Frustration at the lack of clothing options for their sports-mad kids was the spark for two rural women to step into the apparel game.
Waikato dairy farmer Tania Moss and good friend Nicole Kidd, each with three children, say the idea to start a children’s activewear brand came to them in 2022.
“All our kids are really active, but we noticed there wasn’t a lot of sports clothing out there for them,” Federated Farmers member Moss says.
“We’ve got so many friends also complaining that they can’t find the right activewear for their kids to wear to gymnastics, dancing, rugby and so on.
“So, we saw a gap in the New Zealand market and decided that’s what we wanted to do – fill it.”
Moss and Kidd have just launched their company Outplay, selling their range of clothing online and primarily targeting other rural parents.
“A lot of our friends are farming community mums – rural people. Everyday families are who we want to buy our clothing,” Moss says.
“Anything out there in New Zealand at the moment, apart from the cheaper stuff, is all quite pricey.
“We want to provide high-quality clothing that’s affordable for farming families.”
For example, Outplay’s girls’ bike shorts are $44.90, and a matching crop top (“so they can look like mum”) comes in at $39.90.
The entrepreneurs say it’s taken a lot of work to develop their clothing range, which they describe as easy-wearing and durable, with style and comfort in mind. Support from Moss’s sister-in-law, who owns successful women’s clothing company Mi Moso, has been invaluable.
“Her experience and contacts have been a huge help,” Moss says. “She put us onto a clothing manufacturer who’s been amazing to work with.”
Both women are strongly rooted in farming, but also have legal and financial skills that have proved useful in starting a business.
Kidd, who grew up on a dairy farm in Matamata, worked in rural banking before starting her family. She and husband Jeremy are among the directors of King Electrical, which services Matamata’s rural community.
Moss, a 50/50 sharemilker with husband Brent in Te Poi, near Matamata, manages the farm finances and used to work as a legal executive.
She says she’s grateful to be a farmer, as it’s afforded her the lifestyle to start another business.
“If we weren’t farming, I don’t think I’d be able to even look at doing anything like this.
“The dairy farm is our main source of income, and that’s allowed me the time and funds to pursue something else as a business.”
It’s early days, but the move from farm to fashion has been an exciting one so far for the friends.
“It’s been an awesome journey getting into business. We’re really looking forward to seeing where this could go,” Moss says.
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Feds news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
