Gift of vest to Bieber pays off for NZ fashion firm

Political reporter·NZ Herald·

14 Aug, 2012 05:30 PM2 mins to read

Justin Bieber was given the singlet while on tour last month with girlfriend Selena Gomez. Photo / ZM

A Kiwi clothing label took a chance when it got a radio host to thrust one of its singlets into Justin Bieber's hands while he was in New Zealand.

But the cheeky move has paid off - the teenage pop sensation has been snapped wearing the New Zealand-emblazoned singlet while out strolling in California.

And Jamstreet, the two-week-old company behind the stunt, is stoked.

"It's one of those things that gives you a bit of a surprise and you go, 'really?'," co-founder and designer Rob Fisher said.

Jamstreet was officially launched two weeks ago, but when Bieber was in New Zealand on a promotional tour last month the three founders got ZM host Polly Gillespie to give the singer the singlet, with "New Zealand" across the front and "Aotearoa" on the back during a face-to-face interview.

Yesterday, Mr Fisher was called by his excited business partner who told him Twitter had erupted with the news that Bieber had been photographed wearing their obviously Kiwi gear.

"He said to me, 'Bro, we've done it.' And I said, 'Done what?' And he said, 'He's wearing it.' And I said, 'Well who man? Tell me.'

"Then he said, 'Justin Bieber's wearing our singlet - it's all over Twitter."'

But they were just as excited that the 18-year-old star was representing "our small country" by wearing something so identifiable.

In the first five or six hours since the pictures of Bieber in the singlet emerged online, the Jamstreet website had more than 1000 unique viewers.

Mr Fisher and two mates started the clothing company after noticing a distinct lack of New Zealand basketball shirts on the market.

"We were tired of wearing all the foreign shirts that everyone else was wearing, like the Chicago Bulls singlets ... but the problem is you're always wearing other countries or other cities.