Inside Norsewear’s rural factory keeping a village afloat, one pair of socks at a time

For decades, a classic Kiwi sock brand has provided relief from the big freeze – and economic survival for a small North Island village. Norsewear’s high-profile new owner talked to Neil Reid about buying the company, the decimation of New Zealand’s textile industry, and why entrepreneurs should invest in the regions.

Norsewood blacksmith Jar Menzies-Winson’s response is short, but telling, when asked what would happen to his central North Island village if it lost its iconic woollen goods factory.

“It would be devastating; I couldn’t really describe it any other way,” he told the Herald.

For 61 years, Norsewear has provided the financial lifeblood for the village of about 150 locals.

Located 104km south of Napier, every resident either knows someone who works at - or has worked at - Norsewear.

The fact the company is in its seventh decade and defies what has happened to much of the New Zealand textiles industry. Norsewear’s latest owner Tim Deane - a former Fonterra managing director - says the sector was largely left “destroyed” by market deregulation.

But survival hasn’t been easy, with the company that once supplied Sir Edmund Hillary with socks for one of his famous expeditions having been on “the brink” of closure.

For Menzies-Winson, a Norsewood without Norsewear does not bear thinking about.

Jar Menzies-Winson is a blacksmith based in Norsewood. Photo / Neil Reid

“[It’s presence] is absolutely huge. And the socks are lifesaving ... I swear to you by that. And it [the company] brings most people to town as well.”

Norsewear was founded by a former Norwegian soldier Ola Rian who fell in love with New Zealand after he travelled here in 1960 - a trip during which he became the national ski jumping champion.

He later met and fell in love with a New Zealand woman holidaying in Norway. Ola and Shirley Rian returned to New Zealand and in 1963 launched the company from the lounge of their Wellington home.

Norsewear's new owner Tim Deane says he wants to show that New Zealand textile companies can not just survive, but thrive. Photo / Supplied

Four years later, they moved their life and company, to Norsewood – a village near the foot of the Ruahine ranges which was founded by Norwegian settlers in 1872 and split across SH2 into Upper Norsewood and Lower Norsewood.

The area’s roots are such that it has an annual Viking Festival and celebrates Norway Day. Norway’s national flag flies proudly in the village, as well as other signs on buildings linking back to the Scandinavian heritage.

It even features a Thor St and a Viking St.

‘If you don’t nurture it, you lose it’

Now located in a factory on Hovding St in Lower Norsewood, the company is very much the lifeblood of the village economy.

The combined annual staff bill for the factory is around $1 million.

“Generations of families have come through this place,” Deane said of Norsewear’s importance to the local community.

“But if you don’t nurture it, you lose it.”

The village of Norsewood - 106km south of Napier - is split into two parts, either side of SH2. Photo / Neil Reid

Since taking over last year, Deane has also tried to direct as much business to Hawke’s Bay-owned contractors as possible.

Packaging is now produced by a Napier company. Local engineers, electricians and other tradies are also preferred.

“We try and do as much locally as we can,” Deane said. “We obviously try and employ locally where ... this is building the community. It does make a bit of a difference.”

He said the fact the company was still operating 61 years after its creation was a “testament to the people and the quality of the product”.

Textile industry deregulation, and the accompanying flood of cheaper imports, resulted in the closure of countless New Zealand companies; or saw them move production offshore.

Norsewear's new owner Tim Deane says he wants to solidify the company's New Zealand market before looking to expand exports. Photo / Supplied

By 2007, Norsewear was struggling to survive.

The then owners sold off the factory building, its shop and also the Norsewood brand.

A group of investors – including some staff – kept the company going by buying stock and the knitting machines, rented the factory and also paid a royalty to the brand’s owner to keep production going.

More “bumpy” times were to follow.

Then last year Deane – who has a wealth of business experience in both the food and fibre industries, including export – purchased the company and bought back the full rights to the Norsewood brand.

“Without the efforts of a whole bunch of people over the years, we wouldn’t be here,” he said.

The village of Norsewood proudly displays its roots back to Norwegian settlers in the 19th century. Photo / Neil Reid

“So, for the first time since 2007, for this factory the company and the community around it, we’ve got the brand back,” he said.

‘A lot of people thought we were mad’

Buying Norsewear was a career sea change for Deane and one that surprised some who knew him.

He had previously spent more than 30 years in such high-pressure roles as Goodman Fielder NZ’s general manager, ASB’s business banking executive general manager and Tourism NZ’s general manager of marketing.

Deane also spent more than eight years at dairy giant Fonterra; a tenure that included stints as director of global sales, managing director of Fonterra Brands NZ, and general manager of milk supply.

In October, he was appointed to the board of Rabobank as an independent director.

When asked what former business colleagues thought of his purchase of the company synonymous with winter-beating socks, Deane said: “A lot of people thought we were mad. Why would you leave the security of a good, great corporate career and put everything on the line for this?

The machines at Norsewear are imported from Italy and can produce a pair of socks every seven minutes. Photo / Supplied

“You know, that is a question that sometimes we ask ourselves of course.

“A lot of people just believe what they hear ... that you can’t compete in manufacturing in New Zealand.”

Business, like most other things in life, wasn’t easy, Deane said.

“Until you’ve done it yourself, you don’t realise quite how hard it is.”

A pair of socks per seven minutes

Overcoming challenges, and being involved in a team working towards not just cementing Norsewear’s status but building a bright future, was a huge sense of pride.

The $70,000 Italian machines in the Norsewear factory can produce a pair of socks every seven minutes.

The designs of some of the socks feature thousands of individual lines of code input into the machines.

The sock’s ends must be stitched, with the finished product then quality checked by hand, before being pressed and packaged.

There is no lack of challenges facing Deane.

The machines – which take six months to arrive once they’ve been ordered – need staff with specialist training to operate and maintain.

The machines at Norsewear are imported from Italy and workers need special training to use them. Photo / Supplied

Specialist trade training courses for the apparel and textile businesses ended after New Zealand’s clothing industry was decimated by reforms in the 1990s.

“Where do I get those people from?” Deane said. “I’ve got to train them myself or import them.”

“Now, if you go on to the ITO [Industry Training Organisation] website and have a look at training in apparel, it’s ‘discontinued’, ‘discontinued’, ‘discontinued’, ‘discontinued’.

Norsewear is the major single employer in Norsewood. Photo / Neil Reid

“We’ve basically, as a country, decided that we’re not going to do apparel and then we lament the fact that the wool industry is stuffed. I’m thinking it’s a tragedy.”

How new owner wants to defy ‘old-fashioned thinking’

Norsewear proudly uses New Zealand Merino wool for its products.

But the decimation of the local apparel and textile manufacturing industries in the 1980s and 1990s after Government deregulation means that spun wool must imported back into New Zealand by the company from overseas factories.

Deane says deregulation saw the New Zealand market being “flooded with imports”, which in the process “pretty well destroyed” our industry.

“At the moment I’ve got to buy wool, then it has to be exported and those big factories scour it, turn it into tops, spin it and then I have to then import that spun yarn back again. That infrastructure is no longer here.

“And then I start the manufacturing process.”

Reclaiming the Norsewear brand isn’t the only way Deane and the company’s hard-working staff are turning back the clock.

The then Prince Charles follows a flock of Merino sheep at Moutere Station near Alexandra during his 2005 tour here. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Deane also wants to prove New Zealand is open for business when it comes to textile manufacturing.

He was frustrated by “old-fashioned thinking” that it was no longer feasible.

Deane’s goals are to consolidate Norsewear’s position and then grow it further to cement its future to both boost the local textile industry and the close-knit Norsewood community.

“Because we’ve [the wider industry] moved so much offshore, it’s had a huge impact on local regional communities,” Deane said.

“There’s a story here and increasingly consumers are interested not only in the product, but they want to know where it comes from. They want to know what the company that makes it stands for.

Norsewear is an iconic New Zealand woollen goods company that has been in business since 1963. Photo / Neil Reid

“They want to know that the people that have made the socks are paid fairly and are treated well.”

The company’s rich history includes supplying Hillary with socks for his successful 1971 grand traverse of Aoraki/Mt Cook.

The following year, New Zealand skier Chris Womersley wore Norsewear socks while competing in the downhill and giant slalom at the Sapporo Winter Olympics.

The socks are also standard issue for workers at Antarctica’s Scott Base.

“A huge amount of money” had been spent since the purchase on refreshing and promoting the Norsewood brand, including design and packaging.

Textile designer and materials engineer Grace Carden-Horton has come on board Norsewear to work on designs. Photo / Supplied

Textile designer and materials engineer Grace Carden-Horton has come on board to work on designs, having previously worked in Europe.

“We need to make sure that we’re laser-focused on consumers and what they want to need ... we want to build Norsewear and provide job security for these folks,” Deane said.

“And you know, [then] we’ll be able to employ more folks.”

Not just surviving, but trying to thrive

While there are plenty of challenges, there are also a lot of reasons why Deane is confident for the future of both cementing Norsewear’s position in the market and future expansion.

The latter includes investigating expanding export markets.

At present, the company exports to Australia and the UK. Decades ago, and prior to the deregulation of the market, Norsewear was winning export awards and its market included Canada, America, Japan and Korea.

Domestically, Deane believes Norsewear is among local commodity producers who could benefit from a raft of “geo-political” issues impacting global trade routes and supply issues.

“If you have a look at what’s changed since the 2000s, the golden age of globalisation seems to be over,” he said.

One of several Norwegian flags displayed in the small village of Norsewood. Photo / Neil Reid

“There’s massive geo-political risks in places [with] China and Taiwan or Ukraine and Russia. There may well be a renaissance of manufacturing closer to home.”

Deane said New Zealanders also only had to think back to the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had to shortages of imports from overseas.

“Covid taught us that the supply chain can be vulnerable.”

Another reason for growth positivity is the environment.

Globally, the apparel industry pumps out 10 per cent of greenhouse emissions; ranking it the world’s third biggest polluter.

In New Zealand, 180,000 tonnes of textile waste go to landfills each year. That would undoubtedly include hundreds of thousands of cheaply produced cotton or nylon socks imported from China or India.

“People are waking up to this and saying we need to look at what we’re making our clothing from, how long it is lasting and what happens when it does go to landfill,” Deane said.

“Wool is like a super fibre because it performs incredibly well. It is comfortable, it is durable and it’s from a renewable resource.

Norsewear's new owner Tim Deane says the company trusts its products to last longer and be better for the environment. Photo / Supplied

“People spend most of their sock budget on cheap imported socks. They buy too many and they all end up in landfills.

“So, if we can introduce people to high-quality Merino socks ... they last for a long time.”

All plastic has been removed from Norsewear packaging.

Price is a factor in some opting for the cheaper nylon or cotton socks.

Norsewear’s socks range in price from $19.95 a pair upwards. Its cheapest pair is more expensive than multi-packs featuring up to five pairs of shorter-lasting products.

Deane said his company could produce much cheaper synthetic socks, but that “wouldn’t be consistent” with what he and Norsewear stand for.

“We don’t need to be the cheapest, we need to be the best,” he said.

“We may not be cheaper, but we control the process from start to finish. And we can produce a very, very high-quality product.

“And increasingly people are thinking about things other than just the lowest price, they’re thinking about the security of supply.”

While the immediate focus was strengthening the business domestically, Deane said Norsewear should look to expand its export market.

“If you can grow domestically, you can drive your revenue line and your profit line which gives you gas in the tank to then look at export,” he said.

“We have to export. It’s part of why I bought it.

The local blacksmith attracts visitors to Norsewood for specially commissioned pieces. Photo / Neil Reid

“We do export currently to Australia and the UK. However, we are not even touching the surface of the export opportunity.”

However, any export expansion would be part of a careful strategy after research into identifying the best markets to target.

That was likely to happen in the second half of 2024.

“I’ve got a long list and I’ll whittle that down and then we’ll start with a shortlist, start there and then expand.”

‘A hidden gem’ and its crucial factory

Menzies-Winson - from the Norseman Blacksmith - describes his beloved hometown as a “hidden gem”.

“You know when you drive past, you blink and you miss it.

“But you get here, and it is the most loveable town.

“When you walk down the street, you have to settle for an extra 20 minutes because you’re going to have a conversation with everyone. It’s like having a big-as family.”

Prior to Deane’s purchase, the future of Norsewear was often a hot discussion topic on the main drag through the settlement; Coronation St.

Cafe Norsewood owner Trish Roberts has proudly called the village home for the past four years.

Cafe Norsewood owner Trish Roberts outside her cafe on Norsewood's main road. Photo / Neil Reid

She is hugely aware of how important Norsewear is to the local economy; including locals who work there – a workforce that has included her sisters and partner – as well as business from out-of-towners visiting.

“There are so many people that work there, or who have worked there,” Roberts said.

“It has sustained a lot of families for a lot of years.”

She said it was imperative for the area that it stayed.

Deane said he was “extremely excited” about Norsewear’s future.

The Norsewear brand is now proudly owned by Tim Deane. Photo / Neil Reid

For Norsewear to reach its full potential, he said he would need external capital.

“And before you start asking people to tip money in you have to demonstrate you know what you’re doing, what you’re talking about actually delivers, and you have a track record.”

Norsewear's tight-knit staff stand outside the company's factory in Norsewood, 106km south of Napier. Photo / Supplied

Deane hoped more in the business community would look towards the regions and think “What can we bring to the table?”.

“There’ll be a huge amount of satisfaction in seeing this company grow and bring goodness back into this local community,” Deane said.

“Steinlager had their advertising campaign, ‘They’re drinking our beer, here’. With us, how good is it to say, ‘They’re wearing our socks here’.”

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.