Smitten Merino, Tasmania, is smitten with the wool industry

Having grown up in Western Australia, Ms Mason had family ties to the Merino wool industry, with her father working as a wool classer in his younger years and her cousin the owner of a farm at Kojonup which runs Merinos.

Years before relocating to Tasmania for a "sea change tree change" they bought an expensive Zegna suit for Mr Mason's birthday, made from Tasmanian Merino wool and it was little coincidences like these that the couple reflect on, however, at the time they had no idea they would become the future owners of their own Tasmanian Merino wool fashion business.

Both hailing from England, they moved to Australia with their families at a young age and met while studying at university in Perth.

With a strong love of the fashion industry, Ms Mason would design and make her own clothes while her husband's background in environmental science supported the creation of his own recycled timber and furniture company.

In 2001, after starting their family of five and having spent most of their lives in WA, the Masons decided they wanted something different and uprooted their lives, making the move to Hobart, Tasmania.

"Carl is a bit of an adventure buff so he wanted to get out and do more bushwalking and spend more time in the wilderness, which was harder to get to in suburban Perth, but we found that it's all on your doorstep in Hobart - everything is literally 15 minutes away," Ms Mason said.

As there wasn't the population base or the right materials to sustain Mr Mason's sustainable building business in Hobart, they both got part-time jobs.

Exploring their new home with fresh eyes, they noticed a gap in the market for a Tasmanian Merino wool fashion brand.

"We had certainly seen a lot of gorgeous, little touristy businesses in Tasmania, but driving up and down the midlands quite regularly we saw all of the Merino sheep and I thought, wow I would love to buy locally made Merino clothing, but there wasn't any," Ms Mason said.

"Carl could sell ice to eskimos so he said I'll source the material and you can make the clothes.

"I drew up some designs and we did a little bit of active wear and then some fashion wear and off we went to some wool lunches with Roberts Wool company."

They showcased their first fashion range at a Roberts Wool lunch at what is now the Museum of Old and Modern Art (MOMA).

"I had sewed day and night for about a month to get everything finished in time," Ms Mason said.

At that stage the couple had three young children in primary school and Ms Mason was working part-time in the tourism industry, had another job at Relationships Australia and would go home and sew at night.

"We were doing something really different at the time because we were using modern Merino, which is the new circular knitted machine washable wool, and making it into not just activewear, but dresses and cardigans, which people hadn't really seen Merino wool being used for before," Ms Mason said.

The early days of the business were quite labour intensive for the couple who would take their range to various events and parties to make sales and then go home and make the clothes.

After running the business from home for about eight years, Smitten moved its operations into a warehouse in 2015.

Due to growing demand, the business expanded into a bricks and mortar operation a few years later, with the couple purchasing the building in front of the warehouse and setting it up as a boutique.

"You can keep your overheads low when you have an online business and really test the waters," Ms Waters said.

"I would have never been brave enough to have gone straight into a shop front because I didn't feel confident enough, but having a store has been more successful than I could have ever imagined.

"We find people come to Tasmania and have us on their itinerary and that's really lovely."

Living in COVID times now, Ms Mason said she felt lucky they started Smitten 14 years ago and already built their presence online, as the longevity of the brand had boosted their ranking in Google search results, giving them an advantage over competitors.

With COVID restrictions forcing the closure of the boutique as well as Smitten's weekly stall at Hobart's Salamanca Markets last year, she said a lot of their customers simply moved their purchases online, with online sales accounting for about 70 per cent of their business today.

"The Salamanca Markets is a really great exposure and marketing opportunity for our brand and pre-COVID it had given us a lot of global reach, as travellers would visit the stall and, once they returned home, continue to purchase our products online," Ms Mason said.

"But we've been looking at our figures and, if anything, our sales might have actually increased through the pandemic, so we've been really lucky."

When COVID-19 first hit Australian shores, in an effort to keep everyone in their jobs, Smitten held a 'You save 30pc off our range, we save 30 jobs' promotion last year.

In order to keep a personal aspect to their business, Ms Mason would send emails to their loyal customer base introducing their individual team members.

As a lot of people were working from home during COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, the business also pivoted by using its Merino fabrics to create a new sleep and loungewear range, with the dressing gowns quickly becoming a bestseller.

Locally made, the Smitten clothing range is manufactured at Freighton, just out of Devonport in northern Tasmania and the Masons know their cutters and sewers personally.

"The factory has been running for about 30 years and they used to make school uniforms for a lot of Tasmanian schools but they lost that business to China, so now we are their biggest customer," Ms Mason said.

She said a positive impact of COVID was that customers had become increasingly interested in where and how their clothing is made.

Fortunately for Smitten, the principles of keeping their business as local as possible and ensuring the people they work with are fairly paid have overarched the family enterprise since day one.

"I feel very lucky that 14 years ago we were a little bit ahead of the game by making sure our supply chain was local as it has certainly helped us with things like COVID and that shift in mentality among consumers," she said.

"It makes a massive difference when you are really clear, honest and transparent about where your stuff is being made.

"We are targeting a different demographic who really care about where your material comes from and who is making it.

"People are realising when you get a really cheap T-shirt for example, somewhere along the line someone is not getting what they deserve."

Ms Mason said another benefit to having a local supply chain was that the business could make a change to its fashion line "literally on a dime" enabling them to be more reactive to market conditions.

Smitten uses 95-100pc Merino wool in its fabrics and sources the wool through a co-operative in Melbourne, which uses a mixture of Tasmanian and Victorian Merino wool.

While some garments also include a small amount of spandex, the majority is 100pc Merino jersey for dresses and Merino rib for clothing including cardigans, scarves and ponchos.

Highlighting the benefits of Merino wool, Ms Mason said it breathed particularly well, making it perfect for women who were menopausal and having hot flushes.

"It doesn't smell either - we have the police and search rescue team in Tasmania wearing our gear for seven to eight days out on a trip and some wives have actually thanked us because they don't smell like they used to when they get back," she said.

Only using Merino wool from non-mulesed sheep, Smitten customers can also feel good about the fact that the material is biodegradable.

While the quality of Tasmanian Merino wool seems to have been recognised by premium international markets, Ms Mason said it hadn't been until more recently that Australians were appreciating that a world-class product was in their own backyard.

The owners pride themselves on sustainable practices being used right throughout their supply chain, with their Merino wool being produced at a Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified facility and recycled water used at the factory.

The business is also plastic free, with all orders going out in biodegradable plastic bags and in an effort to have zero waste, their material off-cuts are recycled into beanies and headbands.

Mindful of how much clothing goes into landfill, Ms Mason said she supported the idea of having a minimal wardrobe and aimed to create classic pieces of clothing that could be worn over and over again.

As part of Fashion Revolution, which was founded in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013 and is now the world's largest fashion activism movement, Smitten participates in the 'I made your clothes' campaign held in March every year.

The campaign forms part of the organisation's advocacy work for a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry.

"It's exposing what does happen in some parts of Bangladesh, India and China and makes a point that workers need to be paid and treated fairly," she said.

"The campaign ramps up all year with great little reminders for people about who makes your clothes, where they come from, what is the fabric, is it biodegradable and is it sustainably made.

"So it builds awareness and reminds people to think about what they're wearing."

Being a community-minded business, the Masons not only pride themselves on supporting local jobs and the local Merino wool industry, but they also support local charities including the Save the Tasmanian Devil program, providing the organisation with a $10,000 donation each year.

In managing their business over the years, Ms Mason said she was pleased that they had been able to highlight their values of honesty and integrity within the Smitten brand and to realise that the process of making their clothes was more than just a superficial exercise.

"Clothing is important - I have emails regularly from people who want to find a special dress or outfit for an occasion like a wedding or a funeral, so it's more than just something you put on in the day - it can make you feel happy, warm or loved.

"Before we started Smitten I hadn't really thought about that fact, so I feel happy knowing that there's a bit more depth behind what we do."

Looking forward, the Mason's plan to continue to be a kind brand that puts people before profit.