Business Rural Winter 2021

46 | From a ‘few school Virginia Wright H e’s told it a thousand times by now, but Carl Uren’s story of how their company “True Fleece” began is worth telling again. Now 14, Carl and Tori Uren’s oldest child, Anna- bel, was about to start school on Banks Peninsula in Canterbury. “We went shopping for a merino jersey and couldn’t find one that was suitable for her to wear to school because we didn’t want her or our other children wearing plastic, polyester, polar fleeces to school,” explains Carl. The Urens have been farming sheep for generations, and Carl and Tori weren’t ready to accept defeat. “We found a little fabric shop in town that could sell us a bit of merino fabric and Tori’s mum Pam whipped up a few jerseys for her to wear to school as well as some long dressing gowns for our little ones to wear in the evenings at home. Ten years of steady growth is testament to the fact that they are not alone in their desire to avoid wearing synthetic garments to keep warm. Their little ones are now 11 year-old Sam, nine-year-old Georgi, and eight-year-old Tom. Carl and Tori are still sheep and beef farmers with around 700 hec- tares of land they either lease or own - and ‘True Fleece’ has become an international brand selling beanies, gloves, leggings and other garments that work well in merino, as well as the school jerseys that began it all. But it was thanks to the steady organic growth selling those school jerseys all over Canterbury that the Urens realised they had a viable busi- ness to run alongside their farming and that they needed to set it up properly. MEAT & WOOL » True Fleece “It took a few years to get our processes in place, and sort out where we were going to get all our wool from, because we wanted it to be New Zealand only regardless of how much we needed. Now we buy our fabric from Designer Textiles International who make it with wool they source from New Zealand Merino and it’s all guaranteed and traceable back from garment to farm.” Their web-site and social media presence has boosted the business over the past few years and these days they’re making thousands of jumpers and other garments that are going all over New Zealand into a wide variety of places. Carl estimates that their business is around a third school jerseys; a third all the other merino garments promoted through their website whether it be base-layers, beanies or gloves; and a third corporate sales. “It’s businesses wanting a homegrown, natural product for their staff to wear rather than some synthetic-based thing out of China,” says Carl. “So we supply Resene Paints, Placemakers; we do livestock companies, we do all sorts. “ A few years ago they expanded into the United States with modern technology and buying pat- terns meaning they could largely mirror what they were doing here. “We’ve got our own web-based platform we do our online sales through, beanies, gloves, leggings, hoodies and everything. It’s the same over there as it is here although there’s no school jerseys because they don’t wear school uniforms in the States, but we’re getting a lot of corporate busi- ness just like we do here. “It’s a real range from small mum and dad Real Estate or Insurance companies to the bigger True Fleece manufactures a range of merino garments including base layers, hoodies beanies and gloves. Taking a practical approach to accounting • Cashflowmanagement & budgeting • Business plans • Tax preparation & planning Agri-business accounting and advisory specialists • Succession planning • Payroll • Information technology Talk to our farming specialists MikeMedlicott: mmedlicott@nexiachch.co.nz Chris Greenslade: cgreenslade@nexiachch.co.nz Chartered Accountants Nexia House, Level 4, 123 Victoria Street, Christchurch • P: 03 379 0829 • W: www.nexia.co.nz Nowwith hydraulic controlled hopper doors capable of variable rate application Contact: Duncan Hart 027 481 1915 or 03 302 8400 e: info@skyfarmers.co.nz Aerial Spraying Aerial Topdressing www.skyfarmers.co.nz