Walk the Talk with Helen Young-Loveridge

Can you please introduce yourself and what you do?

My name is Helen. I’m the owner/every hat wearer at Buddy and I'm also a stylist.

Is it just you at Buddy?

Yeah. I've got someone working for me part time now which is a really nice change from just being alone and circling round in your head. She's actually been away. She's been in Japan.

She's an actress and she just called me before and I was like oh okay I really I'm really feeling your absence.

Do you hope to expand your team further?

Yeah I do eventually. I’ve got quite a few changes, so i’m packing up in New Zealand and I'm gonna go on a bit of an inspiration trip for a while and then settle over in Sydney.

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This park actually is like my number one kind of spot to like come in nature like I like to just drink a beer up there and watch people play frisbee. There's these people that I love on the tennis court, they play like Quidditch on their bikes. 

What? Like from Harry Potter?

I think that's what it is or it's like bike polo or something. It's crazy.

It's a good little spot.

Yeah it's a good spot. I feel like people don't know that this park is this big.

How do you feel the New Zealand fashion industry is going?

A lot of people that like that work really really really hard and it's really hard to have a business in New Zealand. It’s a small market especially with shipping costs even kind of running your business from here and if you have a global market sending stuff around costs a lot of money.

There's a lot of great people in the industry. It's a really great place to start a business. People are so supportive and show up to your events. it's a really great place to do that.

Do you have a dream collab or person you want to see with Buddy?

I would love to collab with any major brand that's interested in working with hemp.I mean I've been in business for seven years and I'm shocked that there's not more hemp out there.

Why hemp? 

When I was studying I did a paper on trends and sustainability and got really into alternative textiles. It's just like, this is just the perfect fabric. It feels like it's already kind of like worn in when you get it as well as being really durable. It is antimicrobial so it doesn't retain sweat smells really.

For you what's thirsty work?

I mean styling's thirsty work we're outside, we’re busy. 

You're a woman of many talents and could say you wear many hats. How do you balance them all?

I cracked up when I read that question because my answer is that I don't. I mean I do I do a lot of things, I think I do too many things. But they all work quite well together, so I like bouncing around and doing all my different things, but I would say I’m behind on absolutely everything.

Who do you suggest we walk with next?

The team from Roses, Karl and Ophelia.