Oh My Hat! Archie's Wearing Our Beanie

Meet the Kiwi crafters with royal approval

- Lynley Ward

Claire Conza dreamed of creating a business that could change the world – but she never imagined a post on a royal Instagram account featuring adorable baby Archie wearing one of her sweet $49 beanies would make her social enterprise known across the globe!

Just hours after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared a snap to their 10 million followers on New Year’s Day of their eight-month-old son wearing the cute Cocobear hat by Kiwi knitting brand Make Give Live, business partners Claire, 37, and Becky Smith, 50, were faced with restocking their entire online store and even temporarily closing orders.

“You could never dream this stuff up,” tells Claire, who was blown away at how the ‘Archie effect’ had such a dramatic impact on their sales.

For the Auckland mum, who crafted a unique plan to get communities of knitters purling and crocheting in company for their wellbeing, as well as giving away warm beanies for Kiwis in need, the way her fledgling business has suddenly been boosted by one of the most famous families on the planet reduced her to tears.

“We had a little bit of breathing space because initially nobody knew it was a Make Give Live beanie. But in the middle of the night stories started coming out about how intentional it was that they shared that photo because they wanted to support what we were about.”