How A Brand From The Bottom Of The World Went Global — Second Nature episode artwork

How A Brand From The Bottom Of The World Went Global

Second Nature October 2, 2026 1:11:48

About this episode

Hamish and Hannah Acland, co-founders of Mons Royale, join Second Nature to tell the story of building a global merino wool brand from Wanaka, New Zealand. The brand started with an email titled "Anatomy of an Idea" that brought the two of them together. They talk through the founding insight that base layers were the one piece of ski gear nobody had bothered to make exciting, and how they set out to build a global brand from day one rather than a New Zealand one, despite a disastrous first trade show and years of razor-thin margins as distributors took their cut.

Hamish and Hannah are candid about the harder second chapter of the business: losing their creative conviction under pressure from wholesalers, the challenge of scaling a founder-led vision into a real team, and the ongoing tension between growth and funding.

They also get into how "action sports can better people and planet" became the brand's operating mission over the language of sustainability, why Mons Royale built an athlete program when visibility wasn't even possible for a base-layer brand, and what it's taught them about resilience, team-building, and staying global-minded from a town of a few thousand people at the bottom of the world.

Second Nature is proudly supported by Popfly and Halo:

Popfly for Brands: https://popf.ly/secondnaturebrands

Popfly for Creators: https://popf.ly/secondnaturecreators

Halo: https://www.poweredbyhalo.com

Show Notes:

Mons Royale: https://monsroyale.com/

Hamish Acland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishacland/

Hannah Acland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-acland/

ISPO: https://www.ispo.com/

Mattie Sims on Second Nature: https://youtu.be/tJl441qcZLk

Robin Goomes: https://www.youtube.com/@robin_riding_hood

Future Ground Event: https://monsroyale.com/blogs/news/future-ground-full-video