Photos: Sacha Kahaki.
It’s not often that three generations of women share an office, but for Kiwi fashion designer Annah Stretton, her mum Vicki Lowe and daughter Sami Stretton, it’s a daily privilege.
Annah, 65, celebrates her company’s nearly 35-year journey this year with Vicki, 86, and Sami, 36, beside her every step of the way. Vicki has managed the accounts for 28 years, while Sami, who grew up in the business, is now the general manager.
As the tight-knit trio look ahead to Mother’s Day, they tell the Weekly how grateful they are for one another and the business, which is enjoying a strong resurgence.
While Annah’s label was “insanely successful” in its early years, things had begun to stall. “It had become stigmatised and was struggling to reinvent itself as it aged,” shares Annah. “There were all sorts of barriers. We had to reinvigorate a label that had landed on Struggle Street.”
In the five years before Covid, she closed 24 of 34 stores across New Zealand and Australia as their leases expired. “We were reshaping the business to future-proof it,” she says. “It was time to streamline and focus.”
Then during the pandemic, an unexpected opportunity changed everything. A charity approached Annah to produce fabric face masks, so the team repurposed leftover fabrics and trims.
“Covid put us back on the map,” she tells. “We became one of the country’s most trusted fabric mask makers, with sales reaching well over a million dollars. It boosted cash flow, brought new eyes to the website and reconnected women with our fashion. We built a strong company during a tough economic time.”
Lockdowns also pushed the brand into new product categories, such as accessories and homeware.
With only 10 stores remaining, the focus shifted to online – now 50 percent of turnover. In April, they launched golf attire “for women who are young at heart and ageing in years, who want to look great on the golf course and love our signature florals and colour”.
The brand’s reinvention makes Sami “crazily proud” and she credits Vicki with setting a “healthy benchmark” for workplace longevity. “I’m passionate about growing this brand,” says Sami. “So much blood, sweat and tears have gone into it. It has to continue!”
Another future creative on the rise may be Annah’s first granddaughter Lily, four. Annah, known as “Narnah” to her four grandchildren, already alters and customises Lily’s outfits on request.
“Lily has a quirky sense of dress,” laughs Annah. “We go online together to look for pieces she likes and I’m always intrigued by her choices – they’re nothing I’d pick for her, but she knows exactly what she wants!”
Lily lives in Mount Maunganui with her dad Edward, who is Annah’s son, her mum Lana, sister Violet, three, and brother Ted, one. Annah, who lives in Hamilton with husband Tony Hope, has a home at the Mount and visits regularly. Lily has a list of outfits for Narnah to bring back and “edit” – sewing on appliqués, making tweaks or creating something original.
Annah is equally close to Sami’s only child River, two, whom she shares with partner Jono Hopping. River spent his first year in the office with the three women before going on to daycare.
“Our mother-daughter relationship has evolved so much,” shares Sami. “From mentor and leader to business partner, and now the most amazing, devoted Narnah to my boy River. It’s always changing – in the best ways.”
Annah echoes that sentiment about Vicki, who taught her to sew and shares her love of baking, gardening, collectables, and ’70s retro homeware and design.
“It’s been a privilege to have Mum involved in the business,” reflects Annah. “She contributes so much every single day.”
Vicki works four days a week, commuting 21km from her Te Aroha home to the Morrinsville HQ. She has even recently ventured into modelling, posing for portraits Annah took for her local photography club. “We’re very much trying to have our own Iris Apfel moments with Mum!” laughs Annah.
With a smile, Vicki says, “It’s good to be amongst it and part of something. It keeps me active – it keeps the driver’s licence going! I can still live a normal, everyday life, even though I’m quite a bit older. And the atmosphere in the company is just wonderful.”
The Stretton women are proof that age doesn’t limit growth or possibility. Alongside reviving her business, Annah has nearly completed three Master’s degrees – in social policy, Māori and Indigenous studies, and photography – having returned to uni at 59. Her studies now support her extensive social work, particularly with RAW, the charity she founded to help incarcerated women rebuild and reclaim their lives.
“This fourth quartile of my life will be diverse,” she promises. “I’ll stay involved, learning, growing and initiating new things.”
Sami adds, “Mum has shown me everything’s possible if you work for it. Don’t say, ‘I can’t do that.’ The question should always be, ‘How can I get there?’”
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