4 minute read
Sewing ethical seeds
Jodie Woods wears her heart on her sleeves. Riding the ups and downs of starting her own fashion label, her vision has remained constant and compelling: that business has the ability to change lives. From the Manawatū, Jodie is providing job opportunities for women in a rural village in India, whilst giving New Zealand women beautiful, ethically made clothing.
Editorial: Carly Thomas / Photos: Brad Hanson
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When Jodie Woods opened her brickand-mortar shop, Tonic & Cloth on Papaioea Palmerston North’s George Street, a little bit of magic happened.
“Women would walk past and then you would hear them kind of go ‘ooooooh’ as they stopped and backtracked their way in the door.”
Once inside the little jewel of a clothing shop, people find Jodie’s clothing collection designed around the premise of “Monday clothes that feel like Sunday.” The well-crafted clothes are made by women, for women, and if you take a step back down the production line, and a big leap to a small village in India, then you start to see why Jodie’s fashion story is special.
“I knew that if I was going to do this, it wasn’t just going to be making clothes and selling them,” Jodie says. “I wanted to see if my business can change lives in small rural communities. It was go big, or go home.”
Through the good-old-Kiwi-way of reaching out, Jodie connected with fashion designer] Ana Wilkinson-Gee. Ana runs Holi Boli, a production house that provides jobs for women in the rural village of Malipali in Odisha, India. Ana’s journey of leaving New Zealand to set up her business, armed with a few industrial sewing machines and a hope of helping women out of poverty, drew Jodie in.
“I knew that this was it. I knew that this was the way forward,” Jodie says. That’s when the Tonic & Cloth narrative really kicked off.
So between Jodie’s little caravan in her Aorangi Feilding backyard, that became her design studio, and Ana’s humble back-country set-up, the pair nutted out a process. Designed in Manawatū and sewn using organic and natural fabrics in India, Tonic & Cloth went into production.
Limitations – like having no button hole machine – became design features, and Jodie hustled away in the background sending homemade videos about her journey to innovative women she really admired.
“I wasn’t really asking for anything, I just wanted to connect, and one of the women I sent something to was Carolyn Enting from Good Magazine.”
Within ten minutes of the video landing in the editor’s inbox, Jodie got a message back. Carolyn loved her mahi and offered a spot in the magazine’s Sustainable Style Show that was to be a part of New Zealand Fashion Weekend 2019.
“I was on the floor just weeping. It was an amazing opportunity, and I called Ana and burst into tears and then she was in tears. It was very exciting for the Holi Boli women, too.”
A three month turn-around period meant it was foot to the sewing machine pedal, and Jodie and her team put in some epic hours to get to the catwalk. A photo taken of Jodie on the night sums it up: Stage light shining on her face like a beacon, she looks overwhelmed, overjoyed and like someone setting out on a very big adventure.
But as in every adventure there are hurdles, and Jodie’s was exhaustion.
“I just crashed, emotionally, physically and spiritually,” she says.
The orders that she thought would pour in didn’t, and she says she heard birds chirping for the first month. Doubt
and the enormity of it all crept in and she feared for Ana and the Holi Boli staff.
“I really felt the responsibility of that. But then, in October, we started to get sales. My website is set to my phone, so when I got a sale it went ‘bing’ and I’d do a leap of joy. It was the most exciting thing in the whole world.”
And then the next opportunity rolled in. A business woman who believed in what Jodie was doing offered her a month’s rent on a Palmerston North shop. While she had never really thought of having a retail space, Jodie was buoyed by the encouragement, and opened the door on 42 George Street at the start of 2019.
“I love it, the street is just right. It’s like Palmy came up to meet me, it’s been so welcoming. I feel like it all just clicked,” she says.
And over in India, Ana’s payroll has gone from six to seventeen women, which in real terms means ongoing opportunities for female empowerment.
Jodie’s signature style of beautiful clothes that feel really great to wear remains at the fore of every collection. All her designs are unique, but in every garment there is the common thread of a story. I knew that if I was going to do this, it wasn’t just going to be making clothes and selling them ... I wanted to see if my business can change lives in small rural communities. It was go big, or go home.”
This story was produced by Shepherdess magazine. For more stories like this, check out www.shepherdess.co.nz
