The Origins of OFH

In the beginning

One Fit Hire was founded in 2018 by myself, my name is Kahu and I am currently 29 years old. I am originally from Wainuiomata, Wellington but have Māori, Cook Island and Niuean heritage. I was raised by three very staunch women (Nana, Mum and Aunty) and a hard on the outside but really a big softie, Grandad. 

My earliest memory of my mum was her wearing these huuuuuge platform heels, they were red and looked similar to something a Bratz doll would wear. She had the coolest clothes, mostly dresses and pants suits, and would style them with her snakeskin boots, Bratz doll looking heels or some really cool street sneakers. 

When I got older, I was never really adventurous with what I wore but I think that came down to my skin - I had really bad eczema most of my formative years. Naturally, I wore hoodies/long sleeves and long pants. As I got older, I was naturally more aware of my surroundings, I started to see in the shops that they didn't really have my size in "mainstream" shops; glassons, cotton on (at the time) even the warehouse. It didn't make sense to me, my Mum was also a plus size lady and had the coolest clothes! After many conversations with both my mum and my nana, we came to the conclusion that in order to dress really nice, feel comfortable and feel your best you had to spend lots of money.  As a 19 year old, I was not going to be spending hundred on an outfit... I worked at Typo and was not about to spend my entire paycheck! 

Pivotal Moment

The moment that changed it all for me was going to my school ball in my last year, I went to a dress rental place in Auckland with some of my friends (all smaller than me). I will never forget walking into the store and being told "girls who are size 14 have been able to fit into that" - uhhhh girls that look like me or? It was this moment that changed me forever. I was adamant that this was never going to happen to a young girl again - especially one that might not be size 8 or 10 (nothing against them just so many options). THUS - One Fit Hire.

The Conversation

I was 19, working at Typo and nannying every other weekend so that I could pay my way and live my life. I moved out of Wellington to Auckland when I was 15 and had a pretty good work ethic at this point. I talked to my Mum (still in Wellington), told her about the idea and asked her for $1000 to start. At first, she was like "what is this rental thing? do you think people will use it? I haven't heard of something like that before?" - so granted. I told her that she had never heard of something like that before because "IT DOES NOT EXIST FOR US MUM". As any Mum would, she said "alright if you know what you are doing then let's do it", the most encouraging I swear! That night - myself and my 2 best friends started One Fit Hire, shopping around for our first couple of dresses. 

Shaping the future of OFH

Over the years, we built a really good amount of stock, I was in about 4 flats before we secured a retail space. I am so thankful to all of my flatmates for always being so supportive, there was never a moment where they gave me the "what up" about having my business either in my bedroom or in the bathroom and/or laundry. Also, to my customers for always being so comfortable with coming into my various spaces to try on the dresses. 

Then came a time when my business literally outgrew my flats and I had to find a space that would hold all of my stock that I had accumulated over the years.