When fashion designer Porscha Pearce returned to riding almost 20 years ago, the former showie wasn’t impressed by the ‘dull and boring’ riding clothes which prevailed at the time. The desire to make some cool casual riding pants was the inspiration behind her business Ridir Clothing; Porscha’s first products were cargo and jean jodhpurs, ubiquitous now, but pretty edgy back then.
Remarkably, Ridir clothes aren’t just designed in New Zealand – they are also hand-made from start to finish in Porscha’s Tauranga workshop. Most garments are sewn to order so when you buy a piece of Ridir clothing, chances are it will have been cut out, stitched, finished and shipped by Porscha herself. She’s conscious of reducing her environmental impact and reuses all of her packaging.
“I am very fussy about quality control, so it’s much easier to sew things myself, rather than getting someone else to make them. But people often don’t realise that when they order a hoodie off my website, I literally go and make it up for them. I only make stock up for events like Equidays and Horse of the Year. I work from home and I don’t have to make everything up in lots of sizes, which keeps the overheads down. By the time something gets made in China and then shipped back to New Zealand, it’s pretty much the same price – so why not make it yourself?”
With Ridir garments, you’re not only getting something that’s locally made; it will be also a bit more exclusive, as she only makes very small runs. “I’ll buy a certain amount of a fabric and when it’s gone, it’s gone, so there aren’t heaps of them around.”
Horses run in Porscha’s family. She grew up riding ponies in the small Northland town of Hikurangi with her sister Rebecca, who is now a vet, while their mother prepared racehorses for the sales. Porscha’s pony, Ridgewood Panache, went on to be a top Grand Prix show jumper, but she mainly did showing. The family moved to Cambridge when Porscha was about 12, which she says was eye-opening. “The show scene up north is a lot different to the show scene in Waikato. We were competing against Lizzie Charleston and her sister – they were super-fancy!”
Although Porscha didn’t take sewing as a subject at school, she always made her own clothes, and after leaving Cambiridge High School, she studied fashion design and construction at Bay of Plenty Polytech, graduating near the top in her class.
Later, she honed her technical skills while working for the high-end fashion label Anne Mardell in Auckland, as a design assistant and pattern drafter. “It was a great job and gave me a strong grounding in the entire process, from costing and where fabric comes from, right through to making the clothes.”
Porscha had given up riding in her last year at school, but got back into it in her mid-20s, and was soon persuaded by a friend to get her own horse again. “We grazed at the old Papatoetoe Pony Club, and I bought a $400 windsucking ex-racehorse. That’s when I noticed all these women were wearing their beige jodhpurs to the paddock – I thought there must be something better out there, but there wasn’t.”
Porscha established Ridir in 2002 and has been working in the business full-time for 12 years.
She and her husband Tim moved to Tauranga six years ago, and now live on a lifestyle block with her thoroughbred mare Prada, and a miniature called Candy who is ‘boss horse’ of the farm despite being blind in one eye.
Porscha enjoys a bit of casual show jumping and gives all her new designs a thorough testing in her own paddocks before listing them on the Ridir website.
When it comes to design, Porscha says she is more influenced by general fashion trends than equestrian tradition. She is a keen athlete and participates in multi-sport and ultra-running, which has inspired her to incorporate the practicality of fitness apparel into her riding wear.
“I don’t really look at what any of the other equestrian companies are doing – I just design good, simple clothes that I like. I want things to look nice, but I’m practical so they have to be comfortable and not too over-the-top, or faffy. I actually go running in a lot of my jodhpurs and tops, as they are not very heavy and they are really stretchy,” she says.
“Equestrian clothing is definitely crossing over into fitness fashion, especially with the riding tights, which are snowballing in popularity. But if you don’t need silicone on your bum, why not ride in yoga pants? Whatever works.”
Currently, darker colours are in, she says, but really anything goes. Lace and sheer panels are making an appearance in show shirts, and using contrasting prints together, such as floral and stripes, is a big trend in mainstream fashion. “We’ve finally moved away from diamantes,” she laughs.
Designing cross-country tops and pony club uniforms is a major part of the business; she fell into this by accident after a customer asked her to make a couple of team tops. She has recently taken over the printing herself, a service she used to outsource, and is able to customise tops with the rider’s name, club logo or other designs.
“It’s become huge, especially with the whole matchy-matchy trend at the moment – people want to match their tops to their saddle blankets and their horse’s boots and ears.”
Porscha also makes riding jackets to measure, taking great pride in the comfort and fit of her garments. With her strong technical background, she’s adept at alterations and is able to turn customers’ conventional jackets into cutaways.
“Nobody is the same size – we’ve all got lumps and bumps in different places so it really does pay to get something made specifically. People will often email me asking for the measurements of one of my jackets, but I always say no, you send me your measurements and I’ll make it to fit you. A lot of people don’t like shoulder pads, but they really do make a jacket, as does the fabric. I mainly use a wool mix, because the polyester holds its colour really well while the wool lets it breathe.”
Porscha also makes the ‘short and stretchy’ jackets that are especially popular with show jumpers, although she warns these aren’t really built to last. “Anything with lycra will degrade over a couple of years – they are the fast fashion of the equestrian world. Whereas with a wool jacket, you could have it for many, many years.”
Other fashion trends of recent years have seen jackets get shorter, tops and shirt get longer, and jodhpurs tending to high waists instead of the hipster style.
Porscha also sells a lot of plus-size clothing; previously there was a bit of a gap in the equestrian market. “So many people can’t find jackets to fit and a lot of women who are bigger will wear men’s jackets, which are just really top-heavy and awful. Nobody wants to look bigger than they actually are – they want to wear something flattering and be comfortable.”
