When you walk into the new We'ar Ponsonby store it looks much the same as many others on the Auckland retailing strip - varnished wood floors, trendy clothes, good-looking sales people.

But Jyoti Morningstar, founder and designer of the yoga and off-duty fashion brand, has a business model that differs to most.

It's based on yogic principles of authenticity and truth and is focused on conscious consumerism. With four stores in Bali and Auckland and an e-commerce site, Morningstar aims to run a holistic business using sustainable production methods including organic and fair trade fabrics where possible and ethical practises. A yoga devotee and former teacher, Morningstar runs the business on the ten living principles - yamas and niyamas - of yoga. The yamas are concerned with how you use your energy in relation to others - not stealing or being violent, that sort of thing. Niyamas relates to living in a way that fosters your soulfulness, being the best you can be and achieving your potential.

"It can be a complex process and there are much simpler ways of doing things," she said. "I'm not interested in making money alone. It's important for the sustainability of the company to be profitable, but making money for its own sake is not particularly alluring."

The business was founded in Bali in 2008 mainly because Morningstar wanted somewhere where she could provide work to those living in poverty through small scale ethical manufacturing. "It's a benign place to incubate an idea," she said.

We'ar started making clothes in Ubud in Bali in a family-run manufacturing house and now provides work to around 150 Balinese in a number of small home workshops and factories in the Chang Gu area.

Morningstar divides her time between New Zealand and Bali, ensuring the work is to the required quality and design brief. While the home-based workers were chosen for their sewing and cutting skills, the We'ar team has had to upskill them on other areas of business including transparent financial accounting. "This can be a challenge in Indonesia which is a very corrupt country," she said.

One of the world's endemic disasters, in her view, is poverty and inequality and yet many of us feel remote from the problem.

"I understand why people feel like that if they're not engaging in those communities, it can feel very remote like when your mother told you to eat all your dinner because there are starving kids in Africa'."

But educated consumers can make a difference by their shopping choices, she said. She wants consumers to question "who really profits from this?" before they buy.

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Yoga ethic behind new store