One of Samoa’s most revered fashion brands, Eveni Pacific, has opened a store in Auckland and intends to open several more around New Zealand.
The brand’s designs have been seen on the likes of Disney’s Moana film star Auli’i Cravalho, Pacific band Te Vaka, former Miss Pacific Islands / Miss Samoa Moemoana Schwenke and former All Black Sonny Bill Williams.
The All Blacks also wore custom-made Eveni shirts for their historic Apia rugby test match against Manu Samoa in 2015.
Eveni Pacific opened its first New Zealand store on John Goulter Drive near Auckland Airport in November.
It was the fulfilment of a long-held dream for the company, which decades ago aspired to be the Smith & Caughey’s of Samoa, according to chief executive Alexander Vaai.
“We even tried to follow some of their practices, like their Christmas window displays,” he told the Herald.
Vaai is a fourth-generation descendant of the man who established I.H Carruthers Ltd, which owns Eveni Pacific.
Vaai and his siblings and cousins dressed in the label from childhood; in vibrant elei (island-patterned) shirts, dresses and ie faitaga (formal island men’s lavalava) for special events, plentiful at the family’s flagship shop in Apia.
“All of us cousins grew up working at Eveni,” he told the Herald.
Vaai is the chief executive of I.H Carruthers Ltd, which trades as Eveni Carruthers and Eveni Pacific. He took over in 2010, shortly after his mother, Kim Carruthers Vaai, died.
He is a great-grandson of founder Irving Carruthers, the son of Scotsman Richard Irving Hetherington Carruthers, who arrived in Samoa from Melbourne in the 1890s to work as a lawyer for Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson.
In 1929, Irving Carruthers - known to locals as “Eveni” - started a business trading in cocoa and copra for export. Over the years, it evolved into one of Samoa’s - and the Pacific’s - leading fashion retailers.
Eveni Pacific sells to locals and overseas-based Samoans as well as Pasifika communities generally, and tourists.
Today, the business is run by the third and fourth generations of the Carruthers aiga (family).
“That’s one of the things that keeps the business going - you don’t want to be the generation that ends the journey,” Vaai said.
At the Eveni store in Auckland, another Carruthers cousin - Lauren Blakelock-Toma is on staff.
She became emotional when speaking about her great-grandfather and what he started for their aiga.
“We purposely do keep him in mind and other family members who have worked hard to establish the store and its spread and legacy.”
Vaai said although he has the top job, the business is very much run by the family - with aunties, siblings and cousins all contributing strongly, from management to creative design and colour combinations.
“Looking back at what my great-grandfather, grandfather and then my mother...all the things they did...there’s a great sense of responsibility [and] a great sense of pride. We hope to continue the legacy.”
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.