Mike Hosking: WORLD should just say sorry for T-shirt saga and move on

Opinion

So is the red and white striped strawberry T-shirt going to be the undoing of the WORLD fashion brand? I doubt it.

It'll probably be done by Thursday but for now it's a good story if only for the fact that the owners of WORLD have made such a big deal about their supply chain.

And this is in direct contrast to that shabby little Tearfund opt-in survey the other day where they tried to make a big deal of companies that didn't even take part.

Now if you have missed it, WORLD has 'Made in New Zealand' labels, and Made in New Zealand is a big deal for them.

It would appear the aforementioned T-shirt isn't made in New Zealand.

The response from WORLD is that the bulk of their stuff says Made in New Zealand but this isn't and therefore doesn't say it.

There's also the slightly dodgy aspect of the labelling. There is a Made in New Zealand label on the T-shirt, because some of it is, but the label that states that it isn't made in New Zealand is allegedly hard to find, but is never the less on the garment.

Now the worst thing you can be in a situation like this is a hypocrite. Don't make a big deal of something if you're going to get sprung not being true to your word.

The owners of WORLD have spoken openly and passionately about supply chains and kids making clothes, and as such have attached to their brand this statement of local authenticity.

And once you've done that, it's your point of difference and the argument is that the patron who prizes this sort of approach will support your brand.
And brand loyalty is built through moves just like this.

Icebreaker, the Jeremy Moon company that was sold recently to the Americans for $288 million is big on this. The same way the heavyweight labels at the high end of fashion make much of the fact their garments are made in Italy or France.

And you will note that names like Armani or Calvin Klein, which are very big producers, make their labels very clear. You can buy a top level Armani work made in Italy, but the price will be very different to the T-shirt which will have been made in anywhere from Bangladesh, to Portugal, to eastern Europe.

But back to WORLD, does the fact the label is there if you look for it, cover the non-made in New Zealand claim? At a stretch I would think so.

Thus I am not quite seeing the scandal others want to. To be fair it's not a good look, it's not consistent and the smart operator having made such a noise in the first place might have been wise to bend over backwards to make sure this sort of thing never crossed your doorstep.

The reaction, which should have been a straight up and down apology, instead was an aggressive little number involving the words "tall poppy syndrome". So the hole dug with the label, was made bigger with the reaction.

But as I say let's see if were still dealing with this in 48 hours.