Elle & Riley have recently opened their sixth store in New Zealand, in Remuera’s newest dining and shopping precinct. Their swift ascent to being a household name for buying cashmere, is nothing short of impressive.
Born out of the desire to create everyday cashmere pieces of beautiful quality and available year-round, mother and daughter duo, Elle Pugh and Yolande Ellis, founded Elle & Riley Cashmere in 2016. The idea came after Yolande visited Nepal where she was blown away by the plethora of high-quality cashmere, and she wondered why we didn’t have easy access to it here in New Zealand. Elle was on the cusp of moving home from London and looking for her next career move, so it seemed only natural for the pair to combine their skills and start a business together. “Cashmere was an obvious answer,” says Elle. “Not only was there a gap in the market, but it’s also something that reflects our lifestyle and what we love about fashion: a blend of style and functionality, comfort and design, luxury and necessity. We wanted to create timeless pieces that could be passed down to the next generation. It’s the antithesis to fast fashion.”
After much research, the pair sourced cashmere suppliers in Mongolia, began designing their ideal cashmere garments, and found manufacturers in Nepal, Beijing, and Shanghai to bring their dream to reality. Initially, they had imagined the business to be online only, though soon realised that with cashmere being so tactile, it needed to be tried on. “There’s a saying that it’s ‘love at first touch’ with cashmere, and it’s so true”, says Elle. “Because of its obvious softness, once you start wearing it, you know it’s something special and you’ll never go back to regular wool. It drapes effortlessly on the body and is light and breathable enough to wear in summer and warm enough for winter. If it’s taken care of properly, it really does last forever.”
To test the waters, Elle & Riley first started out with events in people’s homes. Quickly realising they were on to a good thing, they opened a pop-up store in Ponsonby. Fast forward six years and Elle & Riley has become the go-to for luxurious cashmere garments and accessories for women and men as well as babies. Their timeless yet modern designs in a variety of hues have become a closet staple for many loyal customers. “Cashmere is a timeless product, but you can wear it so many ways,” says Elle. “We try and keep our designs modern and minimal, adding a few fun pieces here and there for the customer who wants to branch out.”
With no sign of business slowing down, the formidable duo has now opened a sixth Elle & Riley store, in Remuera, so loyal customers on that side of town can shop locally. The Remuera store joins two other Auckland stores in Newmarket and Commercial Bay, as well as the Elle & Riley stores in Matakana, Havelock North, and Queenstown.
The Remuera stores keeps in line with the brand’s ethos of being timeless, elegant, and modern. Interior designer Katie Lockhart, who was responsible for the store’s fitout, says: “The Remuera Elle & Riley store builds on from the design language we’ve developed over the years in the other existing stores, with many of the materials and design details consistent throughout. We’ve used curved racks and shelving made of walnut to soften the corners of the space and to add interest from the exterior of the store whilst window shopping.”
Well worth visiting, you’ll find the Remuera store in the new 1050 precinct in the heart of the Remuera village.
