The global Kiwi brand that grew from $100

From a young age, fashion was in Karen’s blood. Influenced by the strong female role models of her mother and grandmother, she used to spend Sunday’s playing in her mother’s fabric box. 

“My mother and my grandmother always had a very clear point of view around their own aesthetics. They weren’t designers, they weren’t in business in any way, but there was a standard of style and a standard of care towards that style. I came of age in the late ‘80s, and while fashion design wasn’t something that was typically offered to people back then, I knew I wanted a career that was exciting, I never wanted to think, “Oh my god, it’s Monday again.”

That passion and excitement for what she does is something Karen has been weaving into her designs for more than three decades, and it’s not just about constantly creating something totally new, with many of her current designs inspired by her brand’s journey and history. 

“After 35 years we have some amazing archives, and we take a lot of inspiration from those. Often, we’ll look back at a style or an element to a style, like some top-stitching or a little frill, or a collar; when we are designing we always have one eye on the archive.”

Combined with that nod to the brand’s history the other thing that drives the brand is the idea of creating items with purpose. 

“Very few people actually need more clothes so it’s not just about creating racks of garments. I want people to feel like there’s a purpose for that product in their life, but that it’s also going to elevate them, even if it’s an everyday item. Just because you’re walking the dog or putting your kids in the car it doesn’t mean you can’t have some cool sneakers and a great umbrella. You still want to be feeling good and like you’re knocking it out of the park.”

As the brand has evolved so has its focus on sustainability.

“Everything that we make is made to last as a piece of design, but also as a product. Nothing in our design brief is about disposability, the intent is always that it should stay, it should have many, many years in a wardrobe or multiple wardrobes and the design and the quality allows that. Our organic cotton designs are produced by Fair Trade Certified partners and any offcuts go back into thread, we don’t put them in landfill, we aim for zero cotton waste. We choose recycled materials whenever possible and for our denim we partner with Outland Denim who produce denim with less water and who support employment in vulnerable communities.”

Karen Walker doesn’t have huge factories, the brand works with smaller factories and also with friends of the brand on collaborations which are often handmade and hyper-local.

“We have just done some work with Rise Beyond the Reef, a non-profit which empowers rural indigenous women and their families in remote Fijian communities. We have been working for a few years with a family-run factory just out of Portugal that makes this beautiful shirting fabric that’s composed of organic cotton and fibre made from the cuttings of industrial rose bushes grown in Italy. The shirts smell of roses and it’s unbelievable, it feels like heaven when it’s on. We are constantly digging into what factories and partners are available to us. What is their area of expertise? How do we bring that into part of the design process?”

After 35 years on the global stage, Karen is a walking fountain of business knowledge, she’s had her fair share of setbacks and learnt a lot along the way. She says her biggest advice to other Kiwi entrepreneurs is to evolve by constantly questioning the status quo and embrace change as the only constant. 

“Look for change. Hold everything up to the light and examine it from all angles and don’t expect anything to stay the same. Run towards change, don’t grip and hold against it. Because it’s going to happen whether you like it or not so you might as well be looking it in the eye. I think the thing a lot of people miss is that change is a good thing, not something to be resisted, but rather something to seek out.”

“None of the ground on which we’re standing is the same as it was five minutes ago, let alone when I started this business 35 years ago. So the very structure, the very land upon which we’re standing is completely different. Nothing is the same except maybe just good design is still good design.”

Karen Walker says she’s here to stay at least for the foreseeable future and she’s got her eye on a number of exciting projects and several new collaborations.

“We’ve always got new projects going on the go. Everyday we have to step out there and do a dance and delight our audience and excite them, give them a reason to come to us. I remember my grandmother saying to me once when I was 18, ‘What are the colours for the season?’ I’m like, I don’t know, is that how people think? The skill of the designer is to be able to project 24 months forward and get into the customer’s head and go, I think this is what you’re going to want 18 months or 24 months from now.”

With a focus on the future, and an archive of inspiration Karen says the thing she is most proud of is simple.

“I’ve had a successful business for 35 years and I’ve built a brand and community around us – and not many people get to say that.”