Cactus Outdoor last week acquired Albion Clothing Limited in a move that will enable the retailer to keep manufacturing its workwear range locally.
Albion Clothing is one of the few remaining large-scale apparel manufacturers in New Zealand, Cactus Outdoor noted in a statement, and will give the company the scope to scale its own operation.
“We have, over the past 25-plus years, been staunch advocates of local manufacturing and maintained our local focus in spite of the reducing size of the domestic apparel sector,” Ben Kepes, majority shareholder and director of Cactus Outdoor, said in a statement.
“We have always believed that market trends, technological developments and a consumer focus on provenance means that a brand can successfully retain domestic manufacturing.
This acquisition gives Cactus the scope to scale its own operation, and we are also proud to offer contract manufacturing services to other brands that want to offer their own customers a locally sourced, ethically produced and high-quality product.”
The demand for locally and ethically manufactured apparel is huge, Cactus Outdoor said, and the business has already had significant interest from other brands looking to return all or part of their manufacturing here.
Ryan Jennings, executive director of Buy NZ Made called the acquisition a “clear win for New Zealand”.
“The acquisition of one Kiwi brand by another and the successful retention of domestic manufacturing shows what’s possible when businesses collaborate in hyper-competitive industries,” Jennings said.
Cactus said it plans to transform Albion into a modern, automated and connected facility that combines the best aspects of hand-made, artisanal products with the benefits of technology, citing a recently installed robotic fabric cutter is an example of this.
