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Workers at a Hawke’s Bay clothing factory say they were blindsided by a decision to close its doors.
The Made It Here factory, which supplies boutique clothing company Kilt, told its staff last month they could no longer afford to keep the factory running.
The news came to the factory’s 14 workers in the form of a powerpoint presentation, at an unexpected meeting on November 7.
One worker called it “a real kick in the guts”, and another said: “Everyone was in shock. They just thought the meeting was about Christmas closures.”
They were told Kilt’s store sales were down - the factory staff were doing a good job, they were just too expensive.
All six workers spoken to by RNZ said the team was asked if they had any suggestions for cutting costs, but they felt the decision to close had already been made.
One said: “Everyone thought restructuring should have been an option first, downsize. And people were happy to take pay cuts, to take reduced hours, but they weren’t interested in that.
“That’s the hurtful thing for us. We weren’t even given the option to downsize or compete with the other CMTs [cut-make-trim suppliers].
Photo / RNZ / Kate Green
The newest employee was hired only three months ago, but others had been there since it opened.
One longtime employee said: “I’ve been loyal to them for years, so it’s a bit of a stab in the back”.
The brand changed hands in 2019, sold by founder Melissa Williams to Victoria Walling and Lauren Hart.
In a statement, Hart said Made It Here had always been one of several CMTs producing Kilt’s clothing - knitwear was made by a supplier in Tauranga, shirts in Hamilton.
Clothing brand Kilt's Napier factory. Photo / RNZ / Kate Green
A tough few years for retail, made worse by the current cost-of-living crisis, had led to a “dramatic drop in demand”.
She said they had explored all the alternatives, including downsizing, but it was not sustainable in the current economic climate.
However, the brand would continue to produce all of its clothing in New Zealand.
Textile industry in NZ faces ‘bleak’ prospects
Buy New Zealand Made executive director Dane Ambler said local manufacturers were slowly disappearing.
“I would say it’s quite bleak out there, for the whole textile industry in New Zealand at the moment. A lot of the businesses we go out to see are the last of their kind in New Zealand.”
As brands turned to off-shore markets to make their products, New Zealand faced losing a skilled workforce, Ambler said.
“It’s definitely a risk, and we’ve seen it over the last 20 years, clothing manufacturers disappearing overseas. But there will always be a niche in New Zealand for that high-end, especially around wool.”
But for one former Made it Here employee, it was not just a job she had lost.
“The only thing that kept me sane, and made me want to go to work, was the girls. The laughing, and everything else. That’s what got me up in the morning.”
She, like the other former employees, said she would likely turn to a different line of work to make ends meet.
