The adventure’s just begining

The Little Adventure Company is a business so new, it barely has the wrapping off its website. But it’s already shaping up to be a standout success story based on innovative product design.

This little business adventure owes its origins to parenting. When industrial designer Blythe Rees-Jones and wife Anna, who’d worked in early childhood development, became proud parents three years ago, they began noticing the poor quality of many children’s products. They noted the cheap low-grade materials used on these products – “materials such as poly-vinyl chloride or PVC,” says Blythe, “and others that are known to be harmful.”
With their backgrounds, you’ve probably already guessed that the couple would be determined to do something about it – and you’re right.
Blythe has extensive experience developing new products and has worked on some innovative products for the wool industry, such as Encircle, a range of medical devices to help prevent and treat acute health conditions.
“I remember coming home and saying to Anna if wool was so good in these medical applications and so compatible with our body, why are we not making more baby and kids products from it,” he recalls.
Wool is essentially keratin; a protein found throughout our bodies, explains Blythe, who is also creative director at Locus Research and a design coach with NZTE’s Better by Design programme. “So it has a natural chemistry with the human body. It’s also one of the most natural and environmentally sustainable resources produced in New Zealand.
“What better ingredient is there to make baby and kids products. It’s basically a key building block of the human body, so at the starting point it’s inherently safe. “Despite some strong local brands, wool is still a relatively underutilised material in infant and baby clothing worldwide – primarily delivered though clothing and sleepwear. Blythe and Anna could see the potential for wool to grow in this space and adopted right across the nursery and playroom environments.
“We sensed a real opportunity to translate the pure, natural, tactile and renewable values that wool embodies into new products,” explains Blythe. “The tricky part was how do you do this? Wool is more commonly knitted or woven into a textile or carpet.”
While their kids slept, the couple used the down time to explore ways to make wool into a material for crafting more three-dimensional physical products.
Inspired by Charles and Ray Eames for their early pioneering experiments on the properties of plywood back in the 1940s, they set off on their own adventure to produce a natural material that was tactile like a wool textile; that you could machine like timber, fold like metal, and form like plastic.
This is where the three year incubation period began. Every spare moment was poured into this new wool fibre material (named Naturesclip) and developing new branded, finished packaged products.
“The material flexibility allows us to make entirely new products for parents and their little ones in an industry that is generally known for plastics and synthetics,” says Anna.

Adventurous branding
The couple named the business ‘The Little Adventure’ to reflect the adventurous nature of business and of parenting.
“We also wanted a name that reflected where we come from and our desire to grow a brand that evokes a sense of fun and adventure; to make parenting fun,” says Blythe.
They envisaged a brand that had appeal and reach; that could operate successfully in export markets, he says. “This takes time and special care and we think we are well on the way with what we have created.”
User testing and market validation were key components of the development process. Family and friends, and friends of friends, were roped into providing product concept feedback.
“We learnt a lot from this exercise and being people that sweat the detail we made many changes and refinements which we believe is helping to make the products better and better,” explains Blythe. “We picked up a lot of insights through discussions with industry players. These discussions have been incredibly valuable are we are very grateful for everyone’s support.”
Further validation for the business came through entering the ANZ Flying Start Business Plan competition last year – where the judges selected them second out of 600 entries.
Immediately following that competition they formed their limited liability company.

Softly does it
When NZBusiness caught up with Blythe in late March, The Little Adventure Company was gearing up for its soft launch. Luke Morreau, a brand and visual communication design specialist, is collaborating and the e-commerce website set to go live late May/early June. The first of their product range is moving through manufacture and talks are underway with retailers.
A crowdfunding campaign through Kickstarter is also under development to assist in generating sales and funding. To date it’s all been done on a shoestring – but with much support from family and friends.
Oeko-Tex safety certification means they’re good to go in Europe when they’re ready too.
Blythe says they’re still very much learning to crawl with the business, and there has been a lot of work around production capability, IP, sales channels and go-to-market strategy.
“Social media has changed the landscape in this industry – information travels quickly,” he says. “With the advent of Pinterest and other visual online platforms a parent in say New York or London can see our products almost as soon as we put them out there.
“All parents want the best for their kids. If they believe your product can help them some are prepared to shop far afield – as long as it can be delivered within an acceptable time window.
“Everyone also wants [to feel] special so we have focused on all aspects associated with creating a strong connection and customer experience,” says Blythe.
The word ‘little’ may be in the company brand, but ‘big’ is how Blythe and Anna see the future.
“We want to build The Little Adventure into a global brand we can all be proud of,” says Blythe. “Create a company with strong design, environmental and ethical values.
“We also want to do our bit to help open up new global markets for wool. Part of our company’s success long term will be in building a more vertically integrated supply chain from farm to market.”
There’re even ambitions to create Little Adventure stores one day, he laughs – fun and go-to places for parents that form a physical expression of the brand where everything can be more natural, not just what you can buy in the infant clothing section of a store like today.
“We tell our kids to dream big, so why not us?”

Glenn Baker is editor of NZBusiness.