Foxtrot Home Farm

Meet the Kiwi sisters trailblazing a path in the sustainable wool homewares indust‰.

Meet a trailblazing sustainable wool company.

Kiwi sisters Kate Cullwick and Prue Watson are the duo behind Foxtrot Home, an online homeware brand. They started out selling linen goods, and have now branched out into making a collection of premium wool throws that, from paddock to bed, are completely produced here in Aotearoa.

The sisters say it is the ultimate dream to be 100 per cent New Zealand-made, which is what they have achieved with their wool range.

After deep-diving into homeware research mid-pandemic, Cullwick, who handles the marketing side of the business, discovered that it was possible to create woollen homewares completely within New Zealand, starting from her own farm.

“It was a moment of, oh my gosh, did you know that there’s factories in New Zealand that do knitting and weaving and processing of wool from people’s farms into product? And we’re sitting on all this wool that is undervalued. It was a real eureka moment!”

The sisters come from a Gisborne farming family, and Cullwick is carrying on the legacy – she and her husband Jeremy bought their farm in Hawke’s Bay, from Jeremy’s parents. Producing 10,000 tons of wool annually from their Romney stock, it was the perfect opportunity to put it to use, especially as Romney wool is the perfect strength for the warm, long-lasting blankets they wanted to create. “Romney is a beautiful breed, they’re just living their great lives out in the fresh air and grazing while producing nature’s wonder fibre,” says Cullwick.

Starting o in 2016 with a desire to do something for themselves separate from their regular lifestyles, Cullwick and Watson both had a passion for homewares, with a side of sustainability, which is how Foxtrot Home was born.

Although they live in di erent parts of the country (Watson, who handles operations, is based in Auckland), they have a business model that works perfectly for their dynamic.

“We are each other’s rocks in personal life and work, how lucky are we?” remarks Watson. “The fact that we have this geographical distance helps – don’t put us in the same room,” Cullwick laughs.

Expanding into wool has been an incredible journey for the sisters, but like anything good, it hasn’t come without challenges. Because of the lack of information readily available to them, every road they went down had to be forged by themselves.

“It can be a bit of a hurdle, because there isn’t this well-worn path. You have to go out and find it yourself,” says Watson.

They say it’s a reflection of the current industry in New Zealand, that there aren’t the producers or infrastructure to support the demand. In saying that, as entrepreneurial spirits, the two are enjoying creating this new way of doing things.

“We love the opportunity of forging new connections and making that path a little bit more well-worn, and all we can do is continue to show we are committed,” says Watson.

For the production of Foxtrot Home’s wool products, the sisters decided to do things a bit di erently by getting the wool knitted instead of woven, for the ultimate, cosy blanket. They explain the di erence: knitting produces a looser finish, giving a blanket a lovely handle and stretch while keeping it heavy, therefore a lot bigger and warmer than a woven option.

When Cullwick and Watson visited the makers, based in Auckland, they were blown away with what was being done with New Zealand wool. “Some of our wool goes onto the upholstery on airlines around the world, carpets in huge Las

“It was a moment of, oh my gosh, did you know that there’s factories in New Zealand that do kniŽing and weaving nd and processing of wool from people’s farms into product? And we’re siŽing on all this wool that is undervalued. It was a real eureka moment!”

Vegas casinos, there’s all these amazing things New Zealand wool is doing, but you just don’t hear about it at all!” says Cullwick.

When asked about the reason behind the lack of recognition for wool, the sisters’ immediate answer is heavy-hitting but not unpredictable – synthetic fibres.

“Nobody was worried about the planet in those days, it was all about ‘let’s do this quicker and cheaper’,” suggests Cullwick.

She proposes that a lack of education is also in part to blame, saying it’s ironic considering that we are such big producers of wool.

“It’s a collective conscious thinking that has not been in the New Zealand marketplace for such a long time. There’s gotta be that whole shift, in buying natural. The kinder to the environment that fibres are, the better it is long-term.”

The sisters are positive that they can see change, gradually building momentum, but know there is still a way to go before the demand is there.