The Team

Nicola Reilly

Designer and Director
nicola@elusiv.co.nz

I grew up making my own clothes and fixing up hand me downs. While living the University lifestyle I made my "Saturday outfits" with my flat mates every weekend after a morning trip to the fabric barn. I always had the ambition to create my own business so when the local rugby team wanted some flash rugby jackets, we put our hand up for the first time and out in the garage we sewed away and created 35 jackets. The beginnings of Elusiv was in the making.

Before Elusiv developed I started my career studying Sports Science at Otago University, while also working as a Personal Trainer through Les Mills gym.

I love health and fitness and still have my hand in the arena with my Les Mills group fitness classes I teach every day at Mt Maunganui. I love to eat amazing food and the odd wine with company.

Ben Smith

Marketing
ben@elusiv.co.nz

I graduated from Otago University, Dunedin, NZ with a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing, Management and drinking. I am fascinated by business and creating something from nothing. I love all sports which involves a ball, having played cricket for Northern Districts age group teams, and now professional rugby firstly for Otago, Southland and the Highlanders in the Super 14.

I love to eat, but not to cook, and am a big fan of technology and keeping up with the play. I also like to dress well, but would be lost without Nicola's style advice.

Artist Profiles

Dave Burke

Graphic Designer and Artist

David is a New Zealand Artist of Spanish, French, English, Scottish, Irish and Maori heritage.
Born in Dunedin and graduating from the Otago School of Fine Art. He is the Design and Creative director and artist based in Dunedin.

Today he works as both a designer and as an artist, exhibiting throughout the country whenever possible.

I work in many mediums and in many creative fields - from painting, fashion, photography, illustration…. I don’t want to be tied to just one medium. "Having depth and meaning to my work is very important to me, its just as important as the image itself. I use symbols emotionally…to tell a story and to bring an image to life! I want the image to be in some way uplifting…powerful, significant…more than just an image...I want it to have depth".

Working with Elusiv has been a lot of fun. Nic and Ben are people with good hearts, I enjoy their energy and their positivity. They have always accepted my ideas and creative vision with a great deal of respect and enthusiasm.

I think we all have similar outlooks on life and that’s why this relationship works. Their commitment is in doing things right and producing a quality product is of paramount importance. This speaks volumes about them”.

Company Profile

"The stylish yet discreet mark of todays intuitive man."

E l u s i v designs and makes high quality clothing for today's intuitive man. But  E l u s i v  is more than clothes. It's an attitude, inspired among the creative workshops of New Zealand - a unique place at the rugged edge of the Southern Hemisphere, far from the grip of commercial conformity and straightjacket of prescriptive thinking. As a look, E l u s i v works on different levels. Decisive, strong, and assuredly masculine, while at the same time, informed, considered and intriguing. A stylish, fresh yet subtle expression of inner confidence, and a look which altogther is as unpretentious as the men who wear it.

Company History

"We wanted to create a business from scratch, because we believed the only way to succeed was to give it a crack and learn from our mistakes". Ben Smith, founder of Elusiv.

E l u s i v was formed in January 2005 in Dunedin by professional rugby player Ben Smith and designer/production manager Nicola Reilly, who along with graphic designer Dave Burke, manufacturing supervisor Andrea Thomlison and guidance from the Dunedin Fashion Incubator, specialise in quality men's clothing that reflect the qualities of being a man. In 2006 E l u s i v provided clothing for the Highlanders Super 14 team and has been worn by such celebrities as JD Fortune of INXS, rugby great Josh Kronfeld, Good Morning's Brendon Pongia and Shortland Street's Ben Mitchell.

E l u s i v recently made the move to beautiful Mt Maunganui and have just opened their first  store. Along with this has come the move to set up office in Italy which has been a very big decision that has paid off with our first stockists being developed just out of Milan.

Designer Nicola is looking forward to December where she will get to travel to Milan and live for 12 weeks while designing her next range.

Company Goals

Our mission is to be a worldwide one stop shop for Mens Fashion. We want to provide a man with everything he needs to look and feel fantastic and we want to make it as painless as possible.

"I have experienced many times over how painful shopping can be for a man. After visiting one shop and trying on one piece of clothing they have had enough!"  laughs Nicola Reilly, Designer of Elusiv.

Our mission is to provide you with the style advice as well as the outfit while in the comfort of your own home, and then deliver it to your doorstep. Any questions regarding fashion and style we will answer, queries we don't know, we will find out for you.

1. World Class Online Service.

 
This means we don't just provide you with the clothes. We provide you with the knowledge and guidance to find the perfect outfit for any occasion. Most websites just want you to buy their product full stop. We want to provide you with the complete service. From the moment you have the occasion we have the answers and we can suggest the outfit. We are committed to helping you find clothes that flatter your body and that last you year after year. We also have some ideas in our Man Guide that will help you in other areas of your life too.

2. Striving to be the Best

This means that we 100% stand by our brand. We are committed to providing you with clothing that will stand the test of time and that will go the distance. We will provide you with clothing that has meaning and integrity. We are committed to providing you with world class clothing and online service that makes your life easy. We are committed to bringing you clothing that has been designed taking into consideration the lastest trends, but that will stand the test of time and that has more than meets the eye.
We are committed to developing ourselves, our company, our service and our product every chance we get.

3. Global Aspirations

We want to take our unique New Zealand design brand to the world. We have already discovered that E l u s i v has an exciting following throughout the World and we are excited and motivated by it.

We want people worldwide to recognise our brand. We also want to do this in a safe and realistic way. So we are currently building E l u s i v  in New Zealand and Italy with online and shop presence. We have plans to develop E l u s i v online in the UK and Europe in the next 5 years.

4. Business Sustainability

We want our business to have as little effect on the environment as we can, knowing that clothing is hard on the environment because of its high turnover in ones wardrobe. We are committing to making the running of our business as sustainable as possible. We have set  E l u s i v  up to be run online from anywhere in the world.

All design, and communication is done online. We keep all documents filed on computer to save printing, and we have all our business communication set up online.  We recycle where possible. Any garments where we can buy the fabric in the country of production we have them made in the same place. For example, when using New Zealand Merino we manufacture in New Zealand. This means the garment's carbon footprint is smaller, because we are not shipping the fabric overseas to be manufactured. Therefore the garment and the fabric travels the shortest possible distance.

Being set up online means we can keep your costs down and your footprint down by not using your car to go shopping. By buying online we are helping you reduce your carbon footprint on the environment also.

We are committed to making clothing that will last you season after season. Thought and intigrity is put into every garments production, so you can feel proud that what you are wearing isn't just another Tee.

We are also continually researching and developing our product, so that we can bring you a more sustainable product, using quality materials but at a realistic price.

Company Core Values

Below is a list of core values that our company lives by. These are the backbone and essence of how we began and what we stick to in everything that we do. They are the core values of what make up  E l u s i v  today.

1. To be true to ourselves and what we believe in.

We have learnt over the years that the best thing you can do is listen to your gut instinct, to listen to yourself and to follow what feels right. We 100% believe that the best decisions are made by trusting your own feelings. To listen, to learn, to adapt, to modify and to create what works for being true to your self and your own business values.

"I'm a big believer in growth. Life is not about achievement, its about learning and growth, and developing qualities like compassion, patience, perserverance, love, and joy and so forth. And so if that is the case, then I think our goals should include something which stretches us" Jack Canfield

"If you build that foundation, both the moral and the ethical foundation, as well as the business foundation,and the experience foundation, then the building wont crumble." Henry Kravis

 

2. To be honest, to have integrity, to be respectful, patient and always learning.

We recognise that in order to grow as a business and as people we need to be willing to listen, to be honest, upfront and always have an ear ready to listen. As a business we strive to provide these same principles in our service, our product and our brand. We want our clothing to have meaning, character and integrity. Without it, is just a piece of cloth.  So every piece of clothing is designed with a purpose and has detail and character that is more than surface value. You will find prints that have descriptive stories about where they began and the purpose behind them. You will find shirts and hoodies with subtle detail that transform them from something normal to something special and that has depth and character. Every piece of clothing has a little more than meets the eye.

"If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not moral and ethical person, you really have nothing." Henry Kravis

 

3. To be passionate and stand 100% behind our brand

 

We created our company and our brand based on what we believed in, and we 100% stand behind that. A company that has integrity, just like the man wearing it. A company that has layers and depth just like the man wearing it. A company that has more than meets the eye........just like the man wearing it.

 

"A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. "Jeff Bezos

4. Dedicated to improving ourselves, our product and our company to world class standards.

We know we have so much to learn and we understand that we will make mistakes. We believe that in order to grow we need to try, and that we will.

In order to develop we are continually improving our knowledge in all aspects of our business, while striving to improve the business as a whole.

"Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new. Never be too busy to listen." Og Mandino

 

5. To continually strive to make our business as sustainable as possible and to create a business that has a small impact on the environment.

Our belief is that growth is a necessity of life and we want to make that growth as sustainable as possible. So as a business we continually looking at ways we can reduce our impact, and how we can make buying clothes more sustainable for you to enjoy.
We are doing this by making our business run online as much as possible and by making good decisions about the material we use and the way the garment is produced and delivered to your doorstep.  As a business we want to continue to grow, and we will, but in order to do this we need to make our business as sustainable as we can. So we are taking the steps everyday to do this.

"We can never be certain about the future and therefore we must continue to be flexible and adaptable so that we can react quickly to the needs of our customers and our market place." Talal ABu-Ghazaleh

6. To never settle for average.

The key for us is to continually strive to learn, adapt and modify. We work hard at making the experience for our customer an enjoyable one both in purchasing and wearing Elusiv clothing. Our team have always wanted to be the best at what we put our minds and talents to, and Elusiv is a product of these talents...we are always going to do our best to be the best.

 "The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results." Edward de Bono

 "The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense." Thomas Edison