The Goondiwindi district has long been renowned for producing quality cotton, but these days it is famous for the Love Henry warehouse distribution centre and retail outlet.
Love Henry is a designer label of children’s clothing and is the brainchild of local cotton grower Chrystal Henry. It specialises in baby and children’s wear from from newborn to eight years for boys and girls.
Chrystal and husband Jason grow cotton in family partnership with Chrystal’s parents Garry and Lurlene Campbell, and brother Matt at Boongargil, at Toobeah.
And it was in 2002 that Chrystal moved from her family’s cotton farm to pursue a career as a Fashion Designer in Brisbane.
She studied for two years full time before going on to designing and making couture bridal and formal gowns.
After three years Chrystal decided that she wanted to be more creative and unrestricted with her designs so she decided that children’s clothing would be fun, colourful and without limits, and Love Henry was born.
She started making baby clothes at her home on the Gold Coast Hinterland and sold them online and at local markets.
“The response was so great and to keep stock up to the brand it proved to be difficult,” Chrystal said.
It was at this point she decided offshore production would be the way to go to keep up with the market and competition.
So Chrystal made the decision to take a business trip to China and she forged a fantastic business relationship with a manufacturer who she still uses to this day.
After her first collection was launched for Summer 2010/11, Love Henry was stocked in a a handful of stores but since then it has grown rapidly.
In 2012, Chrystal and husband, Jason, and their their children moved back to the family cotton farm, Boongargil.
“The best thing about the business I have created is that I can be flexible with my hours and my location”. Chrystal said.
“This helps juggle family and work life, but getting the balance right can be a task for a lot of mothers”.
Love Henry currently supplies over 150 Australian baby boutiques, gift stores and other retail outlets and the number just keeps growing.
As well Love Henry has boutique stores in Westfield North Lakes, near Brisbane and Grand Central at Toowoomba.
Recently, Chrystal also took Love Henry to Bubble tradeshow in London where she gained exposure and found herself stocking stores not only in the United Kingdom, but in the US, Ireland, Scotland, Singapore and Israel.
She is the first to admit her life is hectic with a family of three young girls, Georgia aged nine, Myah aged six and Elsie Mae aged three, but developing Love Henry into a successful company is her passion.
“Yes, it’s busy but I’m just an everyday mother as well as an entrepreneur, doing what I love”.
Chrystal doesn’t claim to do it all herself, she employs four other staff members who run the office and the warehouse in Goondiwindi, and has a capable team of employees running her other stores’.
Chrystal’s designs are her own creations which aren’t sourced from any other designers, which gives her a niche in the childrens wear industry.
“My daughters love the design process too and help with making design decisions, they are the target market, so their input helps a lot,” she said
Chrystal hopes that one day, one or all of her three girls will take over the Love Henry enterprise and keep it a household brand for many years to come.