The Story.

There are not many families that know wool and sheepskin like the Acland family. Mt Somers Station became the first high country sheep run in New Zealand when Acland pioneers took on the rough, bush-clad terrain back in 1856.

Bo founder Ben Acland grew up on the family farm in a time when nothing was wasted and everything was used.

“When we were brought home from the hospital we were put on a sheepskin rug from the farm,” Ben says. We were wrapped in a woollen blanket that mum had spun and knitted herself.” And, yes, there were little sheepskins boots too - and vests (check out the photo). There were woollen jumpers, and beanies – and even shorts (have another look at that photo)!

Over the years, the Aclands have done more than grow wool. Ben’s grandfather, Jack Acland, was the chairman of the New Zealand Wool Board in the 1960s. Father Mark started a business making sheepskin vests (like the one Ben’s modelling in the photo with his mother, Jo) and Brother Hamish has recently launched a merino brand called Mons Royal.

Funny then, that Ben’s first foray into the fashion business was in polar fleece. “It was the 90s,” he says in his defence. Ben used his mother’s sewing machine to create a small range of fluorescent fleece headbands, which he sold at school to raise money for a new ski jacket.

It was an awakening. “A few years later, when I started caring about what clothes I wore, and mum wouldn’t buy me the designer labels, I would take dad’s old shirts and modify them on the sewing machine.”

Ben followed his passion for skiing to Europe before doing a Bachelor of Commerce at University. It only took a few weeks working as a warehouse and logistics planner in Sydney for Ben to realise that the corporate ladder was not one he was keen to climb. He fled home to the farm. And the ski fields.

Soon, another business opportunity presented itself and Ben was manager of a small Christchurch ugg boot factory. It wasn’t long before the designer in Ben got loose. True to his resourceful nature and wool-rich past, Ben used second-hand woollen suits and jumpers to up-style the traditional ugg boot and Bo Boots was born.

Sara was hired to help out with design and sales. Many late nights were spent around the design table...

Ben and Sara married in 2008 and Bo Boots moves forward with their combined strengths.

“I’m more of a conceptual person,” Sara says. “Ben is great at patterns. It’s amazing the way he can pull a pattern together even though he’s had no formal training.”

Sara also come from Canterbury farming stock. The couple share a respect for New Zealand’s rural tradition, its natural materials and can-do attitude. But they are also children of the 70s, 80s and 90s. They know that style counts and that fashion matters. They bring you the best of both these worlds in Bo Boots.