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Hannah Acland, Mons Creative Director

Having grown up in the New Zealand high country on a merino sheep station, you would have thought it natural that I’m in the merino clothing industry. My first job was in the sheep yards blocking a gateway, keeping a mob of rams from passing. That’s how I lost most of my front teeth (thankfully, they were my first set). I was soon promoted and joined my brother mustering the merino sheep for shearing. Their wool would be classed, bailed and sent off to be sold at auction. At that time, I never really thought about what happened to that wool once it was sent off on the truck. What was particularly unique about my upbringing was that my mother was American. She left her life in Hollywood to live in the wop wops with my dad, the high-country farmer. The contrasts couldn’t be any greater. Fast forward a few years, and I move to New York City. I struck it lucky and landed a job as a graphic designer for Fahrenheit-212, an innovative company that pumps out ideas and design solutions across multiple industries and platforms, at an extremely fast pace. They designed various kinds of products for a range of Fortune 500 companies like Coca-Cola, Diageo and P&G. This experience gave me a strong understanding of what it takes to create products that have a competitive edge in the global marketplace. 1 By the time I met Hamish Acland at the end of 2008, I was relatively well-versed in designing across a multitude of different formats. To me, designing a clothing brand was no different to launching a new vodka. Hamish’s vision of Mons Royale was compelling and massively ambitious. I kicked off working with Hamish by visually translating his ideas – from the brand DNA, graphics and campaigns. Much like the brand itself, the two of us combined were a powerful duo. Hamish brought the action-sports industry knowledge and I brought the style. I often fused what I observed in fashion and street style with technical performance. 2 Back then (and still, to an extent, this day) the industry was extremely male-dominated. Your typical advert would be an action shot with a product overlay. We decided that Mons would come at it from a different angle; bringing edginess and sex appeal. Not dissimilar from that of a lingerie brand. Not everyone liked it, but it cut through and made people notice us. We kept to our strategy and continued, full guns blazing, launching the “Who Says Winter Can’t Be Hot?” campaign in 2011. After that, it was safe to say that the merino category had been disrupted. We designed merino in a way that no one else had. Vivid colours, bold graphics and edgy product imagery. And always with the intention of creating energy and inspiration in an otherwise conservative clothing category. 3 Guys loved it, and equally so did women… though admittedly, not all. But, as we started gaining a strong momentum with our female fan base, we found ourselves achieving what we had set out to do. We had carved out a market position where Mons was the younger, edgier and sexier merino player that appealed equally to both men and women. Position in place, our next challenge was to build credibility as a sustainable-minded technical clothing brand. Over the years, we have refined our design process and now focus on three core values: style, performance and sustainability. As creative director, I take on responsibility of ensuring these values are met in the origins of our brand DNA. IMG_5095 4 A decade on, our relentless pursuit of fusing both performance and style has come to fruition. The cherry on top is, we can now say our wool is certified as the world’s highest standard in merino fibre and is manufactured in factories of equally high ethical standards. 1045117_10151452498141854_124803227_n 941710_10151452499136854_333949556_n As we prepare to launch Mons’ tenth range, I’m reminded of the design principles that we originally implemented to disrupt the market and how they’ve evolved over the years into what is now our FW19 collection. We’ve always maintained that shattering force of change that brought us onto the scene, but in time, we’ve become more refined and sophisticated. 5 The full circle effect of my career is not lost on me. Looking back at my first job mustering merino sheep to now overseeing the design and creative of our merino clothing brand has given me a unique view of the industry as a whole – and a decent understanding now of what happens to that wool once it’s sent off in the truck.   Photos: The Mons Royale Archive
Mons Royale Merino Logo Square

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