Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Ground Effect

www.groundeffect.co.nz
facebook.com/groundeffectcycleclothing
Physical Address:  Ferrymead, Christchurch
Operating Since:  1994


The Ground Effect crew after winning the regional
Sustainable Business Network 'Trailblazer' award last year.


















What are you all about?  What kind of clothes do you make?
Ground Effect manufactures and sells direct a range of cycle clothing from socks right through to seam-sealed waterproof jackets.  Our customers get to talk directly to us; the guys and gals that design, test and manufacture the clothing.  Our heritage is in taking outdoor technical fabrics and applying them to cycle clothing; pretty unique back in the 90's but still very relevant now.  Our byline, "Gear for the Cycling Revolution", covers all forms of cycling from mountain biking right through to road cycling and commuting.


Who makes your clothes?
Our factory is right here in Christchurch.


Who sells your clothes?  Can we buy them online?
We only sell direct through our catalogue and website.  New Zealand orders are delivered by overnight courier.


What price range are your clothes in?
$9 to $299.


Why do you think NZ clothing labels outsource their manufacturing overseas?
Manufacturing locally works for us.  We operate a quick response system - holding minimum stock and replenishing the shelves when the pile gets too low.  Most of our fabrics are made here too, which gives us some flexibility in terms of raw material lead-times.  We've watched a number of Kiwi brands reach a certain sales volume and, if their business is scalable, explore manufacturing somewhere with lower labour costs and potentially better technology.  It then become a volume and margins game with a big rush into opening new markets.  Brand names like Mac Pac are also being traded and turned into vertical stores in NZ and Australia; importing and selling direct, using Kathmandu's volume discounting model to sell their wares.


What could the Government do to help clothing labels keep it in NZ?
Most of our sales come from exporting our clothing.  The strength of our dollar makes us an expensive proposition in our UK and US markets; while at the same time, it's never been cheaper to import our competitors' products.  We can't expect that to change in the near future - so the next thing on our radar would be to ensure that with our closest export market, Australia, tax and duty is not applied to imports under $1000.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Philippa&Alice

www.philippaandalice.co.nz
Physical Address:  Porirua, Wellington
Operating Since:  January 2010

Alice & Philippa
What are you all about?
What kind of clothes do you make?
We both came together with two different design aesthetics and merged the two; Alice being very feminine and soft, and myself more structured and tailored.  We felt like it was a complementing combination. We make clothes for the mature woman and the youthful; anyone with a bit of confidence who likes to wear something unique.  We feel like we have something raw and exciting to offer to the New Zealand fashion industry.  We love to go crazy with colour and print.

Who makes your clothes?
Up until our recent collection we produced everything ourselves.  As the demand has got higher, we have started getting a portion of our stock made at Stitch Products in Porirua.  We love being NZ made and it is a great selling/buying point for Kiwis.  

Who sells your clothing?  Can we buy them online?
We stock at Rex Royale in Wellington, Salisbury Boutique in Dunedin, Guilty As Sin in Napier and Palmerston North.  We also have a few potential new stockists that we are currently in communication with for our summer 12/13 collection but mum's the word for now :)
We have just developed our website with an online store.
Our winter line has just gone up - check it out!

What price range are your clothes in?
They range from $100 - $400ish.

Why do you think NZ clothing labels outsource their manufacturing overseas?
Money basically.  It is more ethical and preferred to keep New Zealand labels NZ-made but unfortunately, in this industry, it sometimes has to be done if you don't want to be charging mega bucks to retail your clothes. New Zealand has lost a lot of its manufacturers over the last few decades due to its competition in Asia, etc.  However we would love to stay NZ-made as long as possible.

What could the Government do to help clothing labels keep it in NZ?
The Government could help support local manufacturers in these hard economic times to keep the businesses up and running.  It comes down to supply and demand, basically.  The fewer manufacturers there are in NZ, the more they can charge and therefore the appeal of going offshore becomes greater.