Jane Laird-Pick, founder and designer, et alia
A childhood that included watching televised fashion shows and Miss World competitions helped spark a lifelong passion for design, fashion, and style for Jane Laird-Pick. Her early influences were fostered by a stylish grandmother (who owned a millinery salon) and her mother, who was a keen sewer.
Fast forward a few decades and Jane’s own label, et alia, is rapidly making its own mark and in just two years since launching is now stocked in more than 65 retailers around New Zealand.
A unique perspective
Quite simply, there’s an effortlessly cool vibe threaded through Jane’s collections, which feature high-quality fabrications and a delicious focus on femininity with an edge.
Clearly, her own unique personality is at the heart of et alia, which launched with its debut Spring/Summer in 2020 amid the unfortunate timing of a global pandemic.
Refusing to be deterred by the challenges that posed, Jane forged ahead as planned, and despite limitations around sharing that first collection, et alia found an immediate following and has continued growing from strength to strength.
The new Autumn/Winter 2023 collection looks set to continue the upward trajectory of et alia and proves there is a definite space for the proudly New Zealand-owned label, carefully tailored to embrace the demands of an active everyday wardrobe, yet elevating it with carefully considered design elements, quality fabrics, and stylish cuts.
With a preference for working with natural fibres, Jane also enjoys the journey of discovering stunning prints and collating these with textured fabrications for added appeal.
The style palette caters for everything from cool casual styling for off-duty days and weekends to pretty dresses and tops for dressy occasions and soft tailoring for workwear looks. An understated charm runs through all aspects of the collection.
This season embraces a sophisticated palette of toffee, plum, paprika, and mineral green, offset against a strong background of ink, black, and white.
Jane is passionate about the New Zealand fashion industry and community and considers herself fortunate to have worked for inspiring New Zealand designers such as Vicki Taylor (designer and owner of Taylor), Laurinda Sutcliffe (designer and owner of Loobie’s Story and formerly Creative Director at High Society where the pair worked together in the late 2000s) and Kelly Coe of Augustine fame.
“All smart, savvy businesswomen and designers who have created amazing brands,” she says.
Et alia’s autumn collection is available in-store at selected stockists now.
FashioNZ finds out more.
What sparked your interest in fashion and style?
Fashion is something I’ve been interested in from an early age, influenced by my grandmother who was extremely stylish with a millinery salon in Blenheim. I spent much of my school holidays watching her sew and playing dress-ups in her clothes. Mum is also a keen sewer and made me many gorgeous outfits when I was younger. We used to watch the Benson and Hedges fashion awards and all the Miss World/Miss Universe competitions just to see what dresses they were wearing. I’m sure Mum would reveal that I always had strong opinions when it came to what I wore as a child, and as a teenager designed several dresses to wear to school balls.
How did you pursue your interest in fashion?
I’ve worked in the fashion industry since finishing high school, working part-time for Esprit, moving into full-time work when I moved to Auckland. Within a year, I became the youngest store manager they had ever employed, managing their successful Remuera store when I was 20. It gave me a solid grounding and great insight into the industry.
After learning a lot from the retail end of the market (which I firmly believe is the best start for anyone aspiring to be a designer, as you learn a lot about clothes, the end use of the product, and how consumers shop), I embarked on my formal training at AUT. Special mention needs to go to my Design Tutor Linda Jones for opening my eyes to the world of fashion and for pushing me to succeed.
What is your formal training?
In 1999, I completed a Diploma in Fashion Technology, then went on to do a three-year degree finishing in 2002 with a BA in Fashion Design and Technology, graduating top of my class with an award shared with my best friend, which was pretty special.
What were some of the challenges of launching a new label during COVID?
There were so many challenges: everything from fabric supply issues, lockdowns, and reduced workforce affecting manufacturing in China to not being able to travel to China to deal with our supplier, forcing a change of internal operations, retailer uncertainty in consumer spending affecting their budgets, increased costs, major delays and late deliveries with the international shipping of our bulk production, and even having to do a whole season of indent selling via Zoom during the August ’20 lockdown from my bedroom. There was a lot to overcome.
What are some of the challenges of being a one-woman-band with et alia?
Et alia is my baby. I do it all from designing the collections and overseeing fits for production to travelling the country on my nationwide sales trip and managing my website and social media. I love what I do. Designing clothes is my dream job, but that is only one small part of the bigger picture. There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes to get ranges over the line and ultimately it’s all up to me. It’s a big responsibility and a time-consuming one, so I find that challenging at times.
It’s important to note that et alia wouldn’t exist without the backing of Girl Hut Clothing, owned by Gary Chettleburgh, designer, and manufacturer of women’s clothing labels Zafina and Seduce NZ. We’re a small team, employing only two staff members, one full-time and one part-time, who assist with a huge amount of admin, which allows us to think about the bigger picture. I’m fully involved in the day-to-day operations of the business and work closely with Gary on his ranges, as well as designing and producing et alia.
What part of the process is most enjoyable for you?
Seeing the collections I design in my head come to life in front of the camera at our photoshoots, presenting the collections to my retailers and hearing how much they love the range, walking down the street and seeing someone wearing et alia – it always makes me smile, and getting lovely messages from customers who take the time to write and tell me how much they loved the new piece they just purchased. I love that fashion has the power to make people happy; that’s pretty cool.
What are some highlights of your business journey so far?
My first trip to China at the start of 2020 was definitely a highlight, as I’d never been before and always wanted to see the fabric markets first-hand. What an eye-opener that was. Seeing people in et alia is always a highlight. I have dressed Hayley Sproull and Claire Chittam for events. Also being able to watch the number of retail stockists jump from 39 to 67 in four seasons has been a highlight, and many of my newer stockists have reached out to me after seeing the label elsewhere and wanting to stock it, which is very encouraging.
What have you discovered about yourself since launching your business?
That I have the strength and motivation to get up and show up every day, to push myself to work harder and do better each collection, and to be grateful for and make the most of all opportunities that come my way.
What is an overview of your personal style journey?
Fashion allows you to express your personality. I’ve always loved mixing up my looks to suit my mood, from wearing a pretty dress and heeled boots one day to a matching suit and sneakers the next, and then on weekends I’m all about comfort, and you’ll most likely find me wearing something from my Luxe Lounge collection.
One thing being in my 40s has taught me is that dressing to suit your personal style and body shape is always going to look more stylish than following trends. Also having a selection of staple pieces forming the basis of your wardrobe means you can build a number of different outfits by adding new pieces each season.
What are your thoughts on the fashion landscape in New Zealand?
I’ve watched the New Zealand fashion industry evolve over the past 20 years, seeing the arrival of international chain stores and the rise of online shopping alter the landscape of retail and force change across the industry. Brick-and-mortar stores have had to work harder to compete in a market saturated with online stores, so having your own point of difference is essential to be successful.
I am proud to stock 67 stores with et alia and have good open communication with my retailers. In my opinion, they are doing well considering how hard it has been over the past two years. There are a huge number of labels on offer throughout the stores, which means some pretty stiff competition for both suppliers and retailers alike.
I feel lucky to have a broad market catering to stores across New Zealand, and despite keeping my primary target market in mind when designing my collections, I always have pieces with broad appeal. I’m a firm believer that age is just a number and love seeing et alia of women of all ages.
Where did you grow up?
I was born and bred in Christchurch, growing up in a loving family with my parents and my older brother. Mum and Dad taught us the importance of working hard to achieve our goals, which proved to be an invaluable life lesson. My brother is really successful and someone I’ve always looked up to.
I completed my high school years at Villa Maria College and then packed my bags and moved to Auckland in search of a career in fashion. In hindsight, this was a bold move for someone so young, as I knew no one there, but once that decision was made, I truly haven’t looked back since. Auckland is also where I met my husband, Ben, who I have been with since 1999. We married in 2008, had our first son Jack in 2010, and moved to Australia in 2011 so Ben could pursue his career in archaeology. Our second son Luke arrived in 2013, and I’m grateful to have been at home full-time with my boys when they were little. We relocated to the Mount in 2015, which was the start of what we hope is the rest of our lives here.
We absolutely love it here; the warm climate and relaxed lifestyle suit us perfectly. I spend a lot of my time thinking about and working on et alia. It’s not just my job; it’s my passion, so I dedicate a lot of my energy to it. I’m thankful that my family and friends never give me a hard time for it. I juggle the demands of being a working mum and running my household with my husband and balance all this with regular workouts at the gym during the week (I’m a recent convert) and beach walks and being social on the weekend to fill my bucket.
Images supplied