What they do.

Davaar Knitwear began in the woolshed of a Southland farm. Founder Kate Macdonald grew up on Davaar Station, her family’s picturesque property, where generations of Macdonald’s have worked with modest, quiet pride. Farming with intention and a focus on quality has always been front and centre at Davaar Station, underpinned by a deep commitment to the land and its legacy.

In 2020, as the world was gripped by a global pandemic, Kate cancelled her travel plans, moved back home, and — rather than enjoying an overseas experience — set about building a business on the family farm. Her goal: to honour a 100-year legacy while adding value to what Davaar Station could produce.

Strong wool, once a major agricultural earner for New Zealand, has experienced challenges due to the development and availability of cheaper synthetic fibres and an increasingly competitive international and mostly fine wool market.

However, as pressure mounts globally for more ethical, low-impact materials, Kate, alongside her parents James and Fiona, saw real potential in the raw wool coming off their sheep. Kate engaged the services of Don Morrison, a wool expert who was focused on fibre scanning of wool fibres — a process that tests for micron (the measurement of the diameter of the fibre to one millionth of a metre), coarse-edge micron, and curvature among other characteristics — all down to the finest data point.

Read more >

davaar.nz

What we do.

Kate first approached Tradecraft to enquire about social media management. The conversation quickly progressed and led to a total brand and business audit to clarify Kate’s vision.

Kate, her Dad, James and Mum, Fiona committed to doing a brand workshop with Tradecraft. The outcome of which was a redefined direction for the brand. Such was the quality of the garments that there really wasn’t a lot of opportunity for repeat customers. The brand had to feel aspirational outside of loyal and local rural communities and needed to broaden its reach to city slickers not only in New Zealand but abroad.

To speak to an existing, new, more broad and global customer base, a brand renovation was in order.

We pitched to designers to facilitate the right creative partner for Kate and her family and once Inhouse Design was confirmed, we set about working as Creative Director on that project while looking to build partnerships and activations to give the brand the exposure we needed to build the business.

We engaged with Producer Dan Henry at Country Calendar and booked the family in for a visit from Dan and his camera crew.

We enlisted Thievery Studios to complete a proper eCommerce collection of images that helped convey a premium clothing brand for the global online community.

As pressure mounts globally for more ethical, low-impact materials, Davaar’s rebrand positions the station’s fibre as part of a larger movement to revitalise wool’s place in the New Zealand economy. Through quality assurance and long-term partnerships, the brand aims to broaden the wool audience by inspiring pride at home and admiration abroad.

—

Strategy and Creative Direction: Morven McAuley
Copy Writing: Morven McAuley
Design and web build: Inhouse.nz
Photography: Fran Boer, Garth Badger, Bri Woolnough