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As Seen in Stuff, 5th November 2024
Sharon Doreen from the finishing team, packaging socks. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
From the corporate head office a small town factory in Norsewood, Hawke’s Bay
When Tim Deane left his senior corporate career which included roles at Goodman Fielder, ASB and Fonterra, to become a small business owner, he probably surprised a few people.
A year and eight months ago, Deane bought the sock company, Norsewear, based in Norsewood in Hawke’s Bay. Started by Ola Rian, a Norwegian army captain turned diplomat who married a Kiwi, Norsewear was launched as a Scandinavian-style brand with ski hats and socks made with New Zealand wool. The factory has a knitting machine thought to have made Sir Edmund Hillary’s socks in 1971.
Today the Norsewear brand is well known in the farming industry, its workwear socks can be found at farming stores like PGG Wrightson, dress and active socks at a number of boutique and smaller retailers and the entire range – including baby socks, slipper socks and apparel – is on its website.
Deane explains why he made the move. “I always wanted to run my own business and I’d spent a lot of time exporting New Zealand commodities to places where the brand value was captured off-shore. As New Zealanders we’re very good at selling great commodities and others making money from them,” he says.
The businessman had also spotted a trend he thought presented an opportunity.
“I could see a shift in consumer thinking - ethical, sustainable brands and slow fashion are growing quickly - and New Zealand was well positioned to deliver on this. We grow some of the best wool in the world.”
“I thought, here’s an opportunity to take what is a well known heritage brand that’s had a lack of investment, and see if we can capitalise on global trends.”
A year in, Deane is working very hard from his kitchen table at his home near Matakana and travelling to the Norsewear factory in Norsewood, in the southern Hawke’s Bay, a week a month.
“We’ve invested a huge amount in this. It’s not just a side hustle. I’ve swapped security for freedom but that freedom comes with some caveats,” he says
L to R, Wayne Russell, Senior Sock Engineer and Zane Aigner, Sock Engineer. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
The business owner feels a huge amount of responsibility to make this work. He employs 19 people in Norsewood, a town with a population of 150.
“We are an important part of that town and there’s a huge motivation to do right by those who came before and the community,” says Deane, who was raised in Canterbury went to university there.
The heritage company needed significant investment, he found.
“We did detailed due diligence, but you never find out everything and you also underestimate what you don’t know,” says Deane.
One of the first things he did was buy the brand back which was sold in 2007, so the business was paying a royalty to use it.
“Getting the brand back was really important,” says Deane.
Grace Carden-Horton. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
The new owner also quickly reviewed his key staff members - there were two excellent sock engineers who were both in their 60s so he brought in two younger engineers, one only partly trained, to help with the succession planning.
For new product development meanwhile, he hired a first class honours textile design graduate, Grace Carden-Horton, who had done an apprenticeship in the Netherlands.
Deane looked at the working processes in the factory and revisited the supply chain to understand where the raw materials came from.
Then he looked at the brand’s strengths and the development opportunities, the big value drivers of the company.
Less than 10% of the company’s business is international and Deane is being targeted on where Norsewear could expand. He has travelled to the UK and spoken to customers there.
“It’s very tempting in a small business to chase lots of new ideas and new markets but it’s about prioritising and chasing a few big opportunities and sacrificing the others,” says Deane.
The Norsewear owner’s corporate experience means he has a different approach to problem-solving than your usual small business owner. When he worked in corporates he was surrounded by skilled executives.
“Here, I’m a jack of all trades - HR, IT, finance, I’ve got to do the whole lot. The company is too small to employ lots of people but it’s too big to do it all by myself.”
Deane is open to taking advice and will happily pay for it. He has paid for good market research because it is important to guide where he is heading and what he does next.
Kent De San Pedro from the Knitting Team. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
“There’s a bit of a psyche in New Zealand small business, driven by our No. 8 wire mentality, that thinks doing it all ourselves will deliver a better result. I don’t believe that,” says the business owner.
Deane has paid experts to build him an excellent website.
“I’m not saying hire people to do everything but figure out when you need to get good people to help you and use them when you need them.”
The business owner works with a former senior Icebreaker executive on the export side.
“I’ll use a seasoned executive like him for a specific purpose,” says Deane.
The former banker is surprised at how many small businesses are not doing cash flow forecasting, they’re not thinking two, three or five years in advance. The business owner says he relies on an excellent accountant and a great bank manager to help with this, drawing on his business network.
The to-do list remains long but Deane is chipping away at it.
“I think I’ve found the challenge of doing this more than I’d anticipated but the opportunity is also much bigger than I’d anticipated.” he says.
Deane could earn a lot more money being a banker but would he be as fulfilled?
“This is part of the trade-off you have to understand before you start, ” he adds.
“I worked in corporates for years where decisions were made that were not always based on my own values. If you own the company, your values must be lived everyday. For someone like me, that’s important.”
Read the story on Stuff, by Gill South.