Whats up with Macpac

Should of done a proper google search before asking. Here is the stuff article. http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4384235a6430.html

ok. To summarise. Jan Cameron brought fairydown last year, then sold it to "Mouton Noir" which set up a chain of retail stores. Recently "Mouton Noir" brought Macpac and is going to sell both "Macpac" and "fairydown" products through their stores.... This brings up a question. What does this mean for the quality of Macpac gear. Before the purchase the quality of Fairydown seem to be in decline, so the potential of losing a great product was not that high but Macpac has a excellent reputation with good products. We once had two 'strong' NZ brands fighting against each other and hopefully driving innovation and competition. These two giants of the NZ outdoor equipment industry are now combined..... I simply hope that over time these two product lines do not combine and result in a line of mediocre fashion products.... So enough rumbling, Do you think macpac items would continue to maintain their high quality or is it the start of a slow decline for the brand?

I think it is just wait and see. I am told the guys who have bought these brands are young and enthusiastic and plan to continue the development of the brands. I am told there is to be quite some expansion of the chain throughout NZ in the next year, also one of the reasons they wanted MacPac was because of its international reputation. I am also told that all this looks like Jan Cameron is behind it all, though Mouton Noir themselves deny any involvment. In the meantime I went down and scored myself and Olympus Tent for $629, 30% off. Havn't seen that sort discounting of MacPac products before. It is stil the UV30 fabric and still the tried and true Olympus design so it has to be good. Though I see the Torre has gone from the pack range. Just all this crap coverd in zips and buckles now.

I was in one of the fairydown stores last week and notice a bit of generic probably mass produced gear with the 'fairydown' name printed on. I have seen very similar looking products under different brands in New Zealand. It is not gear typically made by fairydown I would add. There is a highly informative thread on this topic over in the huntfish forum http://www.fishnhunt.co.nz/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1202765874 My theory goes they brought Macpac because they realised that they required both brands to get the 'traditional' New Zealand tramper through the door. When they just had fairydown many New Zealanders would simply buy a 'Macpac' product from their favourtie retailer... Now Mouton Noir has control over both of the big NZ brands and if you want a 'NZ designed' Tent/Pack/Bag you really have to shop there or buy a niche product.

hopefully macpac will continue to sell high quality product as they do now, would be a shame to see it disappear, would also be good to see fairydown come back, have not seen much of their product in taranaki lately, both are iconic nz brands and seem to do well overseas also, guess we will just have to wait and see

Fairydown currently only have stores in Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin and Auckland. I hope they get out into the provinces sooner rather then later. Their prices are good and I have brought a Fairydown Gore-tex Jacket on clearance, a fairydown Sleeping Bag which was good value and tramping boots from their store. I buy more from them then most other stores combined lately. I almost brought a Macpac Alpine Cocoon but it was to short and claustrophobic inside.

this morning i went down town in new plymouth to the outdoors shop as i am looking at buying a new macpac cascade tramping pack. i was told they can no longer supply macpac gear and that i would have to go to one of the macpac stores, for me the closest store being in wellington. i cant seem to be able to buy one online either, but i would prefer to buy through a store anyway so i can see and try the product before i buy. the same goes for their 0800 number. it is a shame to see such a well known and trusted brand can no longer be bought outside of the main centres, is macpac forgetting where a lot of their customers come from?,i would have thought if they wanted to sell more product they would make it widely avaliable to everybody and not just through their own stores, or am i missing something?

The MacPac stores will be expanding throughout the country in due course. I have just been in the Wellington shop today and it looks very "Khathmandu-ish" in its style. Lots of imported gear. I see they have just started a mail order division. However MacPac now only exists in name. The previous company that established the name has ceased trading completely. It will take time for MacPac to prove its name again under the new owners.

The details for the mail order can be found on the macpac website. But they do not have prices on their website which is pretty stupid. The fairydown website remains empty which is not very helpful. I remember reading on a Australian forum a few weeks back a 'Mouton Noir' did admit the distribution network would be less comprehensive then before. Many smaller centers would miss out on local macpac gear.