Alice Isles and Kiki Judd met in their first year of university back in 2003. Fifteen years later, they established their clothing brand Hej Hej, which they manage from their respective homes in Auckland and Shanghai.
Alice
Kiki and I met in Dunedin in our first year of university. We were at the same hostel and then flatted together in our second year. She’s super energetic, up for anything and always making people laugh.
When we were living together, we would start projects like teaching each other to knit, and Kiki had a sewing machine. We did a lot of cooking together and always knew that we liked being creative.
I was studying graphic design and then moved to Auckland to study pattern-marking. Kiki moved to Taipei and later, when I was living in Sydney, my partner and I decided to travel and we ended up in Hong Kong. Kiki and I always stayed connected and both fell in love with Asia—there’s a feeling there that anything is possible to create.
We were so inspired by the fabric markets and possibilities that we started talking about working together. Eventually I returned to Auckland and Kiki moved to Shanghai and about four years later we said, “Okay, let’s do this now.” It was a long process, but when we finally said “this is the time”, it happened quickly.
The more we do Hej Hej, the more we have to trust each other and like any relationship, communication is key. We communicate so well and if there’s a problem, we come from different angles to solve things.
Kiki is creative, very analytical and she loves pulling data. She’s a perfectionist and has taught me to always check everything, as I have a habit of rushing. She never gives up, which is a very inspiring trait and she doesn’t let things get her down. I’m probably more emotional and Kiki really balances me out as she can bring me back down to earth.
I absolutely love working with Kiki and sharing it with someone makes it that much more exciting and special.
Kiki
Alice and I met in our first year of university and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s fun, chatty and always keen to do things. Even though we haven’t lived in the same country for ten years, every time I see her it’s always the same.
We bonded over clothes at the start and whenever we meet up, we always go shopping or to fabric markets, or to get things tailored together. We always talked about starting a label and when I moved to Shanghai, I had access to resources such as suppliers, so we got started on making a few samples. Alice had a lot of connections as well from her work in fashion, so it was just the right time to finally get started.
I always say Alice is the best business partner because she’s good at everything I’m not good at as she’s got completely different skills to me. She’s always keen to give anything a try, and she gets things done, whereas I can sit on a decision for quite a while and she’s more decisive.
Working together, we’ve learnt how important it is to keep in touch and there’s no shortage of communication. She’s probably the first person I talk to in the morning and I’m probably the last person she talks to before she goes to sleep. I think we’ve learnt that over-communication works really well for us.
Alice is really creative and really good with the technical aspects of design and a good business hustler. She can manage a lot of tasks at once and somehow remembers to get it all done, which is really impressive. She’s also really good at building relationships with people; it’s a real talent and skill of hers. Everyone always likes Alice.
