Despite a flood of cheap imports, Konev Leather believes there is still a market for good-quality New Zealand-made handbags, and has launched its first flagship store. Carolyn Enting reports.
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KONEV LEATHER has a problem, but it's a good problem. Its bags last so long that its founder has even spotted 25-year-old models still in use.
"The big problem with a Konev bag is that it lasts too long. It's a sales problem, but I call it a positive problem," says retired company founder Joe Koenigsberger, who has been helping its new owners.
Since the company opened its store in Featherston St, Wellington, in October, women have been bringing in eight-year-old Konev handbags to show how they have lasted.
On a recent trip to Queenstown, Mr Koenigsberger spotted two women carrying Konev handbags that were at least 25 years old.
ed hardy clothingKonev has made handbags in Tawa since 1972 and is one of New Zealand's few remaining producers of leather goods. Its recent collaboration with Wellington fashion house deNada has refreshed its image and created a demand for those classic designs.
Mr Koenigsberger, who has helped by redesigning patterns, training in- house patternmaker Jodi Hartley, and working with deNada designer Nada Piatek, calls them "evergreens -- good, basic designs".
Two and a half years ago Konev's current owners Suzanne de Vere, her partner, Terry Collins, and Terry's son, Glenn Collins, saw the potential in Konev and knew "it was something we could get really passionate about".
Dimmable LED Down Light K1004 - 3x1W / 3x3W Many of the staff have been there more than 20 years and are "craftsmen in their own right", Ms de Vere says.
When the retailers Konev supplied began to reduce the volume of their orders "because of the recession, the owners knew that they needed another outlet to sell their designs.
"So we thought, what would it be like to have a city shop?" Ms de Vere says. "Research shows that two-thirds of consumers try to buy New Zealand made and, despite globalisation, New Zealanders are being loyal. That has been our experience since we opened the store." All Konev's designs are made from New Zealand deer skin and cow hide. The manufacturer has always used New Zealand leather since the early days, when there were import restrictions. Mr Koenigsberger also did his own leather finishing, and dyed the skins, because he could not get the colours he wanted.
The dyeing is still an important part of what Konev does. All its leathers are impregnated with colour, unlike cheap imported leathers, which are dyed only on the outside.
The other point of difference is the use of original plates to emboss the leather: leaf, floral and koru designs. These were created by Mr Koenigsberger more than 30 years ago.
Their rediscovery in a dusty corner of the factory inspired the first deNada/Konev collaboration and deNada's new plate design based on a Japanese garden.
"I got really excited about the concept of combining age-old quality craft and tying it into new contemporary design," Piatek says. "I've always dreamed big, and designing a bag range was definitely up there."
She knew nothing, however, about leather or handbag functionality.
"I thought leather came off the cow brown . . . it wa
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