A possum on hand worth more than two in the bush

Greg Howard shows off a salted possum pelt ready to be tanned and the end product that is winning favour world-wide. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Possums may be a pest to the environment but they make a great addition to a game of golf.

That discovery is proving to be profitable for Waikanae company Planet Green, which has just had its possum leather golf gloves picked up by United States golf label SMT, meaning they will be sold in 24 countries.

From that deal alone, Planet Green is expecting to sell 20,000 pairs a month, but deals with four other global brands to be tied up soon should see the company selling up to 100,000 a month by the end of next year.

Company owner Greg Howard made his first glove from 100 per cent possum leather in 1999 but spent the next two years improving its grip.

The gloves, which boast superior durability and water resistance, sell locally under the True Grip label and retail for between $25 and $30.

Howard had a stroke of luck at the Berwick Open in Canada last Christmas, where the glove was trialled by 10 of the world's best players.

It passed with flying colours during the rainy tournament.

This led to the deal with SMT, which has branded the glove as the first to have a lifetime warranty and will start selling it under its own label this month.

A part-time golfer and stonemason by trade, Howard first saw the opportunity to make the gloves while doing consultancy work for the Government on the possum fur export market in the early 1990s.

The gloves are made in Indonesia, which frees him up to look after marketing and product development.

The business has been largely self-financed, although he has had one private investor from the US.

Although the number of possums in New Zealand is estimated to be 90 million, a bottleneck in the supply of skins could affect the volume of gloves Howard expects the company to produce in the next year.

True Grip also made sailing gloves for the America's Cup and Howard sees the potential for horse-riding and motorcycling gloves.