A small Māori-owned business, with fewer than 14 staff, is the recipient of the Te Tai Tokerau Māori Business Awards' Māori Enterprise Award.
Stephen and Charlee Taua began the Soil and Sand clothing firm in 2016 and have watched a wave in popularity for their brand over the past few years as they encapsulated stories of old and meshed them with bright vibrant colours to appeal to the younger generation.
But Stephen Taua says they haven’t forgotten their roots.
“We’re just a humble little business based in rural Hukerenui, and we just try our best, try our hardest, to give our customer the best product we can. Hopefully, we can achieve that and it has been showcased today.”
With 11,900 followers on Instagram and 8,700 followers on Facebook, Soil and Sand has been producing a wide variety of clothes and other items for rangatahi, ranging from sportswear to Māori-inspired designs.
“We started our business seven years ago and during that time we created kākāhu, pōtae, singlets, and shirts, clothing our rangatahi will wear," Taua says. "So appealing to them is our main focus and whoever we capture in that web is a bonus.”
Taua says Māori always remain humble, which may be a main contributor to why Māori businesses aren’t recognised on a mainstream level.
“I think as Māori businesses we tend to shy away from the limelight. It’s taken us seven years to put our foot forward and say, 'hey, look, we are a Māori business and we are successful'. We just need to stand up for ourselves a little bit more.”
Soil and Sand clothing is available on all social media platforms.