Kingan Jones to scale back production

NEW ZEALAND: Top New Zealand fashion designer Claire Kingan-Jones has decided to downscale her business, cutting production back by up to half, to concentrate predominantly on retail.

Citing a desire to spend more time with her family as the reason behind the move, Kingan-Jones has let go 50 percent of her staff and is in the process of relocating her workroom.

The designer behind signature brand Kingan-Jones and the long established label RJC says she has achieved what she has wanted to professionally and now its time for a better work life balance.

"I have been working within this industry for almost 15 years and I've had a wonderful time of it but as my children are getting older I realise I need to be there more for them."

Kingan-Jones has two retail stores in Auckland and currently fills orders for almost 100 different customers across the globe. Australia has been a crucial part of her business and the designer is hoping to maintain links with her most successful retailers there.

"Kingan Jones and RJC are really strong in Australia," Kingan-Jones said. "And I'm aware of the need to not burn any bridges with my customers. For me, this is what I need to do right now in terms of lifestyle but we will continue a relationship with our loyal supporters."

Kingan-Jones said the label was currently in negotiations to work with an Australian agent who would represent the brand nationally to help drive the label's presence this side of the Tasman. "They are a fantastic agency that currently represent some of Australia's top designers and work closely with Australia's best retailers, so we're very excited."

Kingan-Jones said while her decision has been based purely on personal reasons the timing professionally couldn't be better. "It's getting really difficult out there for designers at the moment.  The market in New Zealand is flooded with cheap imports so it's getting tougher and tougher for designers to make things locally and compete. I think it would be a smart move for a lot of designers to downscale and tighten up until the industry swings back the other way and we have more local manufacturing again."