From rural provenance to fashion success story, Honest Wolf’s Sam and Sophie Hurley tell Evelyn Ebrey how they are using New Zealand wool to build a sustainable future.
In the quiet isolation of Papanui Estate, a third-generation family farm tucked away in rural New Zealand, Sam and Sophie Hurley
The Hurleys’ journey with Honest Wolf began with the phasing out of plastic bags across the country in 2018. At the same time, the wool market was failing to deliver fair returns for their farm’s wool, a product that had historically been its primary income stream.
“We were thinking a lot about the value of our wool, because it just wasn’t getting the price it deserved at the farmgate,” says Sam Hurley.
“That’s when the idea clicked: what if we could replace plastic supermarket bags with something better? We made a wool felt bag to carry our groceries and keep them cold on the long trip back to the farm. From there, it just grew. One idea led to another, and now we’ve got a whole range made from the same wool we grow ourselves.”
From the beginning, Honest Wolf has always been more than just a business for the Hurleys. It’s a culmination of their roots, commitment to sustainability and vision for the future of wool. Their 3300-hectare farm is home to 25,000 sheep, which produce 170 tonnes of wool annually, and Honest Wolf has already transformed over 35,000kg of it into their thoughtfully designed products.
Wool’s natural fibre, temperature-regulating qualities and durability make it a perfect material for bags and many other items. When the initial shopping bag developed for Honest Wolf was a success, Sam and Sophie soon found themselves with a business that required many skills, which, as first-time business owners, was a steep learning curve.
“Being a couple of farmers and not having any experience in developing product or designing bags, we’ve had to teach ourselves,” says Sophie Hurley.
“We got a lot of nos as we were trying to work through our ideas in the beginning, and we just had to push through every one of those. It wasn’t easy to be driving something like this within the scope of what New Zealand can offer. So, we had to push the boundaries to try and do what we can from a farm in rural Hunterville.”
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Advertise with NZME.Alongside the learnings of a growing business, the Hurleys were also growing their family, which came with its own set of challenges. Sam and Sophie launched Honest Wolf shortly after the birth of their first child in 2020, and the brand has grown alongside their now three children aged 5, 3 and 5 months.
“It’s chaotic at times but it’s also special to be building something together as a family,” says Sophie. “Part of the reason why we launched a business from home is so that I can, firstly, be a mother. So, the business has been based around family life, which is definitely a tricky balance when you want to have that at the core of what you do, but somehow we make it work.”
Adds Sam, “We may have Zoom meetings at all times of the day with our children on our knees but the team we work with respects that and loves our kids being involved. It makes everything more relaxed with a family vibe. We do have to have boundaries, as sometimes both of us can get so excited about new developments and opportunities, but we need to continue to learn to bring boundaries in and maybe not talk about the business at 10 at night!”
The juggle of the business and a young family sees Sophie run the day-to-day of Honest Wolf, leading a team of around eight, looking after operations, marketing, and telling the brand’s story. Sam handles the manufacturing side, working closely with the brand’s makers to ensure the quality of Honest Wolf’s products. As a third-generation farmer, he also keeps an eye out for new opportunities for their wool while managing the operations of the farm. Each day is a mix of responsibilities, some days he’ll be docking lambs in the morning and on a Zoom call about product development in the afternoon.
Their collaborative approach has been key to their success, blending Sam’s focus on logistics and quality control with Sophie’s creative vision and marketing experience.
“We’re proud of building this brand from our farm,” says Sophie. “We see the full circle every day - from shearing the sheep to seeing our bags in customers’ hands. It’s incredibly rewarding.”
From the farm, the best quality shorn wool is sent to Northern India where it’s dyed and made into felt for Honest Wool’s products. As the Hurleys discovered in the early days of their business, the lack of onshore production in Aotearoa makes it impossible for their products to be produced here. Managing offshore production with different time zones and languages can be tricky, but Sam and Sophie are delighted with the relationships that they’ve built with their ethical manufacturers and suppliers.
Sam has visited India several times to oversee production and ensure the transparency of their supply chain. From its inception, Honest Wolf has prioritised fair practices and a slow-fashion ethos. The brand pays above-market rates for wool and refuses to discount at the expense of producers.
A recent visit to catch up with the brand’s manufacturing team and visit the Bharat Textile Expo proved inspirational.
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Advertise with NZME.“Seeing the level of skill and pride the craftspeople have in their work was incredible,” adds Sam. “It reinforced the importance of valuing the process, not just the end product. One of the biggest learnings was actually for the wool industry as a whole: Indian makers are actively seeking out New Zealand wool because of its quality, and that opens up huge potential for how we as a country can better support and promote this fibre on the global stage.”
Honest Wolf is already stocked both locally and internationally, and, while the Hurleys have some big ambitions for their brand, they’re determined to grow at a sustainable pace and make considered choices. They’re realistic about the opportunities that present themselves and scaling in a way that aligns with their family and farm life. One of the brand’s defining touches is the topographic map of the Hurley farm printed inside each bag, grounding the product in its origins by ensuring that no matter where it ends up, it will always be connected to where it was grown.
Initially selling entirely online, in 2022 the brand opened its local flagship store in Hunterville. That physical presence has allowed Sam and Sophie to build relationships with many of Honest Wolf’s customers and is something they greatly enjoy. It’s also given the brand the opportunity to have a test and learn approach when needed, trialling samples of new products and getting honest, real-time feedback.
Using those learnings to refine their approach, when the brand launched a limited-edition range to celebrate their fifth anniversary, it sold out almost immediately. Honest Wolf has also put in a lot of effort to grow their online community, using their social media presence to share their business values and why they advocate for wool.
Their mission is to lift the value of wool both locally and globally, demonstrating that wool isn’t just a fibre; it’s a way to create sustainable, meaningful products that last. While Aotearoa produces some of the world’s best natural fibres in ethical and sustainable ways, that story often isn’t told well. Which is where Honest Wolf’s transparent approach is helping to show people exactly where their products come from and why that matters. The brand shares with their customers the sheep the fibre is from, the farmers who look after the sheep, and the whole process that happens from the farm to the store.
It’s an approach that is serving them well and, as they celebrate five years in business, Sam and Sophie have been envisaging some big goals for the future. Eventually, they want to progress from using 30% of the wool on their farm to using all of it, while supporting other local farmers and exploring the global opportunities for their wool.
For the Hurleys, Honest Wolf is more than a business - it’s a legacy.
“We want our children to understand the value of hard work, sustainability, and caring for the land,” says Sophie. “Whether they continue the business or forge their own paths, these values will always guide them.”
“Out here, you see the impact of your choices firsthand,” adds Sam. “You care for the land because you rely on it, it’s not just a marketing angle, it’s your livelihood, and we want that passed on to our future generations, as what we do with our land now will impact them. That mindset carries through into everything we do.”
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