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To our tight-knit community, supporters, family and friends!

By Jacinta Fox

To our tight-knit community, supporters, family and friends!

To our tight-knit community, supporters, family and friends! 

This has been a very difficult letter to write, but I wanted to share the news with you first.

After careful thought and much soul-searching, I’ve made the decision to hand over the operations of Plump & Co Textiles and the beautiful customers and the business I founded in 2013.

I can’t thank you enough for all the support and passion of many people, Plump & Co has become a thriving international business which has grown beyond our wildest dreams. We have some incredible customers around the world, from our home country of New Zealand to Australia, China, the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and beyond. To each and every one of you I am extremely grateful – and I am proud of what we have achieved together: huge success from small beginnings.

Our quality felted yarn products, from ethically sourced New Zealand merino wool, are a point of pride and difference – and the collaborations we’ve had with designers, artists and innovators over the years, to bring you our collections, have been a highlight for me! 

I’ve loved meeting each and everyone of you at workshops, and seeing your masterpieces over social media come alive! Thank you for sharing your passions with me and for being part of the Plump & Co community; it’s been wonderful to build this together with so many of you from around the world over the past five years.

However, the business is at a crossroads. To grow means moving away from our core values.

At Plump & Co we celebrate the slow craft movement, we value mindfulness, simplicity and living in the moment. We are always telling customers to slow down, and over the past 12 months life has speed up. You have to practice what you preach right? So I want to slow down and reconnect with the spark I once had in a new direction. 

We would also have to invest more to grow, and for me this venture has never been about making lots of money it has always been about growing a community and having a sustainable business that I was proud of.  We have also had our challenges with suppliers increasing prices of quality merino wool! To meet customer demands meant looking offshore to manufacture our wool products – and that’s not something I was willing to compromise on. Creating luxurious, high-quality, ethically sourced wool products from New Zealand isn’t a direction I was willing to compromise on.

If we couldn’t do it right – and stay true to our sustainable values, we couldn’t continue. And that’s why a traditional sale of the business also wasn’t the right decision for me when the opportunity arose, with the risk that my beloved brand would likely evolve in a direction I didn’t agree with under new ownership. To remain true to our core values, and our heart, we chose not to continue down that route. It just didn’t feel right, hence the decision to hand over purchasing your giant textiles to someone we trust that stands for the same values as us.

I am extremely grateful for our passionate customers and supportive team, friends, family, business mentors and collaborators – each one of you have been an important part of what we have achieved these past five years.

In saying this, we will not be giving up on our community, we will be keeping the Plump & Co social media pages active – we have a community of 22,000 people on Instagram and 10,000 followers on Facebook. It is important to keep these pages alive so people can continue to share their creativity and passion for crafting – and we can keep sharing stories and images of beautiful work that inspires us all along with content from our new journey!

Remaining wool and other limited stock will be sold via our Plump & Co online shop, plumpandco.com and we will close the textile sale side completely on 31st March 2019. We will not be restocking, so what small amount is left is not to be missed out on. For those needing wool after that, we recommend our trusted friends at lovefestfibers.com – who also take an ethical approach to sourcing their products, including New Zealand Wool!

So, what’s next for me? It’s a time of slowing down, some huge life changes and personal reflection. I will be exploring new opportunities in helping businesses with marketing and branding and spending some time considering my next steps, including how I can help others. And I look forward to catching up with you on the Plump & Co Instagram and Facebook pages. Please continue to share your beautiful work with us there.

Thank you sincerely for your understanding and support, it has meant so much to me and please feel free to comment below.

Jacinta McLaughlin

Plump & Co founder x



7 comments

  • JacintA,
    I loved meeting you. Have loved what You do and your gorgeous products.
    Im sorry i wont see you, be able to buy but cOngrats on being brave and honest in what is important im impressed!
    Youre amazing!
    I cant wait to find out what is next for you.
    Im still doiNg and creating – might have to remake to keep loving the extreme!!!!
    Rachael

    Rachael DOWRICK on

  • Well done! You created an amazing business and had the integrity to stop when you couldn’t continue on your terms. Can’t wait to see whats next.

    Thomas on

  • Kia ora Jacinta,
    Thank you for your email.
    I admire you’re decision to move on, as it would not have been an easy one to make.
    I have a high regard for Business owners that uphold their initial core values and don’t allow the pressure of outside influences. that affect the growing pains of a business, to make them compromise those values. I totally respect you for staying true.
    All the best for your next journey. we will miss you.
    Kia kaha.
    Tai.

    Taiaroa Royal on

  • I admire your intergrity, staying true to your core values in business is vital
    As we are our business , & all it stands for well done
    And all the very best for your future

    Juanita

    Juanita on

  • To an amazingly strong an empowering woman, Jacinta, I know whatever you chose to do you will do it with incredible integrity, grit and soul. You are a truly inspiring young lady and I am so excited to see what the future holds for you. I for one will be watching this space 😘

    Dida on


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