What Does A 120-Year-Old Sportswear Brand Look Like Now?
Inside Canterbury Of New Zealand’s Icon-Building Business
Models Coven and Michelle from N Model Management wear Canterbury of New Zealand Harlequin jerseys. Michelle wears Twenty-seven Names trousers, Silk & Steel earrings. Coven wears Levi’s jeans. Fashion director / Dan Ahwa. Hair, makeup and grooming / Shirley Simpson using Aleph. Photo / Babiche Martens
New Zealand’s roster of heritage brands is few and far between, but only one can lay claim to dressing the first Māori Battalion, rugby legend Jonah Lomu and Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother in one breath.
The clothing brand has infiltrated the wardrobes of generations of Kiwis with an omnipresence that has influenced the way we dress for decades. The first item manufactured by Canterbury was a pair of woollen undergarments. Not long after, it was work socks and black cardigans. At one point, it was kilometres of khaki-coloured textiles fashioned into Army fatigues during World War I. It is, of course, a brand synonymous with dressing our national sport, and if patriotic pride looked like an item of clothing, a Canterbury rugby jersey would be the most obvious contender.
Perhaps you’re one of millions of New Zealanders over the years whose first introduction to Saturday sports was via rugby, netball or cricket. Whatever it was, slipping into your first sports uniform (most likely made by Canterbury) no doubt remains a familiar childhood rite of passage.
“I grew up in Christchurch, so Canterbury was just what you wore,” says Canterbury’s senior marketing manager, Juliet McInnes, as we catch up at brand headquarters, tucked away in a quiet cul-de-sac in the Auckland suburb of Avondale. Reflected in the boardroom’s glass windows is a sign from the entrance that reads: “We exist for the people to unite and inspire positive action within our communities.” It’s the kind of phrase you might find on a plaque at a local community hall or rugby club. The brand is fluent in communicating with our heartland communities, small towns and regions where even some of our best-known clothing brands have failed to make authentic connections.
“My memory was playing netball and wearing our Canterbury-branded tracksuits,” says Juliet. “The ‘Stadium’ pants (the brand’s staple tracksuit bottoms) were interesting. There was this feeling of belonging in a group, that we’re all from Canterbury. The boarders at our school and the Southland guys loved to wear . . . ‘rugby jerseys’, ‘Harlequin jerseys’ and the Canterbury stubbies shorts, ‘Harlequin shorts’. That was their weekend uniform.”
A pair of classic Canterbury of New Zealand rugby 'stubbies' has become a staple wardrobe item for countless Kiwi's.
It’s a sentiment also shared in my recent conversations with broadcaster and radio host Toni Street. “When I developed my own personal style, I was influenced by sports. I loved a Canterbury rugby jersey, Canterbury pants, tearaways and my Charlotte Hornets NBA jacket.”
Global marketing manager AJ Moriarty, sitting next to Juliet, nods in agreement. “Every second person on the street will have some type of personal memory of wearing the brand,” he says. “Wearing Canterbury headgear or the rugby jerseys with the loop collar, those are iconic connections and memories that I certainly remember as a kid playing sports.”
So second skin is the experience of slipping into one of the brand’s cotton rugby jerseys with their distinctive white contrasting cotton drill collars, they — like most garments we can’t live without — often fade into a familiar loucheness we can’t seem to part with.
In the 1970s, Canterbury began exporting its rugby jerseys globally to Britain and Japan. Its distinctive “Uglies” collection of jerseys, made up of patchwork fabric remnants from team sports kits, was also born during this era. Today, it’s not unusual to see how ubiquitous its diverse collection of rugby jerseys has become, whether worn by workers on a job site, farmers in our most rural towns, or hip young things on the streets of Tokyo or New York.
By the 1980s, when the positioning statement “the world’s toughest activewear” was instigated, it reaffirmed Canterbury’s expertise as highly functional activewear that everyday New Zealanders could also enjoy wearing.
But nostalgia has to evolve. Now relegated to everyday wear, those iconic rugby jerseys are no longer worn by our elite players. Since 2007, they’ve been replaced by skin-tight, performance-enhancing rugby kits.
To help reassert its evolution as a premium performance gear maker, Canterbury recently tapped All Black and World Rugby 2023 Breakthrough Player of the Year, Mark Tele’a, with their newest innovation, the Speed boot, as an ambassador. His role in the brand’s 120th anniversary film directed by award-winning filmmaker Tom Gould is symbolic of Canterbury’s sharp eye on the future. “Being able to partner with someone like Mark as an ambassador and values, of which are aligned to the brand, is a sustainable and unique celebration for us to have,” says Moriarty. “He’s going to carry us into the next 120 years.”
Despite ending its 80-year contract producing the All Blacks uniform in 1999 (by which point Adidas took over), Canterbury still wears its association with dressing our national sport like a badge of honour.
All Black Mark Tale'a stars in the brand's new campaign. Photo / Tom Gould
All Black Mark Tale'a stars in the brand's new campaign. Photo / Tom Gould
To help reassert its evolution as a premium performance gear maker, Canterbury recently tapped All Black and World Rugby 2023 Breakthrough Player of the Year, Mark Tele’a, with their newest innovation, the Speed boot, as an ambassador. His role in the brand’s 120th anniversary film directed by award-winning filmmaker Tom Gould is symbolic of Canterbury’s sharp eye on the future. “Being able to partner with someone like Mark as an ambassador and values, of which are aligned to the brand, is a sustainable and unique celebration for us to have,” says Moriarty. “He’s going to carry us into the next 120 years.”
Despite ending its 80-year contract producing the All Blacks uniform in 1999 (by which point Adidas took over), Canterbury still wears its association with dressing our national sport like a badge of honour.
Left, Mike Brewer.
Founded by three English immigrants, John Lane, Pringle Walker and Alfred Rudkin in 1904 and named as a homage to their beloved hometown, Canterbury’s founding forefathers are immortalised in its distinctive logo — the profile of three Kiwis integrating into three “Cs” was created in 1982. This provided a universal shortcut that represented excellence, an identifiable marker of New Zealand quality.
“Canterbury was regarded especially in those days as one of New Zealand’s premium brands alongside the likes of Air New Zealand and the All Blacks,” says Mike Brewer, a former All Black who played between 1986 and1995 before working as Canterbury’s marketing manager for New Zealand in 1992.
“When I was an All Black, it was more about the black jersey and the legacy that came with the team than the brand,” says Mike. “The manufacturer’s brand wasn’t even on the jersey in those days of amateur sports. In my time it changed between Adidas and Canterbury as Lane Walker Rudkin (LWR) owned the brand and had the rights to Adidas in New Zealand during that period. I told the Lane Walker Rudkin board that I could convince the New Zealand Rugby Football Union to include the CCC brand on the jersey as we neared professionalism. I got it across the line,” remembers Mike.
In 2009, British sportswear retail behemoth JD Sports paid £6.5 million ($16.5m) cash for Canterbury after weeks of speculation about its future post-GFC. Since 2012, the company has been owned by UK-based Pentland Brands (which now has a majority stake in JD sports), home of some of the world’s biggest sports, outdoor and lifestyle brands including Ellesse, Speedo, Endura, Mitre and Berghaus. The business hub offers the kind of centralised resource network that allows it to compete on a global scale. “Things as basic as an insights team help tremendously when you’ve got various markets to decipher,” says Juliet.
But home is where the heart is, says AJ, who speaks passionately and personally about the business and what it represents for generations of Kiwis. “Reliability is almost like a trust metric for people now. It’s unspoken. When people think about the brand of Canterbury’s hard-wearing, long-lasting quality,
Above, Mike Brewer.
Founded by three English immigrants, John Lane, Pringle Walker and Alfred Rudkin in 1904 and named as a homage to their beloved hometown, Canterbury’s founding forefathers are immortalised in its distinctive logo — the profile of three Kiwis integrating into three “Cs” was created in 1982. This provided a universal shortcut that represented excellence, an identifiable marker of New Zealand quality.
“Canterbury was regarded especially in those days as one of New Zealand’s premium brands alongside the likes of Air New Zealand and the All Blacks,” says Mike Brewer, a former All Black who played between 1986 and1995 before working as Canterbury’s marketing manager for New Zealand in 1992.
“When I was an All Black, it was more about the black jersey and the legacy that came with the team than the brand,” says Mike. “The manufacturer’s brand wasn’t even on the jersey in those days of amateur sports. In my time it changed between Adidas and Canterbury as Lane Walker Rudkin (LWR) owned the brand and had the rights to Adidas in New Zealand during that period. I told the Lane Walker Rudkin board that I could convince the New Zealand Rugby Football Union to include the CCC brand on the jersey as we neared professionalism. I got it across the line,” remembers Mike.
In 2009, British sportswear retail behemoth JD Sports paid £6.5 million ($16.5m) cash for Canterbury after weeks of speculation about its future post-GFC. Since 2012, the company has been owned by UK-based Pentland Brands (which now has a majority stake in JD sports), home of some of the world’s biggest sports, outdoor and lifestyle brands including Ellesse, Speedo, Endura, Mitre and Berghaus. The business hub offers the kind of centralised resource network that allows it to compete on a global scale. “Things as basic as an insights team help tremendously when you’ve got various markets to decipher,” says Juliet.
But home is where the heart is, says AJ, who speaks passionately and personally about the business and what it represents for generations of Kiwis. “Reliability is almost like a trust metric for people now. It’s unspoken. When people think about the brand of Canterbury’s hard-wearing, long-lasting quality,
For Tom Gould, the film offers a reflection point for understanding the influence not only of rugby but also of league and sailing. Like most of Tom’s work in deciphering heritage brands, shooting for the likes of Polo Ralph Lauren and Timberland, it’s beyond sports too. It’s a gateway to the wider discourse around understanding our identity.
Photo / Tom Gould
“I wanted to take people back to the beginning and remind people this was a brand that began outfitting our war heroes through times of war, to then outfitting our sporting heroes on land and ocean. Reliving that precious footage of the Māori Battalion arriving home wearing uniforms made by Canterbury (Lane Walker Rudkin), to Jonah Lomu in his first All Blacks try or Mal Meninga holding the Winfield Cup. All of these moments spark memories for people that take you back to a time in your life. I wanted to ignite that feeling for people again.”
Photo / Tom Gould
Featuring stories within stories, the film is a montage of nostalgia. There’s the mother and daughter on a farm, sitting inside their ute on a rainy night listening to former league star Sean Hoppe scoring a euphoric try, before cutting to Tele’a racing across the dunes of Bethells Beach. There’s a slow-motion scene of Sir Michael Jones standing in the glow of light filtering through a church window that segues to archival footage of the Māori Battalion. There is the kaumatua and his three grandsons performing the haka on a rugby field at Maramarua Rugby Club, intercut and in sync with archival haka performances from the likes of league players Tawera Nikau and Steve Kearney.
Photo / Tom Gould
“Aside from the sporting aspect, it was equally important to represent the people on the ground who have championed the brand through the years,” explains Tom. “I wanted to pay homage to the everyday farmer, the young sporty kid, and then to the older generation who had been there since the early days. It was important to show people from all different backgrounds and generations to highlight just how loved this brand has been.”
Photo / Tom Gould
Photo / Tom Gould
For Tom Gould, the film offers a reflection point for understanding the influence not only of rugby but also of league and sailing. Like most of Tom’s work in deciphering heritage brands, shooting for the likes of Polo Ralph Lauren and Timberland, it’s beyond sports too. It’s a gateway to the wider discourse around understanding our identity.
Photo / Tom Gould
“I wanted to take people back to the beginning and remind people this was a brand that began outfitting our war heroes through times of war, to then outfitting our sporting heroes on land and ocean. Reliving that precious footage of the Māori Battalion arriving home wearing uniforms made by Canterbury (Lane Walker Rudkin), to Jonah Lomu in his first All Blacks try or Mal Meninga holding the Winfield Cup. All of these moments spark memories for people that take you back to a time in your life. I wanted to ignite that feeling for people again.”
Photo / Tom Gould
Featuring stories within stories, the film is a montage of nostalgia. There’s the mother and daughter on a farm, sitting inside their ute on a rainy night listening to former league star Sean Hoppe scoring a euphoric try, before cutting to Tele’a racing across the dunes of Bethells Beach. There’s a slow-motion scene of Sir Michael Jones standing in the glow of light filtering through a church window that segues to archival footage of the Māori Battalion. There is the kaumatua and his three grandsons performing the haka on a rugby field at Maramarua Rugby Club, intercut and in sync with archival haka performances from the likes of league players Tawera Nikau and Steve Kearney.
Photo / Tom Gould
“Aside from the sporting aspect, it was equally important to represent the people on the ground who have championed the brand through the years,” explains Tom. “I wanted to pay homage to the everyday farmer, the young sporty kid, and then to the older generation who had been there since the early days. It was important to show people from all different backgrounds and generations to highlight just how loved this brand has been.”
A tonic to the rugby and league nostalgia, the brand’s prolific support of our sailing teams is also documented, with footage of Sir Peter Blake leading Team New Zealand to America’s Cup victory in 1995 and 2000. His daughter, artist Sarah-Jane, along with Sir Peter’s charity Blake, were integral to granting Canterbury approval of the revered sailor’s image and story.
Above: Sir Peter Blake with his family. Photo / Blake Foundation
“Dad’s favourite Canterbury item was probably the green, white and red rugby-style Steinlager-sponsored jerseys,” says Sarah-Jane. “These were symbolic of him and the team winning all six legs of the Whitbread Round The World Race in 1989-1990, and the final trophy on his fifth attempt of that race. I was only 2 years old when I sailed on Lion New Zealand on her delivery trip to England for the start of the 1985-1986 Whitbread Race. I remember the feeling of team spirit and unity — even as kids, wearing the team uniform.”
Independent streetwear brands Arcade, Checks, and Def have all lent their unique design codes to their respective Canterbury of New Zealand collaborations.
These days, Canterbury of New Zealand has continued to build on its diversification. While some regions like the UK view Canterbury as purely a performance rugby brand, recent collaborations and lifestyle categories allow it to be viewed as much more.
A focus on more “lifestyle” pieces — in fashion parlance this includes everyday casual wardrobe items of mostly track pants, hoodies and jumpers — allows the brand to appeal to its growing female customer base, and a new generation breaking down traditional notions of New Zealand masculinity. Recent local collaborations with smaller, more progressively designed streetwear brands such as Checks Downtown, DEF and Arcade have helped usher in renewed interest with a younger audience outside of Canterbury’s performance categories.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have some awesome friends of the brand that can see us in different ways,” says AJ. “They have their network and customers, so partnering with them enables us to connect and tell that brand story in a new light.”
A scan of a Canterbury Instagram fan account @Theworldstoughest displays the sort of nostalgia trip resonating with younger demographics, highlighting some of the brand’s surprisingly random pop-cultural cameos and collaborations over the years. In 2009 a collaboration with defunct cult shoe brand The Alife Rivington Club felt ahead of its time. “If you had dialled this up now, it would be an amazing opportunity,” says AJ. Elsewhere on the account, images of the distinctive CCC rugby shirts being worn by American sitcom stars John Goodman on Rosanne and Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother provides another niche snapshot of the brand’s wide reach.
“When you’ve got so many different versions of the brand it’s great, but we also need to be aware of how we make those connections with the critical mass,” says AJ. “How do we connect with a global Canterbury consumer going forward?”
Like most businesses looking to attract the fickle attention of the Gen-Z market, part of Canterbury’s longevity and staying power is knowing how to effectively communicate its heritage to a new generation, and leaning into its role as the elder statesman of the sportswear community.
“For a lot of the younger demographic that we are trying to engage with, they aren’t aware of our connection with the Māori Battalion, the Anzacs or Sir Peter Blake,” says AJ. “The opportunity that this brought about as far as putting our flag in the ground with this level of history — we can proudly say no one else has done that.”
Jonah Lomu and Robin Williams. Photo / @Theworldstoughest
Jonah Lomu and Robin Williams. Photo / @Theworldstoughest
A scan of a Canterbury Instagram fan account @Theworldstoughest displays the sort of nostalgia trip resonating with younger demographics, highlighting some of the brand’s surprisingly random pop-cultural cameos and collaborations over the years. In 2009 a collaboration with defunct cult shoe brand The Alife Rivington Club felt ahead of its time. “If you had dialled this up now, it would be an amazing opportunity,” says AJ. Elsewhere on the account, images of the distinctive CCC rugby shirts being worn by American sitcom stars John Goodman on Rosanne and Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother provides another niche snapshot of the brand’s wide reach.
“When you’ve got so many different versions of the brand it’s great, but we also need to be aware of how we make those connections with the critical mass,” says AJ. “How do we connect with a global Canterbury consumer going forward?”
Like most businesses looking to attract the fickle attention of the Gen-Z market, part of Canterbury’s longevity and staying power is knowing how to effectively communicate its heritage to a new generation, and leaning into its role as the elder statesman of the sportswear community.
“For a lot of the younger demographic that we are trying to engage with, they aren’t aware of our connection with the Māori Battalion, the Anzacs or Sir Peter Blake,” says AJ. “The opportunity that this brought about as far as putting our flag in the ground with this level of history — we can proudly say no one else has done that.”
Jonah Lomu's wife Nadene with her two sons Dhyreille and Brayley. Photo / Dean Purcell
It’s a legacy the late All Black legend Jonah Lomu is part of, one that is now being shared with sons Dhyreille (13) and Brayley (15). “It’s been a bit of an emotional process,” says Lomu’s wife Nadene, who was part of the approval process for both the film featuring archival footage of Jonah, and a special commemorative mural painted at the brand’s headquarters featuring the holy trinity — Jonah, Peter Blake and Michael Jones — as large-scale, lifelike portraits by artists Charles and Janine Williams.
“Any time when Jonah is involved it’s always an emotional journey for us,” says Nadene when we meet at the mural’s unveiling in April. “Even though we’re nearing the nine-year mark since Jonah’s passing, it doesn’t feel like it. The way I keep up with these emotions is by seeing the growth of my children.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Jonah’s wife.
“Sharing this with my children now has been amazing, along with remembering the people and the brands that were there to support you in those early years. To be able to come full circle and to now stand here with our children who are not far off from the age Jonah was when he started playing rugby is special.”
The Lomu boys pose for photos with Nadene in front of their dad rendered in black and white paint, proudly towering over them wearing a black Canterbury rugby jersey with a white collar. New Zealand Herald photographer Dean Purcell takes their photos and tells Nadene how he remembers taking photos of Jonah when he was just a young up-and-comer playing club rugby all those years ago. The emotional full-circle moment is a telling example of Canterbury’s ability to connect people — past, present and future.
“Times are changing, of course, but I feel that pride in our unique way of life down here will always be relevant and hold a special place for everyone,” says Tom, whose film captures the mana imbued in Canterbury’s time capsule of memories.
“The key is sharing that pride and history with younger generations so they too can understand and embrace the story of Canterbury. For me, it was like a uniform. Every weekend we would be putting on a jersey with the three Cs on it. That rubber button, that famous logo, that heavy collar — all these things bring back memories of my childhood and a colourful time in sportswear. It was a brand that was made in New Zealand and a brand we saw our heroes wearing, so that made it special for us — it felt like ours.”
Words | Dan Ahwa
Digital Design | Laura Hutchins
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