Peak performance

While many of their competitors now manufacture offshore, Earth Sea Sky, Swazi Apparel and Cactus Climbing are committed to remaining New Zealand made.

They say any disadvantages are far outweighed by the rewards that come from providing employment for fellow kiwis and creating durable, high quality items for appreciative customers.

Earth Sea Sky was acutely aware of the hardships involved in working in the sub zero temperatures when it designed a new range of outdoor gear for Antarctica New Zealand, and the $600,000 contract to outfit 240 Scott base staff was a very big deal for the small Christchurch company.

Since then the company has supplied polar clothing for Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules crews who fly to the Ice, and done a trial run of jackets for the Australian Antarctic Division.

Boss David Ellis’ family has a long association with the outdoors market. His grandfather Roland Ellis made the first down-filled sleeping bags in the southern hemisphere (used by Hillary and Tensing on their ascent of Everest), and his father Murray, who was a member of Hillary’s Trans-Antarctic expedition in 1943 and helped build the original Scott Base, was instrumental in developing down-filled clothing and New Zealand’s first fibre-filled sleeping bags.

David Ellis, himself a keen mountaineer, left the family firm and established Earth Sea Sky in 1989, which he runs with wife Jane and son Michael.

Street wear, corporate uniforms and hi-tech performance clothing lines are outsourced to five South Island factories, with 20 percent of production exported.

David Ellis estimates a further 25 percent is bought by overseas tourists making it a “passive export”, and he says country of origin is increasingly important to these customers.

“The number one question people ask is ‘Where is it made?’”

He says manufacturing in New Zealand means they can produce small runs of customized garments and respond quickly to feedback. When a review in Wilderness magazine criticised the velcro closure on the pocket of a new jacket, the problem was fixed within two weeks of the magazine going on sale.

Ben Kepes, co-owner of Cactus Climbing, says using local manufacture also makes quality control much easier.

The company subcontracts to factories in Nelson and Christchurch and runs its own 12-person backpack making operation above a coffee roastery in central Christchurch.

Cactus Climbing grew out of the entrepreneurial efforts of a 15-year-old rock climber who began making chalk bags for his rock climbing mates, and the company motto is to make items designed to “wear in rather than wear out.”

Kepes says they minimise the use of features like zips and pockets and designs are deliberately utilitarian. 

“It’s unsexy and we’re lucky we have some very evangelical followers. We understand that it’s not about fashion, it’s about making tools that answer their needs.”

Those followers include ski patrollers and mountain guides, but Cactus also makes canvas work trousers and carry-bags for NZ Post.

Kepes says Cactus concentrates on being sustainable and constantly looks for natural fibre fabrics and processes that are eco-friendly.