Yoke Har Lee: Modern spin on old-fashioned craft

Mel Clark capitalised on knitting's renewed popularity. Photo / Richard Robinson

Mel Clark's passion for yarns and fabrics has helped her weave a simple yet successful model for small business that shows how technology is changing the way Kiwi firms operate.

Her company, South Seas Knitting, is making waves among the knitting community as it markets specialty and exotic fibres, patterns, books and accessories.

Although the company is just over a year old in New Zealand, Clark has already used the power of the internet to reach the global knitting community.

She created the material for her website - www.southseasknitting.co.nz - but outsourced the design and shopping facility.

The way in which Clark is able to bring the world to her online shop lends credence to the concept of the global village. She can plug into the online knitting community and reach them through her blog, Slip, Slip, Knit.

The internet abounds with blogs and online communities for knitters and the knitting community also has its equivalent of Facebook, called Ravelry.com.

When Clark started her first business in the US - where she lived for 25 years before heading home to New Zealand 2 years ago - knitting was not fashionable.

But about six years ago knitters and the act of knitting moved into the "hip" category. Celebrities started to get into knitting in Santa Monica, California, where Clark lived. "People these days are looking to do it, to give life some meaning. There has been a resurgence in all kinds of handicraft."

In the US, Clark's passion for yarns and knitting had already helped her build a successful knitting shop.

At the peak, she had a 185sq m shop turning over US$1 million ($1.6 million) in sales.

She also co-wrote a book - Knit 2 Together - with comedian and knitting fan Tracey Ullman.

Clark is currently a one-woman band but is looking to hire two part-timers (a sample knitter and a pattern editor) to help in her expanding business.

The key to her success, Clark says, is service. She offers personal advice for knitters who show up with knotty problems.

Another part of her formula for success is having transparency on her online shopping cart, which tells the buyer the exact number of items she has in stock. Clark says this is an important detail for knitters, who need to know they can get the right quantity needed for their specific projects.

And she only represents products she loves. "I aim to supply high-quality products, products of integrity."

Among those products are hand-dyed organic merino from New Zealand, alpaca yarn, cashmere, hemp from British Columbia and wool from Uruguay.

She says New Zealand machine-knit merino is very high quality. "I haven't seen anything like it elsewhere. The wool knitting yarns are good quality too, although the presentation could be improved, especially if we want to sell successfully overseas. Americans have high expectations of New Zealand yarns and there is potential to sell to that large market more than we do."

Clark ships to Australia, the US, Denmark, Switzerland and Japan, among other destinations.

She says she has made a heavy investment in carrying a large amount of stock and notes that she needs to keep her inventory tidy and plan to order forward for greater economies of scale.

Managing the logistics of her shipments is also something Clark needs to pay attention to. New Zealand, she notes, is a very isolated place when it comes to shipping. "I have to be careful - shipping is a huge part of my business."

Credit card and bank charges here are very expensive, Clark says. "Also, GST is higher compared to the California sales tax [of 8.25 per cent] I was used to. There, the tax is added at the time of transaction, so that the customer sees the price without it. When people see prices here, they tend to forget that 12.5 per cent is tax.

"The best advice I've received is this: your effort doesn't end when you open your door for business. You must always think creatively about how to make it better."

Like many people who started a business out of her hobby, Clark says she did not have training or advice on how to run a business - although she was absolutely clear what the business was about. "It was a shock to realise just how much work it is."

The key to happiness, says Clark, is to love what you do. She believes that her passion for her work is the real driver behind her success. Knitting provides a meditative quality and gives the creator a sense of space and achievement - very much like golf and fishing, she says.