20 years of Deadly Ponies
A legacy built one handbag at a time.
Words: Carolyn Enting
Photography:
Deadly Ponies founder Liam Bowden describes the first bag he ever made as "a hot mess" - a patched- together "hobo sack-type thing" made from pieces of scrap leather which he sewed together until it was big enough to be considered a bag, because he couldn't afford a full hide.
Eventually, he made enough from sales of his one-off creations to buy a hide, then two and more. To date, the business has financed itself internally this way and become a system in which he and business/life partner Steve Boyd have built the brand - self-funded and within their means.
The approach has paid off with Deadly Ponies celebrating 20 years in September. In that time, they set the benchmark for handbag design in New Zealand and created a luxury category locally that previously didn't exist in Aotearoa because Kiwis weren't used to paying hundreds of dollars for a handbag. They were also one of the first New Zealand handbag companies to create "seasonality". Boundary-pushing and conceptual fashion pieces, like a bag made from shredded leather inspired by office supplies.
Deadly Ponies became known for its beautifully crafted bags made from local soft grain leather. Early on, many people even assumed the bags were made from pony skin because of the name, though that was never the case, confirms Liam. The name came from a fictional gang he created for some zines and comic books for a university art project.
No animal, snake, crocodile or pony has been killed for fashion under their watch. Deadly Ponies only use ethically sourced byproducts of the meat industry. Its replica python and crocodile-effects are made from cow leather usually sourced from Italy or France, and its soft grain leather from France, India, and China.
The offshore tanneries they work with are all Gold Standard, a requirement of their B Corp certification.
Up until six years ago Deadly Ponies sourced its leather from New Zealand tanneries but as they began to close, Liam and Steve made moves to produce offshore. "When we started there were 10 to 15 tanneries throughout New Zealand and pretty much every year one closed, and in the end we had nowhere to get the leather," says Liam.
Thinking ahead, they invested in building their own factory in Thailand in 2019, but Covid prevented them from ever visiting in person, so they pivoted again as they came to realise that trying to manage another business from afar split their focus.
For the past 10 years, Deadly Ponies HQ has operated from a former run-down carpark in Uptown. It's where they still make their samples and last year renovations saw the addition of a purpose-built showroom gallery - a stunning showcase for their latest collection.
BEGINNINGS AND LEARNINGS
For the first three years, everything Deadly Ponies produced was a one-off, all made by Liam. He began experimenting with screen printing on scraps of leather while studying graphic design at Unitec and making coin purses and bags which he sold at Superette.
There wasn't much of a business plan. It was more that he enjoyed creating, making and learning how to pattern make and sew. Taking apart old vintage bags and dissecting them like a scientist to figure out how they ticked.
In 2009 Liam met Steve. As soon as they began dating, it became very apparent that their skill sets complemented each other, and they began working together.
Steve had just moved to Auckland from Wellington where he was a parliamentary press secretary for seven years. While he didn't have any particular experience in fashion or business, Steve comes from a creative family and brought a curatorial eye. He also helped hone a commercial direction in some respects of the brand, though his first job was doing the accounts because it was something that needed doing.
"We find that when we're in a room creatively together, we get the best result and the best out of each other," Steve says.
Liam admits it was hard in the beginning, stepping on each other's toes. "You learn how to communicate really clearly so, in a way, it's been a great training course for our relationship. Like constant reflection on each other and yourself, to hear each other's point of view, come up with a plan, move on. It's made us rock-solid in that respect."
Opening their first ever pop-up store in Ponsonby was a personal 'wow' moment for Liam. "I remember it was late at night. We'd set it all up, had burgers and were sitting on the side of the road just looking at the thing we had done and we're like, 'Wow that's us, that's our name on the door'."
When the short-term lease abruptly ended, they needed to find a new space quickly and went door-knocking which is how they ended up finding their current Ponsonby location.
The opening of their Queenstown store in May 2024 is possibly Steve's proudest moment to date. "My grandfather had a shop with his paintings half a block away and when we opened, I was really proud. A lot of my family is there, and it felt like a really nice circle of life to have a store on the main street of Queenstown."
Despite being the most copied New Zealand handbag brand, the pair are focused on taking the brand into the future and view being emulated as a compliment and are celebrating the brand's 20th anniversary with a collection release titled Thorn of Plenty, a play on the Horn of Plenty and idea of abundance.
"The last 20 years there's been a lot of abundance, but there's plenty of thorns along the way and it's certainly been a ragged path that we've had to walk," says Steve. "There are a lot of reflections within the new collection around celebrating hallmarks from ranges past and there's a number of new products that speak to that."
One starting point for the collection and colour palette was inspired by a walk through Steve's parents' winter garden in Geraldine. "There were all these amazing fruits and vegetables sitting amongst weeds," explains Liam. "The pumpkin had this kind of blue reptilian texture which we tried to emulate in the crocodile and the burnished burgundy colour of rhubarb. The colours and textures felt very modern and alien-like and I looked to how we could replicate those in leather." Nods to collection inspirations also come through in the colour names, like Radicchio, Kale and Iceberg.
After that comes the release of their resort collection, which is thematically futuristic. "We really feel at a 20-year mark that it's not a time to just look back, it's a time to go, 'cool, what's next?' and 'what should everyone be excited about?' And we're excited to be doing something this long and to still feel inspired by what we're doing," says Steve.
Three years ago, Deadly Ponies also expanded the brand's offering to footwear, which creatively excites Liam. Customers were often seeking shoes to match their bags, and it was a new learning opportunity as well as a way of pushing his own career development.
"I was given a low budget to develop. I had to prove to the team that it could work and worked on the product development myself, so I didn't overload the team. It was very much like our startup mentality for that product, and I was up for the challenge."
He started with one shoe, then two - like he did with the bags.
Eventually, he made enough from sales of his one-off creations to buy a hide, then two and more. To date, the business has financed itself internally this way and become a system in which he and business/life partner Steve Boyd have built the brand - self-funded and within their means.
The approach has paid off with Deadly Ponies celebrating 20 years in September. In that time, they set the benchmark for handbag design in New Zealand and created a luxury category locally that previously didn't exist in Aotearoa because Kiwis weren't used to paying hundreds of dollars for a handbag. They were also one of the first New Zealand handbag companies to create "seasonality". Boundary-pushing and conceptual fashion pieces, like a bag made from shredded leather inspired by office supplies.
Deadly Ponies became known for its beautifully crafted bags made from local soft grain leather. Early on, many people even assumed the bags were made from pony skin because of the name, though that was never the case, confirms Liam. The name came from a fictional gang he created for some zines and comic books for a university art project.
No animal, snake, crocodile or pony has been killed for fashion under their watch. Deadly Ponies only use ethically sourced byproducts of the meat industry. Its replica python and crocodile-effects are made from cow leather usually sourced from Italy or France, and its soft grain leather from France, India, and China.
The offshore tanneries they work with are all Gold Standard, a requirement of their B Corp certification.
Up until six years ago Deadly Ponies sourced its leather from New Zealand tanneries but as they began to close, Liam and Steve made moves to produce offshore. "When we started there were 10 to 15 tanneries throughout New Zealand and pretty much every year one closed, and in the end we had nowhere to get the leather," says Liam.
Thinking ahead, they invested in building their own factory in Thailand in 2019, but Covid prevented them from ever visiting in person, so they pivoted again as they came to realise that trying to manage another business from afar split their focus.
For the past 10 years, Deadly Ponies HQ has operated from a former run-down carpark in Uptown. It's where they still make their samples and last year renovations saw the addition of a purpose-built showroom gallery - a stunning showcase for their latest collection.
BEGINNINGS AND LEARNINGS
For the first three years, everything Deadly Ponies produced was a one-off, all made by Liam. He began experimenting with screen printing on scraps of leather while studying graphic design at Unitec and making coin purses and bags which he sold at Superette.
There wasn't much of a business plan. It was more that he enjoyed creating, making and learning how to pattern make and sew. Taking apart old vintage bags and dissecting them like a scientist to figure out how they ticked.
In 2009 Liam met Steve. As soon as they began dating, it became very apparent that their skill sets complemented each other, and they began working together.
Steve had just moved to Auckland from Wellington where he was a parliamentary press secretary for seven years. While he didn't have any particular experience in fashion or business, Steve comes from a creative family and brought a curatorial eye. He also helped hone a commercial direction in some respects of the brand, though his first job was doing the accounts because it was something that needed doing.
"We find that when we're in a room creatively together, we get the best result and the best out of each other," Steve says.
Liam admits it was hard in the beginning, stepping on each other's toes. "You learn how to communicate really clearly so, in a way, it's been a great training course for our relationship. Like constant reflection on each other and yourself, to hear each other's point of view, come up with a plan, move on. It's made us rock-solid in that respect."
Opening their first ever pop-up store in Ponsonby was a personal 'wow' moment for Liam. "I remember it was late at night. We'd set it all up, had burgers and were sitting on the side of the road just looking at the thing we had done and we're like, 'Wow that's us, that's our name on the door'."
When the short-term lease abruptly ended, they needed to find a new space quickly and went door-knocking which is how they ended up finding their current Ponsonby location.
The opening of their Queenstown store in May 2024 is possibly Steve's proudest moment to date. "My grandfather had a shop with his paintings half a block away and when we opened, I was really proud. A lot of my family is there, and it felt like a really nice circle of life to have a store on the main street of Queenstown."
Despite being the most copied New Zealand handbag brand, the pair are focused on taking the brand into the future and view being emulated as a compliment and are celebrating the brand's 20th anniversary with a collection release titled Thorn of Plenty, a play on the Horn of Plenty and idea of abundance.
"The last 20 years there's been a lot of abundance, but there's plenty of thorns along the way and it's certainly been a ragged path that we've had to walk," says Steve. "There are a lot of reflections within the new collection around celebrating hallmarks from ranges past and there's a number of new products that speak to that."
One starting point for the collection and colour palette was inspired by a walk through Steve's parents' winter garden in Geraldine. "There were all these amazing fruits and vegetables sitting amongst weeds," explains Liam. "The pumpkin had this kind of blue reptilian texture which we tried to emulate in the crocodile and the burnished burgundy colour of rhubarb. The colours and textures felt very modern and alien-like and I looked to how we could replicate those in leather." Nods to collection inspirations also come through in the colour names, like Radicchio, Kale and Iceberg.
After that comes the release of their resort collection, which is thematically futuristic. "We really feel at a 20-year mark that it's not a time to just look back, it's a time to go, 'cool, what's next?' and 'what should everyone be excited about?' And we're excited to be doing something this long and to still feel inspired by what we're doing," says Steve.
Three years ago, Deadly Ponies also expanded the brand's offering to footwear, which creatively excites Liam. Customers were often seeking shoes to match their bags, and it was a new learning opportunity as well as a way of pushing his own career development.
"I was given a low budget to develop. I had to prove to the team that it could work and worked on the product development myself, so I didn't overload the team. It was very much like our startup mentality for that product, and I was up for the challenge."
He started with one shoe, then two - like he did with the bags.