Children’s Clothkits have arrived

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34106, 19 March 1976, Page 5

Children’s Clothkits have arrived

(By

LEONE STEWART

Clothkits is almost a household word in Britain. Now the ready-to-cut lengths of fabric with the pattern printed on are being imported by two enterprising young Canterbury women.

Merrilies Rebbeck and Frances de Latour discovered Clothkits when they were living in Britain. When the sisters returned home to Canterbury they continued to send for the kits which are marketed I by mail order. It was Merrilies’s husband, j Peter Rebbeck, who suggested they set up their own ! importing business. If they found the kits so useful and I easy to sew, surely lots of New Zealand women would [too, he reasoned. After a year of negotiaI tions with the English i manufacturers, their first I supplies have arrived. Clothkits, of Potters’ Lane, Halswell are now ready to send lout their mail-order catalogue. Initially they are importing only four types of kits, all for children’s clothing. The decoratively printed corduroy comes in sevetal colours, and is styled in dungarees and pinafores. Both styles are in two sizes. The dungarees in a pattern for nine months to two years, lor two years to four years lof age, and the pinafores I will fit girls from one to three years, or from four to 'six years of age. Indestructable Both the colours and the hand, silk-screen printing seem to be indestructable, says Mrs Rebbeck, who i speaks from experience. Her two girls "live” in Clothkit clothes which are constantly machine-washed.

I Merrilies Rebbeck has no doubts that these are kits ‘‘any fool can sew.” 1 “I’m proof of that,” she I laughs. She can produce the ; pinafore or the ' dungarees between breakfast and lunch, ’ and the print makes the ■ basic design of the garments > look somewhat special. I She began ordering the kits for her older daughter, f o u r-year-old Elizabeth, when she was living in 1 Northern Ireland. When the ! family came to live in ’ Christchurch two years ago 1 she continued to send for f the kits. i Soon after one-year-old Charlotte was born her sis- . ter Frances, who had disi covered the kits for aduTs tj while on a working holiday . in London, returned home. A . business venture seemed a 1 good idea. They decided to start withi the children’s kits because I Mrs Rebbeck believes Newi , Zealand children’s clothing; . needs more variety. Costs! - are being kept down by im-I porting just the cloth. The • sisters will include sewing: i cotton, zips, and the instruc- : tions. Brainchild i ■ Clothkits was the brain-1 ' child of Anne Kennedy, an 1 English textile designer. She had the idea of printing a pattern on a length of cloth so that even novices could sew a garment without hav- : ing to sort out which bits of a pattern went where. , With her husband Finn, an ' industrial designer, they went into business with no i capital and a turnover ofi about $BOOO in the first | year.

■> The first five kits for 51 children have grown into a range of patterns from birth jjto adult size 18. Their turnover last year was $140,000. s With a staff of 19 they have , ! had to move their workroom 2 out of a room in their four--sistorey family home in ; Lewes, and set up a workshop. The business is very much ’ a family concern. Mrs Kenj nedy’s sister-in-law Janet . helps her with the designing. J Any available children and ‘ relatives are used as models r ;to test the clothing. I Natural fibres Everything comes in natjural fibres — cotton or ’Wool. A range of cut-and-isew knitwear is also proving \ popular addition to the I I twice-yearly ranges of cojordinated cothing for the 'Whole family. When Mrs Rebbeck first wrote to the Kennedys suggesting a New Zealand venture they were not enthusiastic about extending the business. But a few months ] ilater they wrote to Merrilies: Suggesting a trial period! jusing just two styles. ■ The sisters say the Keninedys are interested to hear of their progress, and expansion into the adult kits is possible. Frances finds her printed skirts and dresses! look very effective while i being easy to sew. New Zealand visitors to I London may be familiar; with the Kennedy Clothkits. Although distributed by; mail, kits are displayed at the Design Centre in the: (Haymarket, near New Zealand House.