Is any gear made in NZ anymore?

I wouldnt say macpac are gimmicky or crap at all. they went through a bad patch. in recent years there's a lot of technical design thats gone into their gear, they are using the latest materials and change the materials to keep up with the latest fabrics... but they are also becoming more like kathmandu making urban street wear as well.. its harder to make the right decision on buying the right gear when you have shops selling such a wide variety of gear, trying to be a one stop shop and a lot of people make bad mistakes in choosing the wrong gear for what they are going to use it for, especially when a lot of shop staff don't have a clue themselves about the limitations of various items that are being sold...

On a case by case basis I don't think Macpac nor Kathmandu are systematically bad. What i find most annoying about the retail model is that it's replaced independence so they can push their own stuff in everyone's faces with less scrutiny . I don't feel as if I can have an honest and useful discussion with retail staff about what they stock and what they don't stock, but maybe could order in. The main purpose of a shop like Macpac or Kathmandu is to sell exactly what its upstream owner manufactures, whether it's the most fit for purpose or not, so there's less reason to assume the retailer might actually have gone to some trouble to stock products they believe are genuinely worthwhile. I guess that's the way things are going as international brands began creeping into the country. The major local manufacturers had to find a new business model. Part of that involved forcing themselves into direct competition with independent retailers in a market that was too small to support everyone, but to be fair many of those retailers would have struggled with internet competition anyway. Instead, there's a stronger obligation on me to find objective information elsewhere.

One comment on the Katmandu marketing is that they have completely taken one market segment. Every teenage girl has to have a black Katmandu down jacket. They were them all year round even in the rain

I believe Kiwi Camping makes their gear in NZ too. Obviously a little bit on the heavy side for people used to high tech US material.

Kiwi Camping is just a brand name. Its all supplied to the best price

Ground Effect clothing and gear is made in NZ too. Funny how most of these NZ made operations are based in Chch; Wear on Earth, Cactus, ESS, Ground Effect...

And Twin Needle in CHCH, they make great gear too. Limited but made to last.

I haven't heard of these Christchurch-based outfits. What does each one specialise in?

Wear on Earth do custom down jackets and vest and I think even pied elephantes too. That's Blair Jacobs' business with Clare Cosson as the designer. Ground Effect do cycling clothing. It used to be lighter than a lot of tramping clothing so was a good option for lightweight trampers and people keen to buy gear made in NZ. Cactus do hard-wearing, resilient gear for occupations that are rough on clothing e.g. the building industry and also outdoor gear such as packs. They have a lot of stuff in black. ESS do very good quality outdoor gear and also some very attractive street clothing. Their stuff is expensive so the locals only by it when it's on sale which fortunately is for a month each year. I consider their gear to be the best quality in NZ for me anyway... Twin Needle make a lot of stuff for hunters such as little cases for ammo. They will also make custom packs for people so they can either minimise or maximise features. And of course they will recondition sleeping bags by cleaning and adding extra down. They do repairs using old machines from the Macpac factory. They were started up by former employees.

Cheers Honora. I will definitely look into a couple of those companies and their products.