KEY POINTS:
Glenda Keegan was one step ahead of the trends when she decided to turn turfed-out roadside billboards into top-of-the-range accessories.
Four years ago, she got the idea of resurrecting the discarded advertising material as stylish bags and her Auckland business has developed into an eco-friendly fashion statement.
Keegan had been mulling over the concept for a number of years having worked for a billboard company, where she became aware of the amount of waste the billboards contributed to landfill.
New Zealand billboards, made of PVC vinyl, are designed to withstand high winds, rain and ultraviolet rays, and are expensive to manufacture and print.
Sensing an opportunity to prolong a billboard's life beyond its fleeting roadside appearance, Keegan would carry around a square of the PVC vinyl, pulling it out at parties to ask people what she could do with it.
"I wanted to create something distinctly New Zealand," she says.
Because she found most recycled goods on the market "gimmicky", Keegan wanted to produce something anyone could keep and use.
She and her previous business partner began stitching the fabric into bags on a home-sewing machine and tested them on friends, who loved the product.
Advertising businesses were more than happy to pass on their used billboards, as the exchange saved them hefty dumping fees.
But the road to creating an attractive, useful and high-quality product proved more challenging than the novice businesswoman envisaged.
"We knew the concepts of sewing and what goes into making a pattern, but we didn't understand large-scale manufacturing. It was a huge learning curve."
Keegan picks and cuts out the billboard material for each bag by hand and found it difficult to find a manufacturer who was willing to pull the design together using the materials she wanted.
The business was not going to compromise on quality or design, nor on its commitment to New Zealand-made products, and Keegan went to great lengths to source the most durable components she could find locally, settling on reinforced polyester seatbelts for the bag straps.
She eventually struck a deal with a manufacturer on the North Shore and the bags were launched with an exhibition at the end of 2004.
Rapid sales confirmed the bags had reached the right market, which came as a relief, as most of the previous year had been trial and error.
"A lot of the initial designs were hideous and the fabric doesn't stretch or move so they were ugly and impractical bags that would have fallen apart."
But the final range of laptop bags, clutches, totes and satchels is selling quickly in 18 high-end fashion and gift stores nationally and also on the internet.
"The website has been particularly important, as we are able to market the bags to New Zealanders who are living overseas and are looking for something Kiwi," Keegan says.
The bags were launched just in time to catch the wave of consumers searching for environmentally friendly, locally produced, high-quality, long-lasting products, with those people prepared to pay for something that met those criteria and looked good.
Many customers send them overseas as a special New Zealand gift and the company is also attracting an increasing number of corporate clients.
Keegan bought out her business partner in May 2006. Up until then, they had been working full-time and developing their company, WAS Ltd, on the side. But the company began taking over their lives, as well as Keegan's garage.
Keegan would work four days a week as an occupational therapist. The other days, and most evenings, were spent picking up billboards, cutting them, designing bags and advancing the business.
"We were both working full-time. My business partner wanted to do something else and I wanted to take it on full-time," she says.
The company started turning a profit midway through last year. During the past 12 months, Keegan has built relationships with corporate clients and explored the possibility of introducing a range of other recyclable products under the brand.
A self-taught businesswoman, she has tapped into the knowledge of friends who also own small businesses, but most of her decisions have been instinctive.
"A few people have told me I could save money by moving the manufacturing offshore but, because the bags are hand-crafted and hand-picked, it would be difficult to take overseas," she says.
Instead, she hires groups of university art and design students to help cut the billboard material for the bags.
Depending on its condition, one billboard will make 15 to 20 bags, and students help Keegan select the most eye-catching designs for the front panel.
Last month, Keegan struck a deal with billboard advertising company Oggi, which uses the idea of turning clients' billboards into bags as part of their sales incentives.
Over the next year, Keegan hopes to develop further her relationship with advertising companies, help them reduce their waste, recycle a larger number of billboards and look at recycling other materials in a similar way.
"There are so many options for recycling materials, what we are doing is just scraping the surface," she says.
