MANDY SMITH
Talk about enterprising. With any luck, Helen Clark will soon be donning some trendy red arm-warmers in Parliament - a gift from Havelock North High School young enterprise group Threads.
The pupils took advantage of the Prime Minister's trip to the school last Friday to give her a free sample
from their winter clothing line.
The arm-warmers were specially made in Labour Party red, with Threads' managing director Nicola Evans saying it was a bit of a publicity stunt.
"She had a bit of a giggle," Nicola said.
"Apparently she goes tramping quite a bit, so she might use them then."
The woolly accessory could be worn with three-quarter sleeved tops or even under school uniforms, the Year-12 pupil said slyly.
But they would not look particularly becoming when paired with Miss Clark's trademark pant-suits, she admitted.
Threads, consisting of Nicola, finance director Aorangi West, communications director Elaine Evans, all 17, and sales and marketing director Melanie Botha, 16, have sold about 50 pairs of their arm-warmers since production began in term two, exceeding their expectations.
Each pair took about 20 minutes for the girls to make, and retailed for $10.
Production had now started on their summer product - simple T-shirts sporting a New Zealand icon.
Surprisingly, the successful small-scale clothing line was not their first choice. The group had already booked Katchafire for an August concert at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, but when they realised a group from Napier Boys' High School had the same idea, they resorted to plan B.
"We were a bit relieved we didn't go through with it in the end," Nicola said, referring to the low attendance at Chump Productions' event last month.
"The setbacks have probably made us learn more about business than if it all ran totally smoothly for us."
Mentored by Mantrap's Nicki Pinel, the girls learned how to deal with suppliers and meet customer demand, "but we didn't realise how much work would be involved, and what we'd have to do to achieve results", Nicola said.
Their T-shirts cost $30 and are available by e-mailing bigevents_yes@hotmail.com
