Ashculme Textiles
A one-off experience learning how fibre can be made into wonderful fabrics and a chance to meet the animals that give us those fibres ... Ok, alpaca my bags and come #visitwagga! Fiona from Ashculme Textiles shares her 'grassroots' story below.
Q. How did your grassroots story start?
A. From the very start of the business I have chosen to keep things as local as possible. It is something that comes naturally to me. If the purchase can’t be made in my immediate region I work outwards from there. There are so many advantages I find, primarily because you are dealing with people face to face, no one is anonymous and as a result the outcome is always better.
Q. How would you define your business/service as local?
A. I moved to Wagga Wagga with my family from the United Kingdom way back in the 80’s. We’ve made a wonderful life here and seen how Wagga Wagga has grown and thrived. We have a few acres in Lake Albert, enough to run a small herd of alpacas, who are the backbone of Ashculme Textiles. We quickly learnt that processing the fleeces was out of our scope so started to research where we could send it. So now we take the fleeces to Boston Fine Fibres just near Canberra, which is so close we can combine it with a weekend market (that is, before the virus hit). Likewise, website building and all other tasks that I am not very good at, I will always first and foremost source locally. Before the virus hit we were selling primarily at markets, our regular being the River & Wren Market here in Wagga Wagga. That was certainly our first ‘dipping the toe’ into selling our products. We also sell through The Wagga Shop on Tarcutta Street and also, just recently, you can find us in the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery shop.
Q. How have you pivoted during this time of Covid-19? And, have you experienced an increase in ‘shopping local?’
A. I actually chose to spend the time building up stock and recharging the creative side of the business. Life had become so hectic I felt I was losing the creativity of new designs and more, so I knuckled down and spent as much time as possible in the studio. As much as sales plummeted, I hope the new design inspiration will pay dividends in the coming months.
I actually noticed a move towards buying local before the virus hit. People were already moving away from the mass produced. They were wanting the story behind their purchase. I think the bushfires over the summer really cemented that too.
Q. Why is it important for consumers to shop/root for local?
A. Your dollar goes so much further when you spend it locally. If you spend $10 or $100 on something local, that business owner can spend that money locally too – they might go out to dinner at a local restaurant or hire a local business to fix their website. In turn, that local business also spends that money locally buying a gift for someone. So, the money goes around and around and suddenly $100 has brought in 10 times that amount to the region.
Q. What’s next for your business/service?
A. We do have some plans for another outlet which we are very excited about, hopefully that will happen in the not too distant future. It’ll also be lovely to get back to workshops again, having children back this school holiday was a lot of fun. And mostly, getting back to markets is what I am looking forward to the most. I love the interaction with people, the crowds and the buzz – it’s going to be a long time before we see any shoulder to shoulder crowds, but hopefully we will get back out there soon.
Head to Ashculme Textile's online listing for more on this great business.
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