2 Ordinary Mums

Ordinary or Extr-ordinary?

Sue Latta (nee Glassey) is the first New Zealand woman to win a world professional kickboxing title and she did this just 9 months and 15 days before the birth of her beautiful 4kg baby girl, Niamh (must have been a great celebration.) Not just brawn, Sue holds an impressive array of national certificates, diplomas and a degree. In her spare time she has instigated two businesses, incorporated three non-profit societies, a community centre and teaches secondary school part time.

Claire Walker is passionate about fashion, accessories and achieving what she sets out to do. Her tertiary background is in design and her professional background in marketing and launching new products and services into the ‘dog-eat-dog’ world of commerce. Her career driven lifestyle came to an end with the birth of Joshua, a fun loving gorgeous little man. 22 months later the beautiful grace appeared on the scene an now her time is even scarcer. Claire has also co-founded a very successful business and continues to manage and market it with great acclaim into the 21st century.

Claire and Sue have managed to do what so many other mums’ dream of, incorporate a career, their passions, their children and their lifestyle into a manicly enjoyable venture….. DISCREET Breastfeeding Apparel.

Sue an athlete, used to being slim and trim, “oh! How things change”, “I didn’t mind the breastfeeding in public; my boobs were looking big, round and fantastic. It was my tummy, it was also big and round but far from being firm it was as squishy as lumpy porridge. Something had to be done!

Enter the wonderful mother-in-law a sewing authority. Help was needed and Sue had an idea. One she had seen before, it wasn’t a new concept to the world but it was to New Zealand, or so we believed.

Sue and Claire were childhood friends. Sue was 9 years old when she moved to Palmerston North. Being new to town, having no sisters and loving gymnastics Sue ventured across the road to the new neighbours (they’d just moved in too). Claire had a sister (Pip) and also loved gymnastics. A bond was forged and now some 25 years later they are still working hard together. Just not on gymnastic routines anymore. It also helped that Claire’s mum always invited Sue to stay when her mum was cooking Lambs Fry or Kidney pie….need I say more!

Claire gave birth to Joshua 5 months after Niamh was born. She too is pro breastfeeding was very intrigued with the new ‘fandangled’ tops. “Wow” Claire said, “they’re fantastic, let me have a go” Claire had had a mammoth trial with breastfeeding, but without going into it too much, the words Mastitis, thrush, cracked nipples and PAIN come to mind. Claire the lucky lady was already back to her pre-pregnancy size 8 (yes I know! How unfair is that). But feeding Joshua was difficult and using the new tops gave her the confidence to go back out in public again. Claire believes that with out them she probably would have given up. However, being a size 8 with a size E chest she looked rather ridiculous in a size 18 top.

Claire the fashion guru decided that if these tops were to be marketable they needed to be funkier, prettier, more feminine and definitely more fashionable. Being a sports-jock, Sue could only see the practicality needed for the designs, “they weren’t tents but they were still pretty basic”. Claire is one of those individuals that look fantastic all the time, wearing anything from tracksuits and jeans to skirts and dresses. So she was just the person to sort out the fashion aspect of the designs.

Lou Watkins-Ratcliffe and incredible seamstress and ‘second-time-round’ mum, her first children are in their late teens early 20’s and her new addition is only four. Claire though fantastic at design needed practical help in order to bring these ideas to fruition. Lou joined the Discreet team as Co-designer and shareholder. The next two years will see the launch of Discreets’ fantastic Designer Series and Lou will be snowed under by her imagination.

The next step, finding a manufacturer, oh yeah, and offcourse,…… money. Being new mums it’s not like they were rolling in it. The next step was marketing the vision and finding a manufacturer. Bouzaid and Bellaben, in Greytown of all places. They manufacture for, Just Kids, Canterbury, Glasson’s, and Pumpkin Patch. They are fantastic, excellent quality and brilliant pattern makers.

Sue was on a trip north passing through Taupo where a couple of her good friends resided. As she was still breastfeeding she inadvertently demonstrated first hand the fantastically designed top. Lisa one of New Zealand’s leading Graphic designers and also a mum was really excited about them. Her husband Keith is from a strong management and marketing background and was sure Discreet Fashions would become a great success but would need to be marketed right. Luckily for Sue and Claire, Lisa and Keith wanted in!  Image is everything, look professional and successful and you will be treated that way. Look small time and thrown together and that’s the image you will portray.

Lisa and Keith quickly became shareholders and went on to create the image many New Zealand mums now know as DISCREET, breastfeeding apparel.

Money, well they sold their soles to the bank and convinced Claire’s parents that this business was an opportunity of a lifetime. John and Cynthia soon signed up as shareholders injected some much needed assets and became shareholders too. Discreet Fashions has been approached by a number of investors since its launch but Claire and Sue prefer to keep their baby close to their hearts.

The future, where they are heading and what they will be able to achieve remains to be seen. But if these two mums determination and brilliant business insight is anything to go by these two will be following Pumpkin Patch all the way round the world.