With more than 120 sellers and a focus on Māori makers, Rita Edited is a pretty great way to shop local. Co-founded by Jade Barber (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui) and Aleisha Roulston, the online space features curated collections of ceramics, art, fashion, homeware, bespoke pantry goods, fragrance and skincare.
Here: So where did the idea come from?
Aleisha Roulston: It came about when I had my own product-based business. I was struggling to get direct sales to my website, and wholesale margins were disheartening. As the founder of Hawke’s Bay’s Wonder Markets, I’d met many other small-scale producers in the same boat. They had incredible goods but needed a year-round tool to drive their sales. Enlisting the skills of my very clever friend Jade, who was finishing up her masters, we went all in, and 18 months later, here we are.
H: How do you decide if a brand’s the right fit?
AR: Mainly, we’re looking for high-quality goods that are made, designed or produced in Aotearoa on a small scale. They also need strong imagery to back up their products and processes. The brands that have stories and magic behind them stand out the most – we’re suckers for anything passion-led. We invited our first round of sellers to be involved and will always be an apply-to-sell marketplace to ensure we maintain our curation and integrity across the platform. We’re definitely a quality-over-quantity model.
H: Any makers that you’re particularly excited about?
Jade Barber: Where to start?! We have a handful of exciting new, smaller businesses that embody much of what Rita Edited is about – like Artefact. They create homewares with history and repurpose materials that are otherwise destined for landfill. We’re also particularly excited about our dedicated Pakihi Māori collection, which highlights incredible talent and empowers shoppers to celebrate and support Māori businesses.
H: You focus on conscious consumerism. Tell us about that.
AR: Absolutely, we stand by the motto: “Every dollar you spend is casting a vote for the kind of world you want to live in.”
Rita Edited
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