31 May 2022

A Way with Wool

Waea Ngahere. Bush Telegraph.

writer: carly thomas

photographer: FRANCINE BOER

A desire to lift up Aotearoa’s wool industry led Kate Macdonald to start her own sustainable fashion brand using wool grown and shorn on her family’s farm, Davaar Station, in Te Anau, Southland.

Nestled into the base of the Takitimu Mountains, Davaar Station has been in the Macdonald family for five generations. Her rural upbringing meant Kate, 25, grew up wearing homespun woollen jerseys and knew sheep weren’t just for winning ribbons on pet day. “I spent a lot of time in the woolshed growing up and that’s where my passion for wool comes from. Now, with wool prices so bad and seeing how devastating that is for farmers, I wanted a business that would do something positive for the industry. Wool deserves better and I think it is worth so much more than what the farmers get paid for it.”

Davaar & Co is Kate's new online business selling wool jerseys with a classic back-country style that showcases her parents' beautiful wool. Inspiration came from Kate's late grandmother, "who was a wonderful knitter and made all our jerseys. She spun her own wool and would also dye it with things like tussock." The colours for Kate's garment range - Tussock, Bark, Snow and Granite - reflect the Southland palette. "I didn't have to look very far for inspiration," she says. "Wool is such an incredible product. There is a huge sustainability element to all that I am doing, too. I wanted to keep production in New Zealand, it didn't make sense to me to send our wool overseas to have it then sent back."

After finishing her agribusiness studies at Lincoln University, Kate originally aspired to have a corporate career. "But I realised pretty soon that I wanted to do something right here," she says, and it felt right to create a business based at her family's station. Kate's dad, Jimmy Macdonald, with his "good business head," was her initial sounding board and the whole process, from the first steps to the launch last month, took two years. "It could have been shorter," says Kate, "but I am a perfectionist and I wanted everything to be right. I get in the shed while they are shearing, I like being there and I have an amazing wool classer from up the road come down and she ensures the quality is there."

Kate's grandad, David Macdonald, is Davaar & Co's biggest fan. "He is so supportive. He's like my best mate and he's so proud that I am using our wool. It's that kind of support that keeps you going. We are a very close family and through each generation there have been hardships and they have all gotten through. I have seen my parents do that, and I guess it's my turn now to diversify a little and see where it goes."