Elisabeth and Neville Findlay point to each other when asked the reason for Zambesi's success. Photo / Brett Phibbs
It's a jaw dropper that still causes Zambesi fashion designer Elisabeth Findlay to cringe - Australians who couldn't conceive that New Zealand had serious fashion credibility.
These days the country's reputation is established, but charging designer prices across the Ditch didn't seem like the done thing for those
on the other side 20 years ago.
With her husband Neville, who manages the retail and marketing side of the brand, Elisabeth Findlay has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and fashion for almost 30 years.
Click here for full list of honours
"In 1988, we went to Australia. Someone said, 'What are you doing selling those expensive clothes? How can you charge those prices?' Ahh, [I said] because that's what it costs. I was actually floored."
Not least because Kiwis have always been great dressers, she says.
"We've got this quiet inner confidence. We're not so interested in what everyone else is doing."
When Neville, 63, says his wife is the reason they've been as successful as they have, Elisabeth, 59, tells him to stop his "silliness".
She's the creative brains, he reckons; he's the backbone, she says. But Neville gets the last word in while his wife is getting set for a picture. "It's really all her."
Reflecting their success, the pair have opened their own international stores, supply their range in Europe, North America and Asia and participate in Fashion Week in London and Australia. They'll soon make a major push into the Japanese market.
Trailblazing means there's much more spotlight on what young designers are doing now, Elisabeth says.
"There was very little hype then. We like that. No one took any notice of us, either because they weren't interested or they didn't care. You just got on with it.
"We were able to go through all our growing pains without anyone looking."
Except, that is, for "amazing" staff, some of whom have been with the company for more than 20 years.
Along the way they've designed Air New Zealand's new uniform and been the subject of an Auckland Museum exhibition.
While Neville won't say what Zambesi turns over a year, it employs 50 people. But don't remind him, he jokes. It makes him tense to think of all those he has to pay.
One thing's for sure: kitted out in black, they're the best-dressed fashion officers you'll find.
