Blunt Umbrella sales have increased more than 20 per cent this year. Photo / Blunt Umbrellas
Blunt Umbrella sales have increased more than 20 per cent this year. Photo / Blunt Umbrellas
A spout of wet weather and a collaboration with fashion designer Karen Walker has seen demand for Blunt Umbrellas spike.
The Kiwi company's umbrellas, known to withstand even Wellington winds, have been flying off shelves this year with some retailers said to have run out of stock of its small-sized umbrella priced at $99.
But Blunt Umbrellas co-founder and design director Greig Brebner said the company had "no shortage of stock for supply".
"Some retailers have been caught out by increased demand due to a rainy start to the season, and don't get their orders to us in time to service their own retail markets," Brebner said.
"I think we're doing OK with supplying retailers locally."
A consumer told the Herald she had been informed by a staff member at Farmers Queen St that it would be a long time before she would be able to get her hands on a Blunt Umbrella as their last two shipments had been delayed.
Farmers would not confirm or deny if this was the case.
The retailer, owned by James Pascoe Group, said: "Farmers value their supplier relationships hugely and do not comment (or confirm or deny) their communications or relationships with suppliers."
Brebner said Blunt Umbrellas' focus had shifted to online.
"Our main focus has shifted in the last 3 months to online, which has a very healthy growth rate resulting in good overall sales growth," he said. "We have the capacity to grow much faster so are currently looking at all our channels, specifically international to maximise this opportunity."
Blunt Umbrellas are manufactured in China in a factory owned by a Taiwanese family, which it had been working with for 20 years, Brebner said.
The company had so far received four containers of its product this year, he said.
"The number of containers that we are bringing into the country is up compared to last year," Brebner said, with year on year growth for the firm around 25 per cent.
The company's recent collaboration with fashion designer Karen Walker is its third, and had become an annual occasion, he said.
"We get a big boost [in sales] when we do collaborations and we've been doing one with Karen Walker in the last few weeks which has definitely caused a spike," Brebner said. "[Karen] had a few Blunt Umbrellas in her family... and she mentioned that in an article and we saw it... and then Scott and Josh at Blunt formed a relationship with her and got the first collaboration going."
Blunt Umbrellas co-founder and inventor Greig Brebner. Photo / Supplied
It had sold about 2000 of the limited edition umbrellas so far, he said.
Brebner said the company had not anticipated the level of success it had received in the New Zealand market, on par with the volumes sold to the US and Japan.
"New Zealand as a market has been so much more successful than we ever thought it would be. We're eating up around 10 per cent of small umbrellas imported into New Zealand which is actually quite phenomenal given our price point."
