Is any gear made in NZ anymore?

Cactus, but their tramping gear is limited largely to packs. I think Earth Sea Sky are still NZ made.... some of their prices reflect that. I've had a pair of their rocket salopettes for years. Reliable & well made. David Ellis was involved with Fairydown of Arthur Ellis fame.

Where does Aarn manufacture?

Swazi. If we're talking clothing.

Aarn is mostly made in Asia. WearOnEarth makes down Jackets locally, EarthSeaSky has a big range of traditional NZ tramping gear, Cactus has some packs/clothing suitable for tramping, K2 make packs locally, Twinneedle makes some packs ect. Some of Chalkydigits clothing range is suitable Swazi for hunt wear. Some of Domex premium sleeping bags might still be locally made, might be old stock.

I wonder if anyone agrees with me... I find the criticism of Macpac (and to some degree, Kathmandu) unfair. A quick google search will find the decision to move Macpac's manufacturing offshore - to ensure the brand survived, was not made lightly. My newish microlight and replacement Cascade pack certainly appear fit for purpose, as with most of their high end gear. Their production line is probably not as thorough as a high end brand like Arcterex, but when on special, I think a reasonable price. Cactus is a great example of a niche company sticking to their values, while still earning a living. It's awesome what they do, but lets think about it objectively - $700 for a pack albeit durable, that weighs over 3kg, in the 21st century? Contacting Macpac's head office in Ferrymead for after sales support is still the best I've come across in Christchurch. There are plenty of New Zealand made brands with fair prices considering their overheads, however Macpac / Kathmandu still have their place.

Macpac and Katmandu do make some very good gear. It does seem to be a little pricier though unless on clearance although both do massive sales which bring the price almost in line with other brands. I have a nice Macpac pac and the wife has a Katmandu pack that fits her perfectly. The problem with both though is that they also sell stuff that is not suitable and the salesman that only works there when a sale is on has no idea. They will happily convince you a cotton hoody and cross trainers is fine for a spring Tongarero Crossingas the hood will keep you nice and warm. Really you should be 2 shelves over looking at the real gear

if you have a big operation, you need to keep selling a large amount of gear to make money, to do that you have to keep overheads and prices down , kathmandu have taken a large share of the market and keep their overheads down by moving production to asia... macpac followed suit for the same reason. if you want to buy NZ made you're going to have to pay a premium for it because of the smaller less efficient production and higher labour costs

A lot of what Kathmandu, and to a lesser degree Macpac stock is not tramping gear, but street and travel gear. If you look at their stuff designed for tramping, then it is actually quite decent and not bad value when heavily discounted. As a company, I would have more time for Kathmandu if they lower there every day prices by 30%, just to make their sales /discounting less obscene.

Gear I make myself is 'made in NZ'.