After starting an 100% Australian fashion label with her neighbour, Peta Purcell discovered she could deliver more for local businesses in the Hunter Region.
Peta and her Co-Founder, Rowena Campbell, launched mother + joey 18 months ago. The business is Australia’s first fashion label dedicated to twinning (mothers dressing alike to their children) and covers fashion for mothers, daughters, sons and soon to be dads.
They now have a complete production circle of professional pattern makers,graders and tailors. Everything is designed and created within two hours of the Hunter Region. Peta said even their materials are sourced within Australia.
“We are extremely proud of finding a way to keep things local. We are part of the minority in the fashion world, who can say we are 100% Australian,” Peta said.
That was just the beginning for Peta, who brings her marketing and PR experience to the team, while Rowena’s strength is creative direction.
During her work with the fashion label, Peta discovered there was a real struggle for start-ups looking to access publicity with the limited budget they have. Other Hunter businesses started to approach Peta and their graphic design partner, Lavinia Ingham, for help to achieve this.
This sparked the creation of The Native Creative.
Established as a consulting arm to the business, The Native Creative is designed to help businesses profile build and overcome challenges like living regionally, limited budget, part-time careers, no contacts in a new industry, no credibility or an established reputation, and five children in care.
“I realised that help with building and creating your marketing foundations is in abundance, but when it comes to generating publicity, no one is really providing this service in a way which is time and budget friendly,” Peta said.
“The Hunter is growingly home to so many entrepreneurs, with so much going on in the creative and innovation space to support this type of work. We don’t always have the luxury of the big city PR opportunities, but I have figured out how to do it, while staying put and often while my babies were asleep. No need to go door-knocking at magazine or newspaper headquarters.
“We get the constraints mums in business face and the challenges business owners who have a side-hustle that has to fit into their day job face. Talking to this audience is very different to the corporate world, whose day is on a completely different timetable.”
The Native Creative will be launching with face-to-face half day workshops this month in Newcastle and one-to-one sessions with serious businesses. Peta then plans to develop a short online masterclass,making her advice affordable and easy to access.
The events are scheduled on the weekend to make it easy for mums to access and the price is realistic, as they understand the that start-ups often face limited budgets.
“We cater for the little fish, although big fish arewelcome too and will still benefit from working with us,” Peta said.
Their first event, The Art of Profile Building Workshop, is taking place on the morning of Sunday 25 March at The New Common.
“The host of our workshop, The New Common are supporting this eventas they fit our earthy aesthetic, provide an interesting and creative space and offer rooftop viewsoverlooking Newcastle Harbour,” Peta said.
IMAGE | Founder of The Native Creative, Peta Purcell. Photography: Caitlin Schokker.
