Shannon Dixon & Alex Moret - Simply Merino

We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Shannon Dixon and Alex Moret, the dynamic team behind the success of Simply Merino. Simply Merino was born out of the desire to create a product that was better for their family and better for the planet. After a casual chat with a friend who no longer had a desire to run her business, Shannon and Alex decided to take the plunge to purchase the business and over the past 7 years have built it into the success it is today.

Can you tell us the origins of your business?

Shannon - I was working as a teacher and a friend with a small kids apparel business decided she no longer had a desire to run it. I said to Alex ‘Do we want to do this?’ and our journey began. We had two small children at the time, and being aware of the materials used in kids' sleepwear, and knowing that fire retardant chemicals are added to the materials, acquiring Simply Merino was a natural decision. 

What is your vision for SImply Merino?

Our mission is to produce well made, beautiful, and functional garments made only from 100% Merino wool. We have a zero-waste goal for everything that we produce. 

Tell us about your zero-waste initiatives.

Shannon designs and creates smaller products that support a zero waste initiative. All material scraps are collected from our manufacturing facilities and we sort them with the intention of finding another purpose for them. 

Some of the ways we repurpose our scraps are to use them to wrap orders with, providing free repair patches should you need to repair your Simply Merino product, creative craft boxes that are sold on our website and lastly the leftovers are deemed to have no upcycle potential. We currently have those last leftover scraps stored as we look for a local recycling partner who can shred, card, spin and create new materials to use in future projects. 

What sets you apart from your competitors?

We have two levels of competitors, larger apparel companies and smaller shops. We set ourselves apart from larger companies by offering a better quality, higher value product at comparative price. Our competitive advantage over smaller shops is that we manufacture everything we make in our own country and we focus on sustainability and zero waste. 

What are the proudest achievements that you’ve had with Simply Merino?

Alex - that we have grown the business to the point that it supports our family. 

Shannon - Seeing our customers loving our products and having them return for more.

Growing the business to the point where the material offering can be expanded past an essential offering. We launched merino fleece in 2021, and we are now able to have fun creating different knits to be used in our product line.

What would you like people to know about your brand?

We are not only a kids brand. We launched Womens product successfully 3 years ago and continue to have a strong product offering. 

We specialize in 100% merino wool from Australia and New Zealand, our product range is designed and manufactured in BC, everything that we need to run our business is as local as possible, from the paper we use to the cardboard boxes we ship our products in. 

What’s next on the horizon for Simply Merino?

A limited edition mens line and our new PRELOVED initiative supporting our zero-waste goals.

If you have the chance to meet and chat with this incredible team, ask them about their creative solutions to find places to store their wool materials in their family home. It was a pleasure getting to know more about them and their business, we can’t wait to hear further success stories about this BC Brand.