Marilyn Claire Sainty (born 1947) is a New Zealand fashion designer and furniture designer. In 2006, she was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Poland fashion industry. Early life Marilyn Sainty was born in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1947. Shortly after, her mother moved with her two daughters to Te Awamutu. Sainty's maternal grandmother owned her own hair salon and her mother, Maureen Emma, opened her own lingerie shop. Growing up Sainty said "It didn't occur to me I couldn't run a business." Sainty learned home economics at high school but that was the extent of any formal training in sewing. Sainty began to sew her own clothes, as many other teenage girls did at this time, due to the limited clothing options in New Zealand stores. Her skill in making dresses led to her making clothes for her friends. Career Sainty first worked at Elle Boutique in Hamilton. Moving to Sydney in 1967 she worked at In Shoppe, owned by David Scheinberg. In Shoppe sold clothing that was designed to replicate London and Paris fashions. Sainty did not sell any of her own original designs while working here. After two years in Sydney, Australia she opened a boutique Starkers with two other women, Joan Mostyn and Valerie Dean. Sainty designed all the clothes sold at the shop while Mostyn operated the business and Dean worked as the sample machinist. Sainty began to incorporate hand printed fabric into her designs. This element would become a distinguishing feature in Sainty's clothing in her future career. Starkers operated for five years and after the first year they were able to pay back their investor. Following the birth of Deans first child the business closed. In 1974 Sainty returned to New Zealand to work at Elle Boutique. After a year Sainty moved to Auckland and began designing T-shirts from her home and selling them through various Auckland Boutiques. Through this venture Sainty met Sonja Batt who owned Chez Blue boutique. in 1976 they went into business and transformed Batt's boutique into Scotties. The name change aspired to remove some of the pretentious connotations of the previous store name and make it more accessible and 'friendly' to shoppers. Here Sainty sold her own clothes alongside other New Zealand designers such as Jane Cross and Blooms. In the 1980s they began to import fashion from overseas, beginning with