When he was younger, Wynn Hamlyn would collect all of his nana’s off cuts from the floor and would try to make them into bags. He grew up in Te Puke and attended Bethlehem College in Tauranga. Hamlyn then moved down to Dunedin to study a Bachelor of Surveying and continued to work as a surveyor for another three years after his degree. Before fashion, his main interests were sport and music. “Since I started the label I haven’t kept up any sport, but still enjoy the music,” Hamlyn added.
Hamlyn has always had a strong interest in his own clothes. At high school, he was really into streetwear and would save up to buy new pieces off eBay. “I also enjoyed making things and my nana had taught me a little bit about sewing,” said Hamlyn. He started his formal training in fashion at Otago Polytech and then moved to Auckland for another six months training at AUT. “At Otago I had to study general education papers towards my surveying degree so I enrolled in some fashion papers at Otago Polytech. I enjoyed it so much that I enrolled for the full year and completed year one fashion the same year I finished my surveying degree.”
Hamlyn prefers to design and recognises that his sewing skills are base level. He works with manufacturers and machinists, utilizing talented outworkers to make each garment the best quality. Hamlyn values making quality products for his customers is one of Hamlyn’s key values as well as allowing them to look and feel great in his garments.
Although the brand is operated by Hamlyn himself, he has some outworkers that he works with that he said he has become very close with and would consider them his team.
Wholesaling is Wynn Hamlyn’s main source of sales and can be found at Eugenie, Black Box, Hello Darling, Caughley, Palm Boutique, 47 Frocks and Slick Willy’s. Hamlyn is launching an online store, www.wynnhamlyn.com, soon which was designed by DDMMYY Studio and built by Meide Studio. The next step is to continue expanding, exporting and finding new markets for the label.
