Mina

Mina launched off the back of a life-changing six-week seed-to-garment trip to India. With my background of growing up in South Africa, it wasn’t the ‘poverty’ of India that shocked me, it was my intrigue about the people, the nosiness I had for the artisan more than their craft. I wanted to get to know these people, where they’d come from and what their story was. 

I want the brand to share these values – compassion for people – and create a real community with the people behind our brand. Respect between people is so vital for any successful business. 

The name Mina comes from Wilhemina (my South African grandmother’s name). It pays tribute to my time spent in South Africa as a child. Being witness to people living simpler lives but incredibly happy. 

As a mother-daughter duo we manage to tackle almost everything in our Auckland-based studio. Here we do all our designing, fabric-swatching, pattern-making and most of our sampling. What used to be Mum’s 'craft room' and my 'playroom' is now a converted Mina production studio. 

I always believed that to buy a piece of clothing you must know the story behind it. Therefore Mina has become a proudly local brand supporting and highlighting the extremely talented group of hands we have here in Aotearoa.

Credit: words from Designer Natalie Procter