'Rings' cloaks work magic

By ELLEN READ

A ride on the cloak tails of the Lord of the Rings is leading to big things for a small Wairarapa business.

Supplying woven fibre for the magic cloaks featured in the Lord of the Rings trilogy has boosted the company's international reputation and means international buyers are clamouring for stock.

Stansborough Fibres is a family-owned business producing homegrown material from a flock of grey-fleeced sheep farmed on the Wairarapa coast.

Cheryl and Barry Eldridge bought the hill country farm 12 years ago. The land was marginal and, desperate to avoid having to plant it in pine trees - as many others were doing - they looked for more innovative options, and bought a 300-strong flock of grey-fleeced Gotland sheep from a property in Nelson.

Gotlands were brought to New Zealand from Sweden about 20 years ago but the delicate and light-boned breed, traditionally farmed for their pelts, never became especially popular.

The Eldridges saw potential in the sheep's silky, soft, lustrous wool and started a programme of selective breeding to enhance these qualities.

Today they run a thousand-strong flock of what is now registered as the Stansborough Gotland breed. The fibre of 50 alpacas is blended to add warmth and variety.

"We still needed to make them pay so I looked into the possibility of weaving their fibres," Cheryl Eldridge said.

She contacted hand spinners and weavers and had some samples made up. This led to some commercial work and samples being sent overseas.

Cheryl also stumbled across some looms dating from the 1890s.

The samples were on display in New York when they caught the eyes of the Lord of the Rings costume designers.

This led to an order of almost 1000m of the material to make the cloaks and other costumes for characters in Peter Jackson's award-winning films.

"We were already doing a few sales overseas to selected clients but if the samples hadn't been there they would never have seen us," Cheryl Eldridge said. She is well aware of the irony of being discovered in New York for a project under way two hours down the road.

"It's been a labour of love. The whole idea of what we're doing is to keep the farm we love."

She said that although the company had developed niche markets in the United States, Britain and Australia before its involvement with Lord of the Rings, being associated with the film project had done wonders for publicity and credibility.

"Peter Jackson's reputation for authenticity has helped our reputation for being quality suppliers," she said.

"This is not just a hobby. We can produce world-class product in large quantities."

Cheryl and Barry personally attend to the shearing, hand-sorting and grading of the fleece of each animal. The wool is professionally scoured and spun before being woven at the business's small Wellington Weaving Mill in Petone - still using the antique looms.

Barry, who has an engineering background, is head weaver and Cheryl takes charge of design and marketing.

A small group of hand weavers, knitters and felters help produce the fashion range which includes fabric, wraps and scarves, baby wear, and interiors including rugs, throws and cushions.

Help from Trade New Zealand (now New Zealand Trade and Enterprise) has helped the Eldridges supply upmarket fashion outlets overseas - including Saks and Donna Karan in the US, Mulberrys and Liberty of London and Orson & Blake in Australia.

The company also has a shop in Parnell and its products are stocked at Te Papa in Wellington.

Cheryl Eldridge attributes their success to the company's determination to be different and to target the high-end of the market.

"Our design concepts go down well overseas. People like the fact that our products look hand-made and individual. We only produce small runs so buyers are not going to find our clothing or interiors anywhere else."

Stansborough's success is proof that New Zealand companies can gain a foothold in top-end overseas markets, she said.

"It's good to be able to show people that it can be done from down here," Cheryl said from the Christchurch A&P show this week, where the company had a stall to showcase its products.

The couple are off to see some international clients in the New Year, but the international dimension brings its problems.

Cheryl said they could not be away from the small business too often or for too long.

Its successes so far were just the beginning.

"But we can only do what finance allows us to. We've had to finance it all ourselves and it's been a big struggle."

Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings