Ins and outs of making underwear
Making a pair of underwear might be a little harder than it seems at a first glance.
Nisa founder Elisha Watson is well aware of that: her employees, all women with refugee backgrounds, can use up to six industrial sewing machines to make one pair – or eight machines for one bra.
These industrial machines only do one particular job or stitch – but they do it well.
‘‘Each industrial machine we have does one thing but it’ll last 50 years.’’
Like one of those machines, Nisa looks to be lasting too and has just opened its first physical shop at the end of last month.
From small beginnings in 2017, in a ‘‘tiny’’ workshop in Kent Terrace, the social enterprise has graduated to its first physical store, which doubles as its workshop.
In mid-January, Watson called on her friends, family and anyone she knew who could wield a hammer to help kit out an old beauty salon on the first floor of 99 Willis St.
By the end of February – with a few long days and a pinch of hard work – the site was ready. ‘‘It just feels right,’’ Watson said.
Along the way, she had help from the community. Most importantly, she had help getting the changing rooms just right.
She put out a call on social media, asking what people wanted. The response was adamant.
‘‘People were saying ‘we don’t want curtains that don’t close properly, we want hooks, we want privacy’,’’ she said.
When she first launched Nisa, Watson found most of her employees through the Red Cross but as time went on, she found more people started approaching her directly – including daughters writing in for their mothers, who might not have a good grasp of English or email.
The Nisa shop and studio is on the first floor at 99 Willis St, Wellington. Its hours are 9am to 5.30pm weekdays, and Saturday 10am to 4pm.