Fabric, zips, buttons are harder to get - what will designers do?

Custom fabrics and inventively used zippers all hang in Zambesi’s Auckland workroom, where the famous archive records both the brand’s history and that of New Zealand’s manufacturing resources.

There are acid-washed garments and bleach-splashed T-shirts, “treatments we have experimented with over the years,” explains designer Elisabeth Findlay, holding up a piece stitched before being overdyed.

“This was created by Miro, a company we worked with, based in Wellington as I remember. They were just amazing to collaborate with.”

Some treatments and finishes aren’t as easy to do on-shore these days. The local industry has seen closures due to myriad reasons (retiring owners, rising costs and competition, declining demand).

The brand’s signature 'Zambesi' pattern was a way to update archival textiles for new collections, screenprinting on whole rolls. But after the local business they relied on closed, doing that now would mean sending the fabric across the Tasman.

“There is no doubt that losing providers that offer special processes and skills in this environment will have an impact on local manufacturing,” explains Findlay. “The current shift definitely poses multiple challenges for us. Sourcing is getting more difficult. Finding the people and processes we need locally is getting more difficult.”

Some components are becoming less convenient for designers to access; in March, YKK, the world’s largest zipper manufacturer, stopped producing here. “The apparel manufacturing industry in New Zealand has been experiencing a decline in demand due to stagnant consumer spending and the surge of lower-cost products from overseas,” a spokesperson said.

It presents a frustrating snag for Wellington-based designer Julia Palm.

“With items like zips no longer made in New Zealand and lead times of three to four weeks to source them offshore, I’m increasingly having to factor in hardware and fabric limitations from the very beginning.”

She’s had to adjust patterns, change suppliers and replace fabrics for her label JPalm. Amidst increased instability, production costs are also rising sharply. “I totally understand that we’re all just trying to survive in a tough industry, but the financial pressure is intense.”

Wholesalers Wall Fabrics have worked with most New Zealand labels during their 30 years in business, but fewer are manufacturing locally.

“Designers and makers in our country have had an incredibly hard past 12 months,” says sales manager Vitaliy Sudoplatov. Increased living costs, cost of materials, freight and exchange rates make even the smallest businesses struggle to turn a profit.

Current challenges are “almost too many to name” and things looked different a decade earlier. “Back then (which relatively speaking isn’t that long ago) we had ample merino fabric knitted in Ōtara, dyers who could dye custom colour fabrics for local designers, fabric pleaters, textile launderers, enzyme washing, fabric printing. 95 percent of these businesses don’t exist today.”

The closure of North Shore Dyers in 2021 was a blow to designers who relied on it for custom colours, garment washing and finishes.

“These specialists have had a declining drop in work for years and have unfortunately had to either close or stop offering these services,” explains Glenn Yungnickel, who co-owns Nickel and Young, a business specialising in attachments and tools.

Their clients (some have been in business over 30 years) tell them it’s never been this bad. Brands are producing fewer units and shifting manufacturing offshore.

“This, as well as label closures and liquidations, have hugely affected our business.”

Exact numbers for how many labels or manufacturers have closed are hard to quantify.

“MBIE does not have specific statistics around fashion or apparel businesses closing,” Diana Loughnan, the organisation’s Director Business and Consumer, told RNZ.

Though designer labels are the visible part of the chain, they’re the tip of an iceberg that includes businesses specialising in patternmaking, cutting, fabric wholesale, buttons and fastenings, fusing, CMT (cut, make and trim manufacturing), pressing and more.

Auckland’s Hawes & Freer supplies high-end textiles, exclusive bridal lace, componentry, fusing, linings and tools, and manager Jill Brogan-Lees says they’ve seen a “massive swing” to bridal in recent years.

“The fashion pool is shrinking. That’s the hard part, catering for a market that’s shrinking, but still maintaining our variety and quality product.” With minimums increasing, meeting the numbers required by offshore suppliers is a challenge, and impacts the on-the-shelf variety they can offer.

Supply isn’t the biggest problem.

“It’s the end part - sales. The customers we used to have, the quantity has dropped off of who we used to sell to as companies close up or go under, or to survive they’re changing the way they’re doing things.”

Zips alone are hugely varied and designer demand is hard to predict.

“The current stock level of zips we have now, once sold, we will reassess if we will carry any stock in certain colours e.g. black and white,” says Brogan-Lees, gesturing at all the boxes, explaining the business shifting to focus on order-only for that category.

Freight is a big cost, particularly for any specially sourced textiles. Bespoke fabrics can be ordered too, but some, like one France-based producer, require 100-roll orders, out of reach for most local brands. “We have huge minimums that we have to purchase, particularly in cloth,” she explains, and this affects the range and volume they can order.

“Where people are expecting to see things sitting on the shelf when they want it, it might not be there the next time they come.”

Customisable components include their covered button service. “It’s quite involved, and I don’t think people appreciate that. Because it’s handmade.”

Corozo nut buttons can be dyed, but that’s getting harder to do. “Arthur Rowe, just down the back from us, a very old company, they’re one of the last [button] dyers left.”

Hawes & Freer has been going since 1922, while Arthur N Rowe, which trades in haberdashery and notions, has been trading for 76 years. They’re among specialty businesses dotted around Auckland and still servicing the industry; Charles Parsons, John Rainger Textiles and Frost Textiles wholesale fabric, General Products Ltd manufactures bias binding, and Savant Pacific supplies buttons, buckles and more.

The role of the supplier is important to the ecosystem.

“They’re also huge supporters of the industry and emerging designers,” says Findlay, because they put in considerable effort to offer high-quality, interesting materials and components.

While "there’s still cool stuff out there,” it requires time and effort to seek it out.

A hands-on approach is shared by the new generation of designers. JPalm’s bleach-splattered denim pieces have become a signature for the brand, and many small labels are finding innovative ways to create unique fabrics: hand dying, screen-printing and upcycling.

“It’s a great way to learn,” Findlay says, something local brands have always had to embrace, given our size and location.

“We’ve been around for 46 years, and there’s always been constant change and constant challenges.”.

The New Zealand market is small and always has been - “that’s what people forget.”

While our low population is an ongoing challenge, it also yields a surplus of talent and passion.

“That’s always been an encouraging thing. This country has great freedom to explore and to express.”