Nicki Hoyne’s eponymous handbag and shoe line launched less then a year ago and last week her collection debuted in concept store Wolf and Badger’s New York and London outlets.
he business reflects her own business evolution as she shifted from her former online company selling cute and quirky items to the new leather goods company selling high quality sustainable items.
Hoyne – the daughter of businessman Michael Hoyne who sold bathroom accessories firm Merlyn Industries for close to €70m in 2017 – took some time to settle on a career.
She initially studied drama and then entrepreneurship before finding herself in field marketing, working with some of the world’s most exclusive perfume brands. After a stint working with her dad’s firm, she knew it was time to go out on her own.
Hoyne was an early fan of Instagram and could see that some of the products she admired online were often being sold by small one-woman businesses.
In 2013 a light went off. “I knew I could do this, I had all this brand experience, I could do this exact thing and be so much better – an Instagram business, even though back then an Instagram business wasn’t a thing.”
“I taught myself everything on Google and launched My Shining Armour in April 2019.” The online shop sold everything from jewellery to pretty notebooks.
The business took off quickly and Hoyne saw the power of social media. “I rode that wave – you could put a picture up [of a product] and it would be sold out, it was wild.” Her top products would sell in their hundreds – such as a polka dot mug by brand Bombay Duck, which she could not keep in stock.
She was very globally focused, sending out fancy packages of her products to international magazines, getting spreads in the likes of Cosmopolitan Magazine.
By 2018, she became disillusioned however as it become more and more difficult to find unique products. If she found a popular item, several other sellers would have something similar within a few days. The margins, meanwhile, were thin with the mugs, for example, selling for €20 and Hoyne getting €2 net.
She also wanted to get away from the buying for buying sake mentality and find a more sustainable alternative. “I was competing in a market that wanted discounts, fast fashion, something for 20 quid. I moved on. I lost the love for it.”
Hoyne decided to focus on quality and felt that the only way to bring something unique and new was to design and produce original products.
Although Hoyne toyed with the idea of selling My Shining Armour – it didn’t happen and she closed the business down.
For the next venture, she didn’t want to go super high-end where handbags can cost €1,000 plus.
“I wanted to produce high quality, sustainable items and I wanted them to be made in Europe. I wanted to be able to walk into the factory, on the ground and I wasn’t comfortable with carbon footprint of long haul.”
She spent time in Milan, going to the trade shows and getting to understand the leather business. Hoyne started work on her eponymous handbags ranges in 2018 and launched in May 2020.
She was undaunted about launching during Covid 19. “Well I would be my father’s daughter in thinking – oh, a challenge - because he can be quite competitive with me sometimes.”
Here father would often tell about how tough business was in the 1970s and 1980s, when times were tough – so she was eager to prove that the pandemic would not deter her.
“I just kept my head down during the pandemic. I am financially fine, I have a roof over my head and the only thing I had to worry about was my family being ok.”
“I work from home anyway and there were no distractions, no nights out and no airplanes. I just worked really, really hard all last year.”
The bags launched very well and in recent weeks, she has expanded the line to include shoes. A new bag shape will launch before the year end and more shoes too.
The colourful bags – a camera bag shape – and flat shoes retail at around €200.She said she doesn’t have to sell massive amounts of products so isn’t under huge pressure to ‘shift stock’.
Her target is to sell 1,000 pieces this year and she is already at 500. "I’m about half way there and we haven’t even reached Christmas yet,” she says. She hopes to break even next year and move into profit the following year.
She notes that price can be an issue in Ireland, as well as scale and her intention is bring the brand to international markets, with Wolf and Badger her first step in that direction.
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