Small Business: Gumboots just another canvas for Maaia Boots

Maaia Boots, founded by Charis Tutaki, is a 100% Māori-owned, whānau-run gumboot business.

Charis Tutaki, founder of Maaia Boots, talks to Tom Raynel about adding Māori designs to gumboots and how the business is already on the rise. Each Monday, we interview a small business owner, which is now a regular feature of NZME’s editorial campaign On The Up, showcasing uplifting stories of success, inspiration and possibilities.

What is Maaia Boots?

We are a Māori-owned gumboot brand, and we are one of the few Māori gumboot businesses out there. We recognise as Māori people that we love our gumboots – but we asked, why is it that there’s no Māori-owned brand already out there?

While our design is Māori, its significance and the story it tells relate to all. Regardless if you are Māori, or not, we ask everyone who wears our gumboots to educate themselves on the meaning behind our design, which is centred around bravery, steadfastness, standing strong, and feeling rooted.

What inspired you to start the business?

The business is named after my baby Maia, and her father and my co-founder Ariki Honetana-Paea is an artist. He used to draw art on to canvases and things like that, but when I came into the picture I encouraged him to get into doing printed designs. Not only would it be easier for him to scale up, but also it would be more affordable for families wanting his artwork.

Then we started getting messages with people saying, can you customise a pair of gumboots for me? Can you draw some Māori patterns on to this? After looking at what that business model might look like, we knew it wasn’t sustainable at all. Having to buy a pair of Red Bands (Skellerup gumboots) for $90 and then draw on it, we wouldn’t be able to turn a profit.

Then we thought we could print the design on to gumboots rather than drawing them. We reached out to a popular gumboot brand to see if they would be interested, and wrote a few business proposals. But they weren’t interested in the idea, so we let it go for a few years.

Then while I was pregnant with Maia the idea came up again, and I thought, why don’t we just do it ourselves? So we reached out to suppliers and realised it was possible, and it began from there.

Maaia Boots founder Charis Tutaki worked with Ariki Honetana-Paea to start the business, drawing on his background in Māori design.

Is the business self-funded, and what was the reaction from customers?

Yes, so we ordered 500 pairs on our first order, which might not sound like a lot, but that was probably two years’ worth of savings. It was pretty much all of the money we saved up for our baby, which was a huge risk to take, but if it worked out, it was going to come back tenfold.

We had forecast that to last us till the end of the year, and it lasted maybe four days, which was crazy. We put aside 10% of our stock, just in case we did sell out, to make sure we had other pairs for exchanges, but the rest of our pairs flew out the door.

We’ve now reinvested, and we’ve ordered another 2500 pairs. The first order was just adult sizes, but now we’ve added our youth and kids ranges to it, which will launch in November. There are three colourways for them, including green, pink and blue, and then adults just have the standard green. Again, it sounds like a lot, but considering how many sizes there are and how many colours there are, it’s really not much.

Could there be other designs from other artists in future?

Definitely. Another thing that we really want to do is other Pacific Islander or Polynesian designs. Having Samoan, Tongan, and Fijian designs would be great, but because we’re not Pasifika, we’re still trying to navigate that. That’s been something we’re keeping in the backseat at the moment, but definitely something we’re going to explore in the future.

We also recognise that a lot of Māori artists customise Red Bands, so we reached out to them and they’re now our partners, so we offer them wholesale prices of our gumboots to customise. They don’t have to have a minimum order quantity either, they can just order one pair at a time. It’s our way to support what they do, because that’s where we came from and that’s where our struggle started.

The unique Māori design is inspired by Charis' daughters name, which means the inner strength and bravery that flows through us all.

What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?

I would say find your niche and look at the market. What’s something that you want, but you feel isn’t really out there? Because I think that’s such a big thing that a lot of young entrepreneurs aren’t getting quite right. They’re just copying what’s already out in the market.

Social media is also key for networking, but never be shy to ask for help. We wouldn’t be in the position we are if we hadn’t reached out to other businesses to help understand things we didn’t understand ourselves.

Do you have a small business story you want to share? Send your pitches to tom.raynel@nzme.co.nz.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.