Kate Cullwick and her sister Prue are linen lovers with big hearts. Their delicious range of fine French Flax linen is luxurious, with an affordable price tag.
The sisters founded Foxtrot Home with the aim of making fine European linen affordable, down under. Their online offering features beautiful duvet covers, quilts, sheets and pillowcases, sure to add style and comfort to your bedroom. Recent additions to the range include snuggly sleepwear and cosy wool throws and baby blankets – made from lamb’s wool from Kate’s farm.
In our final Five Minutes With for 2022 I couldn’t think of a better person to profile than Kate, who is mum of two, based on a sheep and beef farm in Central Hawke’s Bay. She and Foxtrot recently took out the ‘Best Emerging Business 2022’ at the NZI Rural Women’s Business Awards.
Kate and Prue are also wonderful advocates for mental health awareness, and normalising conversations around our health and wellbeing.
I suggest that if you’re lucky enough to find Santa has left some Foxtrot goodies under the tree on Christmas morning, you’ll be very happy indeed.
Describe yourself in 3 words: Empathetic, determined, down-to-earth.
Best advice you’ve ever received? It ALWAYS gets better. I suffered my first extreme episode of depression when I was 16 and I will never forget my dad telling me this. And he’s right, no matter how deep you go, it always gets better.
What’s it like being in business with your sister? Amazing! We agree on most things and we quickly get over tiffs and have each other’s back no matter what. We have a level of understanding that allows each of us to achieve great work-life balance.
Why linen, and why online not bricks and mortar? Linen is the most sustainable fabric on earth and it therefore suits our desire to “do better” for people and planet. It’s beautiful, good for your health (allows you to sleep better, is anti-microbial and anti-allergenic) and ours in particular, is ethically made. Did I mention it’s beautiful!? When Prue and I were starting out five or six years ago we saw the online space starting to really take off, and I knew from personal experience, this was my way to shop (being rural). We were therefore keen to reach all rural shoppers and bear them in mind when offering linen to our market. It also suits Prue and I to be highly flexible behind the scenes and in our personal lives, which we could not do with a physical store.
Biggest lesson you’ve learned in business? Being authentic and transparent in all you do is king. Ignore what everyone else is doing and be YOU.
What advice/tips would you give to other women starting out in business? Make sure you protect your “down” side as much as possible. If it were to not work out, what are you going to lose? It’s ok to be careful! Focus on your brand first and foremost, not the product. If you have a quality product or service, it will take care of itself as long as you nurture your brand! Read books on this!
What inspires you? People and businesses who give selflessly.
Dream way to spend a day? Mustering cattle on horseback OR lying near the sea reading a good book, with my dog. Also, being with kids and husband doing fun fam stuff.
What are you listening to/reading? I’m always listening to podcasts now. At the moment I’m obsessed with Bryony Gordon “Mad Girl”. I have a couple of books on the go; one is about parenting and the other is Aroha by Dr Hine Elder
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