A pattern of success

Press, 10 February 1983, Page 12

A pattern of success

BARBARA SUTHERLAND meets Janette Wild, the energetic force behind a revolution in New Zealand home sewing.

Janette and Maui Wild are the driving force behind the success of the revolutionary Knitwit sewing method. The couple came to New Zealand in 1979 with the aim of opening 25 stores over a period of 10 years. In less than half this time, the Wilds are two thirds of the way towards their target. As the franchise owners. Janette and Maui like to be yon tap” for the store owners. .< During a fleeting visit to the Riccarton Road store, which is the sixteenth in the chain, Janette Wild explains that the business is the number one priority in their lives. Janette is Australian. Maui is New Zealand-born, and the couple now live in Auckland. “When you are doing something you really enjoy it doesn't seem a burden,” she says: ■ This means telephone calls at all hours of the day and night, but it is'an aspect that the husband and wife team accept as part of the challenge to establish the business. Janette Wild was immediately attracted to the knitwit concept when it was launched by Vera Randall in Australia in 1970. The idea was to teach people simple Sewing techniques which eliminated obstacles such as zips and darts. Her experience as a representative for an international sewing company and later, with the same company, in training dealers and organising retail promotions, gave Janette the confidence to open a Knitwit store in Adelaide. After five successful years they bought the Knitwit franchise for New Zealand and began their first store in Howick, Auckland. ( Infected by his partner’s enthusiasm for the venture, and confident they could develop the concept in New Zealand, Maui changed his career in mid-stream. Previously he owned a thriving import and distribution business. “We are both terribly posi-

tive-thinking people,” Janette says. “A lot of people approaching their 50s feel they should be winding down, but we don’t; we’re enjoying ourselves.”

Maui is primarily responsible for the franchise side of the business. It is his job to find suitable locations for new shops and to organise people capable of managing and teaching. Janette takes charge of staff training and the development of new fabrics, as well as managing a Knitwit store in Remuera. Knitwit has become a multi-million dollar enterprise. Janette Wild believes the appeal lies in the simplicity of the method and the versatility of the patterns.

“Sewing by conventional methods, you really do need patience. “By our method you still get the fit without darts or zips because of the stretch capability of the fabric,” she maintains.

From basic stretch sewing, the Knitwit company has entered the fashion arena.

Autumn-winter and springsummer catalogues are produced annually. There is also a “Garment of the Year” contest.

Soft plaids and checks, knits that look like tweed. Donegal and even linen have been developed by the company. At the moment they are working on a knitted denim. <

Janette Wild has also discovered that the method has special significance for disabled people.

“The patterns can be adjusted to suit individual needs.” she points out. “Someone with a caliper on one leg can sew slacks with a size 16 right leg and a size 14 left leg, successfully disguising the caliper." Heartened by the rapid response with which homesewers have accepted Knitwit, Janette says she and Maui have lots of confidence for the future.

The Wilds are already considering a second store for Christchurch — which makes their 10-year plan somewhat conservative.

High interest rates. rising maintenance costs, the rent freeze — a land-

lord's lot' is not so happy these days. Yet property remains an attractive investment.

An imaginative paint manufacturer will one day label a colour "landlord blue." and everyone who has ever flatted will know exactly what shade to expect. Inoffensive and serviceable. it does not show the dirt and it is a favourite choice for bathrooms. Tenants either paint over it or talk of painting over it.

This is the stuff of which the landlord's image has been made. They are not a popular group, and would be unlikely to feature on anybody's list of top ten occupations.

To tenants particularly, it seems that the landlord is on easy street. He simply pockets the rent each week. Money for jam.

However, interviews with the president of the Christchurch Landlords' Association. Mr A. J. Roberts, and two other landlords put the lie to the legend.

It is hard work and the returns, although respectable in the long-term, are smaller than many would expect.

Mr Roberts estimates that there are upward of 700 landlords in Christchurch. The association has 325 paidup members and that, he says, is probably less than half of the total’number.

He is unable to supply a breakdown of the proportion of professional landlords and those with a large number of properties, more than 20. for example. Many are small fry. and have only one or two flats. Most landlords and landladies are "unbusinesslike" in their attitudes and allow their rents to lag behind current market value, he says.

Some let their properties at "ridiculously low rentals.” He explains that it is difficult to assess exactly what should be charged for a flat.

The outgoings vary according to whether the property is owned freehold, the time it was bought, the price paid for it. and whether it is mortgaged and for how much.

A one-bedroom flat charged at $5O a week might return to the owner 10 per cent or more on his investment. But, if he has taken out a first and second mortgage on it. it might not cover his interest payments. Even referring to the “To