Small Business Project: Embroiderer’s big dreams born from demand for little people’s jumpers

Monday, 4 May 2026

Personalised jumpers with embroidered names are hot in demand.

The Small Business Project is a weekly series that shines the spotlight on Kiwi small businesses doing interesting and unusual things in their industries.

Palmerston North embroiderer Lilly Schmidt set up a business after she got an enthusiastic response to making a personalised jumper with the name of her nephew on it. Schmidt tells Aimee Shaw she started out at a time when very few were offering personalised embroidery in New Zealand - but demand has quickly grown, and so has the number of craftspeople doing it.

What has your venture set out to achieve?

My nephew was born and he, like me, has an unusually-spelled name. I remember what it was like for me as a kid not being able to find stuff that was spelled with my name correctly, so I was looking for a way I could make him something with his name spelled correctly, and I thought one day I could embroider on knitwear, and that's how it started. I made one for him, never thinking it would go anywhere, and after putting it on my Instagram story, somebody else said, “hey, I want one of those”. And that's how it happened.

When I started the business, there wasn't anyone in New Zealand offering this kind of customized knitwear, so I saw an opportunity to fill a gap. My goal has always been to create pieces that feel special, where kids and their parents can have something that's truly theirs without comment, without compromising on quality or style.

A hobby turned side business, has Lilly Schmidt excited she will be able to take it on full time in years to come.

I rebranded my original Instagram page to LSEmbroidery four years ago, about six months after I made the first one, when I realised that demand for the product was just way bigger than I thought it would be.

I’m a one-band business, doing all of my embroidering by hand, and receiving on average two orders a day, which I fulfil around my full time job as a payroll administrator.

How much time and money have you invested?

LSEmbroidery is built in the hours most people are switched off; nights, weekends and all the spare moments in between working my day job.

LSEmbroidery is a thriving embroidery business, set to expand into women’s wear later this year.

I put in a small amount of my own money to start the business, and everything since has been poured straight back into the business. You have to be able to purchase your stock. Back at the start, I was using secondhand knitwear that I got off Facebook Marketplace, which I still do - I have what is called My Reloved Collection, and that is comprised of all second hand items, which allows us to be a little bit more conscious about how much textile we're bringing into the world and offering things at a lower price point people who potentially don't want, or can't, pay for newer jumpers.

We also have a big portion of business that sees people sending in their own knitwear to be embroidered.

Lilly Schmidt estimates she has embroidered close to 1000 personalised jumpers in the past four years.

At the moment, both the buying of knitwear and embroidery on my website is the most popular. I find that in the summer when potentially my knitwear isn't selling as well, I'll get quite a lot of orders from people sending in items that maybe I don’t stock.

What’s the biggest challenge your business is facing?

The biggest challenge the business is facing right now is the current economic climate. It's definitely been challenging to grow a business at this time with the cost of living so high, so people are naturally more considered about their spending. Personalised clothing is a luxury rather than a necessity. I'm very intentional about how I price, market and position my products. Customers can see the value and what they're buying, but at the same time, my own costs, material, production and shipping has increased so I’d say finding the balance between staying accessible for customers and maintaining quality and standards is something I’m also navigating.

What’s the biggest issue impacting your industry?

In the fast fashion industry, there are cheap sites that rip off my designs. I've had instances where my imagery has been taken from my site and slapped on a cheaper knock off and put on these sites to promote their pieces, which is horrid. I've made a couple of reels about it on my Instagram page because it's really disheartening when I’ve been scrolling social media and an ad pops up - and its my picture. It’s happened a few times. I wouldn't even want to say that I've managed to get them taken down. Most of the time these big corporations will just ignore your messages and you can flag it all you want, but nine times out of 10 they don't pull it down.

What’s next for LSEmbroidery?

This winter is going to be super exciting. For the first time ever, I'll be introducing some women’s knits, expanding the product range. I've spent months creating a collection of 100% cotton knits and beautiful neutral tones, made for those who love matching clothes with their minis, and has been years in the making because women's knitwear is a lot more expensive to produce than kids’ wear. It's been something in the back of my mind for the last couple of years, based on the interest I get from mums. I have toyed with the idea of pet wear too.

In three years’ time you will be …

LSEmbroidery embroiders a range of goods including jumpers, beanies and bonnets.

In three years time, I see myself working on this full time. I'd love to have the space to give it my full attention, keep growing the brand and continue building something I'm genuinely proud of.

I've been doing work for the NICUs, embroidering little sweaters donated to me with little words of affirmations, things like “little fighter” or “little love”, and I would love to do that a bit more as well.

What’s one thing you wish you’d known before starting the business?

When starting, it's easy to live life and work blurred together, but burnout can sneak up quickly, so looking after yourself matters just as much as growing the business. Rest is productive too, something I’m trying to prioritise.

Most helpful piece of advice you have ever received?

That saying “Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life”; I don't think it means that the work disappears, if anything, you end up working more. What it means to me is genuinely caring about what you're building. The hard parts feel worth it, the long hours, the challenges, but the pressures don't go away.

If you would like your business to feature in The Small Business Project, email Aimee Shaw at aimee.shaw@stuff.co.nz