Events Clothing

Leveraging off his experience as a top yachtsman and his international contacts, Owen Rutter has turned Events Clothing Ltd into a successful export business, supplying customised clothing for the crews of superyachts and international yacht racing teams.

When Mr Rutter established his Auckland business in the late 1980s its focus was designing and supplying clothing for the domestic corporate market. In 2000, realising that this was a fickle market with limited growth potential, he changed the focus to designing and supplying uniforms for the international superyacht, yacht racing team and regatta clothing markets.

Mr Rutter says Events Clothing advantages include the strength of its brand and sister company Line 7’s brand; along with product superiority and the personalised and customised service it offers its clients. Although it currently has only a small share of the market, the brand is recognised as a market leader and associated with high profile campaigns such as Emirates Team New Zealand, Oracle and The Volvo Round the World Race.

Much of Events Clothing’s international business is won through connections and relationships. Staff numbers have grown to 12, and most have been involved in the yachting industry previously as crew, bringing a significant advantage of insider knowledge and contacts. The company also taps into the extensive network of expat Kiwis working in the superyacht and international racing arenas. Mr Rutter says for him, his sport and his business are the same thing, as he regularly attends international regattas and sails with clients.

“Partnering with sailing teams racing in top level international regattas enables us to test advanced fabric and design technology and styles, and to show them on the international stage, providing invaluable feedback.”

Events Clothing’s ability to design, customise, produce and deliver orders internationally in a short turnaround timefame is a key strength.

“We are unique in having developed an ultra streamlined and flexible design and production capability that provides a customer with the ability to customise any garment to include their specific colour way logos and styles. No other competitor is able to match our abilities here, and many don’t even offer the client the ability to customise their garments.”

An innovative and very successful development has been the introduction of electronic story boards which give a skipper or vessel owner a graphic presentation of the garments ordered.

“Our competitors are not offering this sort of service and customer satisfaction has increased due to the ease with which a customer can now review visually and make changes to an order before it goes to production.”

All design work is carried out in house, giving Events Clothing complete control of product development and quality. Extensive ongoing R&D into new high tech fabrics, designs and trends is often undertaken with sister company Line 7. Most manufacturing is outsourced to Asia.

Mr Rutter says Events Clothing’s target market is growing. “There are 688 superyachts over 100 feet presently under construction globally. A vessel of this size would normally have a crew of 12-14 people and crew uniforms are quite often changed on a seasonal cycle. Many owners place orders far in excess of crew requirements. Guests, family members and associates often receive as much apparel as the crew themselves.”

He says the company is planning to broaden its customer base by supplying into the superyacht powerboat market as it traditionally has greater numbers of crews than the yachts and there are three times as many vessels in this category.

Since 2001, Events Clothing has increased its share of the superyacht market (estimated at $600 million annually), from one per cent to nearly 5 per cent in 2005. Export earnings are expected to double within the next three years.

Mr Rutter says the company is well placed to meet that export growth. It has spent three years focusing on the development and refinement of its design and manufacturing capability, efficiencies, best practice and resource management to maximize its ability to respond and cope with rapid growth. It now has a structure in place that will allow it to grow current $4 million sales to $15 million without the addition of any extra staff or changes to its present design and manufacturing capability.

“Making that decision to change focus to the superyacht and yacht racing market in 2000 didn’t come easily and in hindsight it would have been good to get outside help, we’ve woken up to that now. We tried to do everything ourselves at first and it was quite a mission to change the direction of the company and the psyche of the staff to an international focus.

“But I believe that decision to focus on the international superyacht market will ensure the success of the business. Looking five years out from now we will be a key player in this market, and if we hadn’t made that change we’d just be another clothing supplier in New Zealand."

Image: Tania McMullen, Events Clothing Yachting Projects Manager in her business environment.

Contact:
Owen Rutter
Managing Director
Events Clothing Ltd
Phone:    +64 9 303 0013
Email:      owen@eventsclothing.co.nz
Website:  www.eventsclothing.co.nz