Egg hatches into maternity chain

By ELLEN READ



Business runs in the female genes of Colyn Devereux-Kay's family.

Her mother ran a toy manufacturing company, Colyn has had several successful companies and now daughter Charlotte Devereux is on board.

That's three generations and now even Colyn's year-old grand-daughter Jasmin wants to have a "fashion business like mummy" when she grows up.

The business Devereux-Kay and her daughter run is a fast-growing clothing company, Egg Maternity.

They came up with the idea in late 2000 when Devereux was pregnant with Jasmin and unable to find any stylish maternity clothes.

"I wanted to feel I could wear the clothes at all stages of my pregnancy and also afterwards because things don't go straight back to the way they were before," Devereux said.

The pair decided to trial their own range and the business began as a home-based venture.

Devereux is in charge of design and Devereux-Kay has the business experience.

Funded privately, the pair both put in $9000 of their own money and Egg Maternity was under way.

Their first marketing brochure featured a pregnant Devereux modelling the range and at their first trial sales evening - attended by eight pregnant friends - the pair sold $4000 worth of clothes.

Beginning as a home business was important, as it kept their costs and overheads low while the company grew.

Later they recruited friends and clients to sell the products before taking the plunge and opening their first store in Newmarket in 2002.

"We were getting lots of retail inquiries but that didn't get the brand and image we wanted out there. The only way to do that was to have our own shop with the entire range in it," Devereux-Kay said.

Both women spend some time working in the shop to stay in touch with the customers and get feedback on what they want.

In less than four years the company has grown from a home-based venture into a significant retailer with seven stores in New Zealand, one in Brisbane and further plans for expansion across the Tasman.

The label has also recently attended the Mercedes Fashion Week in Sydney, a showcase for designers and the clothing industry, and is looking to open a Sydney store in August, with plans to open further stores in Queensland, Melbourne and Perth by the end of the year.

"New Zealand designers have done so fantastically well overseas that we are able, to some extent, to piggyback on that," Devereux said.

Devereux-Kay, a successful businesswoman who has chaired the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, said the key to their success is good planning.

"What we've done is all planned growth. We've blown all the budgets but on the positive side," she said.

The company has eight staff and contracts out its manufacturing, 80 per cent to New Zealand companies.

Egg franchises its range to owner operators throughout New Zealand and Australia and has a turnover of around $2 million, which it expects to double by next year.

They deliberately target areas with high birth rates and income levels to make sure the franchise stores are located in successful positions.

In the past decade Devereux-Kay says more New Zealand women have been working throughout their pregnancies and want flattering, stylish clothing to wear.

"I think were evolving a lot in terms of wanting more attractive funky items to wear during pregnancy which the retail market just hasn't kept up with.

"We've cottoned on to a real niche with our products, which are selling extremely well," she said.

"We have achieved 100 per cent growth each year of operation and we can see growth opportunities for the business in Australia, Asia and worldwide," she said.

In the immediate future they want to concentrate on getting the Australasian markets running smoothly before taking on further countries.