Tune in to our latest podcast episode as Emily Riggs, the founder and creative force behind Iris and Wool, shares her inspiring journey.
Emily and her husband live on a sheep property outside of Burra, South Australia. “I fell in love with my farmer and also fell in love with wool,” explains Emily. “I don't actually work hands-on on the farm. So, I thought, how can I contribute to the industry?” Out of this, Iris and Wool was born, offering 100% certified Australian Merino wool knitwear, Merino denim, and accessories.
But why fashion and clothing? “I think I've always had a love for fashion. When I was a little girl, I was actually diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymph nodes. I knew that I was going to lose my hair,” Emily explains. “I was often mistaken for a boy. And that really shattered my confidence. It was then that I really turned to fashion. It was a way for me to express my creativity and for people to actually look beyond my illness.”
Iris and Wool started as an online fashion brand, with their family home as their ‘warehouse’. They have since expanded into a brick-and-mortar store in Burra, meaning their home has gone back to being a home and their customers can now try on the clothes before buying.
For every sale at Iris and Wool, $1 goes to the Childhood Cancer Association and knitted beanies are donated to recently diagnosed children in South Australia.
Emily’s story is a heart-warming example of how, with “...a lot of hustling”, you can turn your dreams into a reality.
#IrisAndWool #FashionWithHeart #MerinoWool #Podcast
Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited, we help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best - info@nextgenagri.com.
Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.
These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Tune in to our latest podcast episode as Emily Riggs, the founder and creative force behind Iris and Wool, shares her inspiring journey.
Emily and her husband live on a sheep property outside of Burra, South Australia. “I fell in love with my farmer and also fell in love with wool,” explains Emily. “I don't actually work hands-on on the farm. So, I thought, how can I contribute to the industry?” Out of this, Iris and Wool was born, offering 100% certified Australian Merino wool knitwear, Merino denim, and accessories.
But why fashion and clothing? “I think I've always had a love for fashion. When I was a little girl, I was actually diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymph nodes. I knew that I was going to lose my hair,” Emily explains. “I was often mistaken for a boy. And that really shattered my confidence. It was then that I really turned to fashion. It was a way for me to express my creativity and for people to actually look beyond my illness.”
Iris and Wool started as an online fashion brand, with their family home as their ‘warehouse’. They have since expanded into a brick-and-mortar store in Burra, meaning their home has gone back to being a home and their customers can now try on the clothes before buying.
For every sale at Iris and Wool, $1 goes to the Childhood Cancer Association and knitted beanies are donated to recently diagnosed children in South Australia.
Emily’s story is a heart-warming example of how, with “...a lot of hustling”, you can turn your dreams into a reality.
#IrisAndWool #FashionWithHeart #MerinoWool #Podcast
Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited, we help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best - info@nextgenagri.com.
Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.
These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.
Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE
Welcome to the Head Shepherd podcast. I'm your host, mark Ferguson, ceo at Next Gen Agri International, where we help livestock managers to get the best out of their stock. I want to take this opportunity to thank our friends at MSD Animal Health in Orflex for sponsoring Head Shepherd again this season, and I'm also excited to introduce our mates at Heinegger as brand new sponsors of the show. Msd in Orflex, or perhaps better known as Cooper's Animal Health in Australia, offer one of New Zealand, australia's, largest livestock product portfolios, with a comprehensive suite of animal health and management products connected through identification, traceability and monitoring solutions. Like us, they see how the wealth and breadth of information born out of this podcast can help their men and their farming clients achieve their mission of the science of healthier animals.
Speaker 1:Heinegger will need little introduction to our audience. A market leader and one-stop shop for wool harvesting and animal fibre removal, together with an expanding range of agricultural products and inputs, the Heinegger name is synonymous with quality, reliability and precision. The Heinegger team have a deep understanding of livestock agriculture, backed by Swiss engineering and a family business dedicated to manufacturing the best. It's fantastic to have both of these sponsors supporting us and bringing Head Shepherd to you each week, and now it's time to get on with this week's episode. Welcome back to Head Shepherd. We've got another live on the hub this week. Sophie. What's happening this Friday?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we've got Melinda Turner on from Farm Nutrient Advisory. We had her on the podcast, I think, around the new year. Unfortunately the audio quality wasn't great and so we wanted to do it justice and we're going to have her back on the hub for a live and this actually means that you can share some slides and sort of explain the science of the soils that she's talking about and give her a better understanding of what she's talking about. So, yeah, melinda, in the podcast she sort of discusses some of the common challenges in nutrient management. It's a really complex topic with lots of people trying to sell you different things, and she just really breaks it down to the nuts and bolts of it and helps us understand it better. So I'm really looking forward to that. I think it'll be a fantastic live. This is our third one of the year. Go well, come and join us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great, and we had a great time with Bill and Sol the other day and the really encouraged people to come along and ask their questions. Melinda was a great chat that I enjoyed, but no one else got to enjoy it that well because of the audio, so we had lots of people who sort of tried to squeeze out as much as they could out of it, but they're really frustrating. So it's great to be able to get Melinda back on and we appreciate her doing it twice. But getting her back on and doing it live is going to be great and more so looking forward to that.
Speaker 1:This week on the show we've got Emily Riggs from Iris Wool. Emily started her own clothing brand or based on Marina Wool, obviously and, yeah, a really great story about, firstly, her overcomings a relatively tough childhood, her own battle with cancer and losing her mother to cancer, and the resilience that she's had to show to come through that with a smile on her face. A big part of her brand is giving back things like the childhood cancer association that she donates money back to, provides beanies back to those children. So, yeah, incorporate into that brand Iris Wool Iris was her mother's favourite flower and obviously Marina Wool. But, yeah, building a great brand and a great fashion brand. That's now sort of a shop in Burra in South Australia but actually now going into stores like David Jones and getting out and about. So it's awesome to see Emily's success and to hear her journey. Welcome, emily Riggs to the show.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. So, emily, you're the founder and creative director there at Iris Wool obviously your brand and your baby. I guess we might start with how you ended up on a farm in Burra.
Speaker 3:Yeah, good question. Back in the day went to boarding school in Adelaide and, yeah, my net husband also. He was at another school and we sort of had this spark back then, but nothing really eventuated. And then fast forward 10 years or so good old Facebook. I was living in Melbourne and he was scrolling and saw a photo of me at the races and started messaging me on Facebook and I said, oh, I'm coming back to Adelaide next weekend or something. Do you want to catch up? And yeah, the rest is history.
Speaker 1:Cool.
Speaker 3:Now we're in 10 years, or 10 years in Burra, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know, and was fashion a part of your life before that? Or is fashion something that's come since getting to know Wool?
Speaker 3:I've always had a love for fashion. I way back when I was a little girl. I was actually diagnosed with not-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymph nodes, and at the same time had breast cancer, so I knew that I was going to lose my hair. I remember one of the first things I said was, oh, she don't want to lose my hair. And then I think, but I was often mistaken for a boy and that really shattered my confidence, and it was then that I really turned to fashion. It was a way for me to express my creativity and for people to actually look beyond my illness. So, yeah, I think I've always loved fashion.
Speaker 3:And then I worked in the horse racing industry, so there was a lot of different outfits that you'd have to pull together there. And, yeah, then I fell in love with my hot farmer and also fell in love with wool and I don't actually work hands on on the farm. So I thought how can I contribute to the industry which? I saw how hard him and his family worked? And, yeah, I just ignorantly started Iris and wool. There we are.
Speaker 1:So Iris, because Iris was your mum's favourite player, is it? Yeah, correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a bit of a tribute to her really. I also give back to the childhood cancer association. We donate a dollar of each sale to them and we also gift each newly cancer diagnosed kid little beanie through that same charity. They give each kid or family that's been diagnosed a hospital bag. So the beanies are now in the hospital bag. So yeah, little way to bring back. Yeah, we're a bit more than just a portion brand.
Speaker 1:I suppose you could say yeah, and that's obviously we'll get created by our past and, yeah, the I guess, just watching a few of your clips and words like resilience, integrity, community sustainability, human connection, we're all like wherever you look, and that's obviously a big part of the brand, a big part of who you are, which is which is awesome, the I guess there'd be. I don't know how many hundreds of farmers have just, at some point in their lives, decided they were going to start evaluating their wall, and it's a tough road. How has it gone?
Speaker 3:Well, so mine is completely separate to the farm. It's me doing it, obviously Tom supporting me, and I don't think he realised it would kick off as well as it has. I didn't think it would either, and yeah, so it's all me doing it, but it's just my way of promoting the wall industry, I suppose, and last year we actually were able to use some of our own wall. Our wall's probably not perfect for Irisan wall it's a bit coarser than what I need for my clothes. But yeah, the mill we use in China for Irisan wall went to auction in Melbourne and actually bid it on the wall and yeah, so I got to track it from leaving Melbourne to China and getting clean, scared, all that into the yarn and then into one of my, into my jumpers.
Speaker 3:So that was pretty cool. It was hard, yeah, not as easy as everyone's. Like oh, do you use your own wall? Like well, it's not as easy as it's that.
Speaker 1:We got to that year.
Speaker 3:It hasn't happened again this year, but I'm trying hard to Just create this new provenance initiative that. But yeah, of course it costs money and yeah, you want to be a viable business, so Sometimes you just need to just take every day as it comes and not Everything. I seem to try and do everything at all at once.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean those with an entrepreneurial spirit, always want to, always want to do more, always want to do it the same at same time. Yeah, it's my constant battle in my head is stopping new initiatives. The yeah it is. I think, with you promoting your own will or promoting Australian walls, the outcome is the same. Like it's about as about putting always, as you know, like the products are fantastic part. You've only got to put it in something that people want to wear or it looks good and and then it will sell itself because of once it's on your skin.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's pretty hard not to love wearing it so, yeah, so, so good to wear and yeah, as I always say, it's the best fiber in the world and it's so good for the environment. To that's such an important thing for consumers. Nowadays they want to know the story of where, where their garments come from, how it's been produced, and, yeah, that's one of our goals is to really delve right back to the traceability Stuff and be able to use our own wall and to be able to track the, the sheep and the wall right through to the end product.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, awesome. I imagine it's been a hell of a journey and a pretty steep learning curve trying to. But now I guess, if we think of today, obviously selling online but bricks and mortar in in borough as well, so fair, fair bit of movement and one of six years, whatever it is since, since found it will five years yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah yeah, that's me wanting to do a hundred. Yeah, we've. It's very exciting. We have opened a little shop here in borough, which is so good for the town too, and it's yeah, it's quiet at the moment. I suppose this isn't that busy time of year, but it's just nice to have it out of the house too. Husband's pretty happy to have the house back not to. Rsm will warehouse. Yeah, we can do everything. We pack. We pack all the orders from here. Yeah, I've got staff which are great. Yeah, only as good as your staff. As I say, I'm pretty lucky, pretty lucky with the girls I've got working for me and, yeah, it's just lovely to meet the customers, I suppose, and hear what hear their feedback. There's lots of. We're quite a touristy town, so during winter there's lots of grain nomads, nomads and interstaters traveling through who have never heard of the brand. So it's all all part of the marketing mix.
Speaker 1:I suppose you could say yeah, they'll be surprised to find a high-end fashion brand in borough when they rock up. I guess in terms of the marine industry, it's pretty much the heart of the South Australian marine industry.
Speaker 3:Some of the best wool here. So yeah, it's in well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excellent, I guess, if we get into the bit of the details or what in terms of spec that you need to buy for your gammas, so you'll visit. Are they micro, non-micron?
Speaker 3:We're just a half. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, way produce about 21 micron here, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So I'd have to break like, yeah, specifically braid my own flock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, sure, how baby up for that. Yeah, yeah, very, yeah the. And so that when some manufacturers in offshore as well and then come to you and yeah yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I've got my Just launched the first drop of autumn, winter 24 last week and then the rest of it's on a ship on the way here and hopefully will arrive end of Feb. The shipping delays have been terrible. They still blame COVID. Yeah, I'm hoping it'll arrive in Adelaide about the 21st of Feb and then it takes about 10 days to get unloaded and sent up to borough. And yeah, I'm just. I was looking at my warehouse just before and it's chock a block. I don't know how I'm gonna fit it all in. Might need to go back to the house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there must be. Must be an empty building somewhere in borough.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and then, excitingly, we've actually they picked up by David Jones as well. So, um, we, uh, they've got the first drop in. Uh, and yeah, so we and they are packing is very specific. And yeah, so it's we've got. I've got all their stuff around me in my office At the moment. I have to steam it all and have it all on hangers and put that into a box and then they have a delivery window and if you don't deliver within that window, they won't take it. Um, so it's been a very much a learning curve and I've had to get barcodes and there's all this new computer systems I have to go through. So it's um, keeping us busy, but it's definitely worth it. It's so good for the brand. And, um, yeah, we're in Elizabeth Street in Sydney. Uh, malvin Central in in Melbourne, adelaide, adelaide Central in Adelaide, and just online, david Jones.
Speaker 1:So yeah, wow, I'd be. Surely there was a bottle of bubbles open that day when that got. Excellent yeah.
Speaker 3:Very exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what are the plans? I mean how big, how do big desires and will go.
Speaker 3:Well, now I'm trying to tackle the world. What is corny? Is that sound? Yeah, I'd love it to be a global brand, um, but yeah, it's just. I think it's just. You've, david Jones is like probably the pivotal for Australia professional brand. And then, well, it was my goal, um. And then, yeah, now I want to try and get International, um, but yeah, we'll see how we go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so has that been a series of 100 no's in one yes, or has it been, yeah? A lot of um, a lot of hustling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I flew over to Sydney and, with all the samples, took them all into um Elizabeth Street, met with the head buyer and, um, yeah, she loved it straight away. So yeah, I was lucky, I suppose. But yeah, it is. It's a lot of hustling and not taking no for an answer and just keeping keeping on track with what your goals are and what you want to be doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah it doesn't sound like luck to me, but it's a little bit more like tenacity and hard work. Yeah, yeah, which is? Which is farming, I suppose.
Speaker 3:Thanks for the fabulous qualities of of wall to People. As soon as I put it, like he said before, as soon as they put it on their skin, they, yeah, they can't have enough of it and they, yeah, they don't want any poly or so. It's breathable, obviously, and, um yeah, just best fiber in the world.
Speaker 1:Keep selling it. Yeah, so what? What is it, I guess what, in your mind? What makes it special in terms of your product versus, I guess, 100 other brands that David Jones could roll into their stores? I mean, I'm obviously going to share it with some of those, but, yeah, is it design? Is it? Yeah, I guess what in what you've learned so far? What is, what is it that makes people want a Bible?
Speaker 3:I think just all the fact that it is a natural fiber People, they want that nowadays. They're willing to invest in Pieces if they can and they will last for a long time if you look after them. But yeah, in terms of why David Jones shows Iris and war over others, um, I don't know. Um, maybe they, they just yeah, they probably loved the story too and yeah, just whoa, that's what their customer wants as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, if you could put a weighting, which is impossible. But how much do you think is Design versus? I mean, if you didn't have the story and amazing designs? I don't know, can you, can you celebrate a great design without a good story? Or and can you sell a crap design with a good story? Sorry, already, I mean, I think the answer is obvious. It's you need a bit of both.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, I think you just cause the fashion industry is so saturated, um, you definitely need you need that online presence as well, so, and I think you definitely need a good quality. People aren't going to come back and buy something if it's crappy. I have customers that have bought with me over 10 times, which is really heartwarming, really, and I don't know. I feel like the story does help. People want to see your everyday life, I suppose, and they want to see me on the farm trying to help but not really help. And, yeah, they see my pet lambs. I suppose City people love that, I think, because they don't get that obviously in their lives. So I think it's been important to share that and really also listen to my customers. I have actually become quite good friends with some of my customers and just be there, I suppose, for them as well and make sure that they're feeling good in what they're wearing, and that's important.
Speaker 1:I haven't stalked you properly on social media, so I don't know the answer to this question. But have you had to force yourself to be, I guess, live your life feeling again in front of a camera?
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%. I feel like that's probably how I've built the brand, but I used to actually believe it or not. I was terrified at public speaking and this used to doing a podcast would keep me up at night. And I've actually been lucky enough to travel around Australia and to share my story in front of audiences and that's really good. I think it's the human connection to people being able to say that, oh, and you be honest with your struggles and learn from them and, I suppose, share them with people and they resonate with them. And, yeah, I think that's definitely helped. Yeah, I've had to learn to put my big girl pants on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean the story would be you'd have to have no heart at all not to resonate with the story. So yeah, but I guess that only takes you so far. And it's like you say you've got to have a great product to people to come back and buy the second one, Like everyone will buy the first one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's been hard to. I mean, I think everyone's terrified of public speaking. I was somehow lucky. I didn't always enjoy it, but 97% of people you talk to are that way. Yeah, I guess we often talk in people or two people in ag about telling our story better and I guess, did you have any special way you ever came your sort of fear of the camera or fear of public speaking, or was it just through absolutely jumping the deep end?
Speaker 3:So I did. I do have someone that helps me. She helps me overcome some of my things, like just imposter syndrome, I suppose, and she's a speaker as well, like she's a professional speaker. She's helped a lot, she's been made some tips and but yeah, it's also just doing it. The more you do it, the better you become and the easier it gets. And actually now I get quite a rush after doing it. You get the adrenaline pumping through and yeah, it's actually quite good. And when people come up after you've spoken and say something that may have helped them more, they got what I was trying to say and yeah, so it's all worth it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I understand the rush it's yeah. I mean, most people don't believe that story, but it is actually a thing. So a couple of kids and so they're little trainee farmers, or yeah, so we've got Sam who's six, and Lucy who's three.
Speaker 3:Sammy's probably sport mad at the moment. He's 40, 10, everything he loves it. But yeah, he loves, just loves tractors and that side of it. Tom's a bit concerned he might not want the shit. No, I'm sure that'll come. And then Lucy's she's yeah, just probably a bit too young.
Speaker 1:Living there for a year old.
Speaker 3:Yeah, go horses, so horse ride. Yeah, right, so we'll say how we go.
Speaker 1:So where's the farm? It's north of Bowers, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, north. We've got four properties scattered around but where we live north of Borough, about 10 minutes out of Borough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, well placed for a shopping borough.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Excellent. The decision to go bricks and mortar was would you do that again or is that gonna like it's the opposite way the worlds go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it's definitely good for iris and wool. People want to try because it's quite expensive. People want to try it on and actually feel the quality in real life and the colors. I suppose you can't quite nail the colors online. Yeah, yeah, it's been, and I think if someone comes into the shop they'll buy two or three jumpers rather than just one online. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:They can make a point of coming and they want to buy something. Yeah, it's definitely, and storage wise it's really good. Yeah, yeah, I think it's one of the better moves I've done. I'd love to open more shops around Australia, but, yes, one day at a time.
Speaker 1:I get a sneaky suspicion you will do that too. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Suddenly, what's borough from Adelaide?
Speaker 3:It's two, two and a half hours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so nice little day trip out. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And we do get a lot of interstate tourists coming through, not so much, not during the summer really, but over winter. I haven't been. We haven't been here for a year yet. We opened end of April last year. So, yeah, just learning the ropes and when's busy, but you can't really pick it like some days you can't, sometimes Tuesdays flat out, other times it's dead. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, you just go with the ebbs and flows, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I might start, but I guess if they're busy, if the team are busy packing and doing other stuff, it's sort of not critical.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, yeah, there's always something to do yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah excellent and yeah awesome to be able to employ a few locals as well into me. Yeah, it's good. It's always something that everyone wants to be able to do and keep towns going.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely it's good yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excellent, right, anything else you can tell us about the Irish and Wool or anything else we haven't covered.
Speaker 3:No, not off the top of my head, yeah excellent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's been great to hear your story and fantastic to hear that story getting into David Jones, and I'm a massive fan of Reno Wool, so more than Mariah yeah so I encourage listeners to get out there, check it out and see what the autumn, winter 24 sort of style looks like.
Speaker 3:Yeah thank you.
Speaker 1:What are the colours for 24?
Speaker 3:What are the colours?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm thinking about fashion, so I'm just making stuff up.
Speaker 3:So I'm looking at this lot of navy. I'm looking at it at the moment. Right, we've done some sage. You probably wouldn't know what the sage is when you say that can't really say that. Seafoam, there's a blue, there's pink, there's cream, there's black, there's a wide range of colours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, excellent, right, I'll let you get back to packing boxes. Yeah and yeah, halls are very best.
Speaker 3:Thanks very much, Ferg.
Speaker 1:Cheers. Thanks again to our mates at Heinegger, who are proud world leaders in the manufacturing and supply professional sheep shearing and clipping equipment. They understand that their customers rely on the quality and performance of their products each and every day. Also thanks to our friends at MSD Animal Health in Orflix, the Alfa and Extensive Lifestyle Product Portfolio focus on animal health and management, all backed up by exceptional service. Both of these companies are wonderful supporters of the Australian and New Zealand livestock industries and we thank them for sponsoring the HLP podcast.