Five Years of HomeLab Store: What We Have Learned About Quality, Trust and Kiwi Homes

Five years ago, I launched HomeLab Store with a question I could not answer with confidence: do Kiwis actually care about beautiful bedding? The honest feeling I had at the time was uncertainty. Beautiful linen felt like a European obsession — the kind of thing people appreciated in boutique hotel rooms in Copenhagen or Lyon but did not necessarily seek out at home in Auckland or Wellington. New Zealand had a strong tradition of practicality in homewares. The market for genuinely premium NZ bedding felt like an unknown.

The answer came back faster and more clearly than I expected: yes. Not just that they care, but that they had been looking for exactly this and had not been able to find it. The emails we received in those first months said variations of the same thing: I have been searching for this. Where have you been?

The First Year: Every Mistake a Small Business Makes

The first year of any small business involves a specific kind of education that is only available by doing it. We made mistakes in almost every category. Shipping was more complex than I had planned for — international freight to Australia alone required several iterations before we found something reliable. Our product photography took two full rounds to get right. The first round captured the colours adequately but not the texture, and in a category where texture is the primary reason to buy, that was not good enough.

We launched products that I was confident about and that customers did not respond to. We delayed launching products I was unsure about and that turned out to be exactly what people wanted. The most important lesson of the first year was about editing — knowing what to leave out of a product range is more valuable than knowing what to add. Every product that does not perform dilutes attention, inventory, and communication. A tighter range, done better, is more powerful than a comprehensive one done adequately.

What we got right from the beginning was the linen itself. I spent a long time finding French flax linen that genuinely performs — not just in photographs, but after dozens of washes, after years of use, in the real conditions of New Zealand homes. The linen in the French Flax Linen Duvet Cover Sets (from $289) and Sheet Sets (from $359) needed to soften progressively without pilling, hold its colour through seasonal washing, and feel the way quality linen actually feels. Getting that right has been the foundation of everything else.

What Our Customers Taught Us

The customers who found HomeLab Store in those first two years taught us more than any market research could have. They were specific about what they wanted. They gave detailed feedback. They noticed things about the product that we had not thought to mention — the way the linen temperature-regulates through winter, the subtle variation in the woven texture between colourways, the way the Natural Oat develops a warmer tone after six months of washing. These observations became part of how we talk about the product.

They also told us, through their behaviour, what trust looks like in this category. Bedding is one of the few categories where customers cannot fully assess the quality before buying. They can see the colour and the weave in photographs. They cannot feel the texture, assess the weight, or know how the fabric will behave after washing. That uncertainty means trust is doing significant work in every purchase decision. The customers who came back, and who recommended us to friends and family, were telling us that the product had matched or exceeded what we had described. That is the whole job.

How HomeLab Store Has Changed Over Five Years

The range has grown in ways that have surprised me. The French flax linen bedding remains the core — it is what most customers know us for first — but The Boucle Edit, the headboard range, and the decorative pieces have changed what HomeLab Store is. They have extended the business into a more complete view of how a bedroom can look and feel. The Freddy Boucle headboard ($799+) and the Grace Wave ($949+) and the full headboard range exist because customers kept asking for a way to bring the same considered aesthetic to their bedroom furniture, not just their linen.

Wholesale has become a meaningful part of the business. Working with stockists around New Zealand has given us access to a different kind of customer relationship — one mediated by a retailer who knows their customer personally. Those relationships have been genuinely educational. What sells well through a boutique homeware store is slightly different from what sells well online, and understanding both channels has made us better at both.

Australia is the project that occupies most of my thinking about the next five years. The market is bigger, more competitive, and in some ways more sophisticated than New Zealand. The Australian customer is looking for the same things our NZ customers look for — honest quality, genuine communication, product that performs — but the path to finding us is different and the work to build trust from scratch is significant. We are committed to it.

What I Would Do Differently

If I started HomeLab Store again with five years of knowledge, I would be more patient with product development and less patient with everything else. Some of the products we launched in years two and three would have been better if I had taken another three months with them. Some of the processes we built too late — the systems for handling returns, the approach to customer communication, the photography workflow — I would build in year one.

I would also be more transparent earlier. We are a small business, and there is sometimes a temptation to present as more established than you are. I think the opposite is true for us. The customers who trust HomeLab Store most are the ones who know the story — who we are, why we built this, what we genuinely believe about quality — and that transparency builds the kind of loyalty that no marketing campaign can replicate.

Thank You — and What Comes Next

Five years is both a milestone and a midpoint. The things I am most proud of are not the revenue figures or the product count or the stockist relationships — though all of those matter. They are the individual emails from customers who say that their bedroom changed how they feel about coming home. That a new set of linen or a headboard made a space they spend a third of their lives in feel like theirs. That is what we set out to build.

Thank you for being part of it. For the early trust when we were still figuring it out. For the patience when things went wrong. For the reviews, the photographs, the recommendations to friends. HomeLab Store exists because people who cared about it told other people who cared about it. That is still the whole story.

Five more years. There are products to build, markets to reach, and customers who have not found us yet. The question I asked in 2021 has been answered completely. The next question is what we build from here.

— Ben

Frequently Asked Questions

What is HomeLab Store and where are you based?

HomeLab Store is a premium New Zealand homewares brand specialising in French flax linen bedding, boucle textiles, headboards, and considered home accessories. We are a New Zealand-owned small business, founded five years ago with a focus on sourcing quality linen from France and Belgium and making it available to customers across New Zealand and Australia. Our full range is available at homelabstore.co.nz with shipping across NZ and Australia.

Why should I buy from a small NZ bedding brand rather than a larger retailer?

Small brands that know their product deeply — where the fibre comes from, how it is finished, how it will perform after five years of washing — offer something that most large retailers cannot: genuine accountability for quality. At HomeLab Store, we can tell you exactly where our French flax linen is grown, how it is finished, and what to expect from it over ten to fifteen years of use. We are also reachable — if something is not right, you deal with people who care about getting it right.

What is the core HomeLab Store product range?

Our foundation is the French Flax Linen range: Duvet Cover Sets (from $289) in Natural Oat, Cocoa, Mocha, Milk and Hazelnut; Sheet Sets (from $359); and Ruffle Edge Pillowcase Pairs ($99). We also offer The Boucle Edit, our headboard range (including the Freddy Boucle from $799 and the Grace Wave from $949), the Benni Vegan Fur Throw range ($229), Bolster Cushions ($79), and a selection of homewares including the Fibreglass Hourglass Stool ($229) and Melted Crystal Glassware (from $59.99).

Do you ship to Australia?

Yes — we ship across both New Zealand and Australia. Expanding into the Australian market is a significant focus for the next phase of HomeLab Store's growth. Australian customers are looking for the same qualities our NZ customers have found: genuinely sourced French flax linen, honest communication, and product that performs as described over years of use. Full shipping details are available at homelabstore.co.nz.

How do I know HomeLab's linen is genuinely high quality?

The most direct answer is the product itself: French flax linen that is pre-washed and stonewashed before it arrives, soft immediately, and progressively improving with each wash. The longer answer is our supply chain transparency — we source from France and Belgium, can tell you how the fabric is finished, and hold certifications that back the claims. The best evidence is from customers who have been using our linen for multiple years and have seen how it ages. We are happy to answer any specific quality questions directly.

Shop HomeLab Store

Five years in, the question we started with has been answered. Kiwis do care about beautiful bedding — deeply. If you have not found HomeLab Store yet, we would love to introduce you to the range. Shop the full French Flax Linen collection, The Boucle Edit, and our headboard range at homelabstore.co.nz. We are a small team and always happy to help you find the right pieces for your home.