it. That’s what we’re here at Field Days for. But long game. Yeah, we’d love to start selling New Zealand made temporino to the world.
Chris [00:04:37]:
I tell you what, and this sounds self serving, but it isn’t, because we don’t do ads. You should be doing this through podcasts in the States when you do it. So all birds, I think, did a lot of advertising and podcasts, and once you are embedded in a podcast, well, depending on how you do it, they’re there for years, so it’s just a thought.
Siobhan [00:05:00]:
No, I like it.
Speaker A [00:05:01]:
Thank you.
Chris [00:05:02]:
I’ll take advice, speaking on podcast. Do you listen to podcast ones?
Siobhan [00:05:06]:
I do, yes.
Chris [00:05:07]:
Have you got some recommendations?
Siobhan [00:05:09]:
Mine are mostly guilty pleasures because I live rurally and so I do a lot of driving, so unfortunately I listen to a lot of Dave Ramsay, actually.
Chris [00:05:17]:
That’s cool, because I was working in a very mundane sort of job, did a bit of commuting and then I do a lot of data entry and I used to listen to a lot of podcasts. And recently I’ve been doing more creative work and I work from home, so I don’t commute anywhere and I’m not listening to anything anymore. But a lot of our listeners listen to a lot of other podcasts, so we’re always asking. So, other than Dave Ramsay, anyone else you listen to?
Siobhan [00:05:44]:
Yeah, I really enjoy how I built this, which is one out of the states around startups, which obviously is very topical for me right now, and another one that I quite like. I’m also a dairy farmer, so the Dairy NZ have one that’s quite good that I find topical for dairy farmers.
Chris [00:05:59]:
Oh, I didn’t even know Dairy NZ had a podcast. That’s great.
Siobhan [00:06:04]:
I think it’s called talking dairy.
Chris [00:06:06]:
Cool. All right, well, thank you very much for that. Is there anything I should have asked.
Siobhan [00:06:11]:
That I didn’t just that wanted to let you know that if you’re looking for Hemprino, you can find it at hemprino.co.nz. And we’re on all the social channels as NZ Hemprino very often.
Chris [00:06:22]:
Fantastic. Thank you very much. Cheers, Siobhan.
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