Luvme Through the Generations: Meet the Family

Luvme Eco is truly a close-knit, family-owned business and today, it’s our birthday! Woo hoo! Luvme began nearly 14 years ago when Kendall and her mum, Laurie, were confronted with the fact that every year 1.5 billion disposable nappies end up in Australian landfill! They knew they had to find a solution that was kinder to the Earth, for future generations. The first eco nappy was born not long after and the rest is history! Kendall, her husband Craig, and Laurie continued to run the business alongside each other and Luvme grew from humble beginnings to an award-winning eco brand that is trusted and loved by families all over Australia!  

Sadly, Laurie passed away from cancer in 2020 but Kendall and the team remain even more determined to carry on what they started together. Kendall’s daughter, Kayla, has joined the marketing team at Luvme and the mother-daughter duo work closely together to build Luvme. Kayla’s adorable toddler, Vera, is our little product tester and can often be found crawling around the office and sitting on Gigi’s (Kendall) lap during meetings. Craig is our warehouse manager and after school, Kendall and Craig’s daughters, Arielle and Neveah, love to play hide and seek in the Luvme warehouse. Let’s hear more from Kendall, Craig, and Kayla about working together in a family-run business!  

Founder, Kendall  

What was it like starting a business with your mum?  

It was a dream come true. I have always looked up to my mum as being my rock after my dad passed away when I was 5 years old. Her hard-working, never give up nature definitely taught me so much. There were times when I wanted to give up and she got me through because she never ever thought to give up. I also loved that we could spend time together in business but also celebrate the wins. We both loved what we were doing and to be able to do it together was just an even bigger bonus. When I found out she was really sick, it rocked my world to think that I would not have her next to me one day in my life. My perspective changed from sadness to gratefulness that I could spend so much time with her before her passing. Our business gave us this freedom which I will always be grateful for.  

How do you feel that what Luvme does today honours your mum’s legacy?  

Luvme is built on these 4 pillars: love for my family, love for our earth, love for premium, quality products, and love for our customers. These core values honour everything my mum was about. She loved her family and always put us first over her own needs. Her love our earth was also so strong in her values. She appreciated premium, quality products that function well and noticed the detail in something done well. Her love for customer service was beyond just giving great service. She really cared and would always say the customer is right no matter what, and she would work to a solution that always was an advantage to the customer. I believe that Luvme still encapsulates these values and beliefs that I learnt from my mum so I feel that passing this down to my children and grandchildren through our business Luvme honours her legacy. 

How does it feel to now work with your daughter and husband?  

Working with my daughter and my husband is a dream come true. I worked for about 6 years in the business with my mum, before my husband was able to leave his landscaping job. For those years I had to stay focused on the dream of one day that my husband would work with me in the business so it definitely built up over time to really want this. So when it finally happened and became my reality I was soooo grateful beyond words. I am blessed to have such a unique relationship with my husband and also my eldest daughter. That we are so close but have a healthy respect for boundaries too, as without that this would never work. They are the foundations of our work relationship along with keeping work at work the best we can and when we are home that is family time, again boundaries. This works so well for us as a close-knit family as we also all live next door to each other in separate homes on our 10 acre property.  

It was my mum’s dream to live and work like this and also mine. After losing my dad when I was young, family became so important to me and spending as much time as possible with them. I get to spend so much time with my husband, who is my best friend, and also my children and grandchild in both home life and business. I am literally living my heaven on earth daily which, sometimes, I just want to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming! So blessed and grateful beyond words.  

What is an aspect of your job that might surprise people? 

Not sure if this will be a surprise as we do like to share on socials a lot about our life and what Luvme is about but we love to support local communities in any way we can. Luvme is all about love (we can never say this enough) and we have so much love to give! (Keep your eyes peeled for a journal all about this in the coming weeks!)  

What do you hope to be doing in 10 years?  

Exactly what I am doing now but have a larger team so I can do more of what we do now. Our goal is always to support as many families and children in need as possible. The more we grow, the more we can help. I love what I do and will continue to bring out more eco products to add to our range. We always strive to offer a growing number of non-toxic, earth-friendly options to our customers.  

Warehouse Manager, Craig  

If you ever come to our Luvme warehouse located in Chinderah, NSW you’ll see Craig’s smiling face as he unloads containers (full of luxury, eco disposable nappies!) and drives the forklift around. He’s an integral part of our team and we couldn’t run Luvme without him.  

What do you love most about what you do at Luvme?  

I love driving the forklift! But mostly I love that we can be generous with our products and help families who need it.  

Rumor on the street is that you actually came up with the name “Luvme”; what was your inspiration for the name?  

Luvme is all about love. It was from the perspective of our children asking us to “love me” (Luvme)—leaving a better Earth by creating more eco-friendly baby products is a way of looking after our children and showing them that we love them.  

What is an aspect of your job that might surprise people?  

I love to surprise our staff and make them smashed avo on sourdough toast! It’s our family recipe and everyone loves it!  

Where do you see yourself in ten years?  

I would love to be doing more community-based work helping those in need in our local communities through our work with Luvme.  

What is one thing you’ll always be passionate about?  

I’m a passionate guy and I will always being passionate about my faith in God and sharing His love with those around me.  

Kayla  

It’s so special that Luvme was built by your mum and beautiful grandma. Can you share a memory of your grandma?  

My favourite memories were sitting around her kitchen bench over some cheese and crackers and would talk for hours about her life, random facts and just laugh and laugh until our stomach hurts. 

What does it feel like to be a part of a generationally-owned, family-run business?  

It feels so special to be a part of something I’ve been able to watch from the start. Now that I have my own daughter too I can’t wait to see where the business goes with generations to follow. 

You’ve seen Luvme grow over the last 14 years. What about Luvme makes you most proud?  

I’m so proud how Luvme is so much more than a company. It’s literally a family. Our goals of helping the community and the environment. Also the thought that goes into every product is admirable. The team really do care that we are making the best products possible for parents and bubs.  

What is an aspect of your job that might surprise people?  

Even though I do lots of social media work I actually really love doing website work and working on the back end to make things look beautifully while also being user friendly.  

What dreams do you have for the future?  

My dreams are to have a slow life enjoying days with my family. I would love to have more kiddies and spend our days out on our land.