After months of hard work, Marijke Dunselman, owner of Strategies Marketing Consultancy, and Laura Farrell have launched the website Funkee, offering fashion accessories including suede handbags, tote bags, jewellery and scarves.
The women both moved to New Zealand from Europe and call Queenstown home: Ms Dunselman moved from the Netherlands in 1994, while Ms Farrell moved from the United Kingdom in 2002 and immediately fell in love with the beauty and culture of New Zealand.
However, she missed the affordable shopping available in Europe, so combining her business degree with a passion for fashion and travel, Ms Farrell joined forces with Ms Dunselman, who has several business degrees and a successful marketing business.
After seeing an opportunity to use their complementary skills, the women set to work to provide great products in New Zealand "within reach of most people".
"Accessories are a great way to enhance any outfit," Ms Dunselman said.
"The Funkee collection is hand-picked, high quality, yet has a designer look at a really affordable price.
"We only stock small numbers of each design, so if you see something you like, snap it up before it's too late."
Ms Farrell had family collections in Vietnam, from where the majority of the products were sourced.
"Using a percentage of our profits, we are in the process of setting up initiatives in Vietnam to help the local businesses there.
"Even though I've been to Vietnam many times in the past 14 years as I have family there, it's been a huge challenge working in a country with a very different economic climate and political environment than ours.
"Our customers are delighted with the products and we love what we sell," she said.
While the women were initially focusing on the New Zealand market, products had already been sold to Australia.
