New Zealand-Made Underwear & Activewear Brand Nisa To Close In April

The New Zealand-made label has announced closing dates and provided suggestions for the best ways to support the team in the final weeks.

After eight years in business, Pōneke-based Nisa Workshop, which specialises in underwear, swimwear and activewear, has announced it will wind down business this April.

Nisa shared the news with customers and followers on its website and Instagram. However, it requested the moment, and all the label’s milestones, be commemorated.

“Don’t be sad we are closing, celebrate that you were a part of it!”

Nisa was founded by Elisha Watson in 2017. Elisha, who had trained and worked as a lawyer, was inspired to launch the label after volunteering at a Community Law Centre and Red Cross, where she met people who had just arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand who expressed difficulty finding employment. The name “Nisa” was drawn from the Arabic word for women.

Nisa was launched from a workshop on Kent Terrace in Wellington, with a team of four. The goal was to create employment opportunities for women from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

Nisa launched with a small range of women’s underwear. Over the years, offerings expanded to include swimwear and activewear in an inclusive size range. Garments were largely made from organic cotton or recycled materials.

In recent years, the workshop began to explore low- and zero-waste pattern-making techniques and invited people into the production process in workshops where they learned to sew their own briefs.

In December 2022, Elisha Watson put Nisa up for sale. By June 2023, it was announced the business would close.

However, as business began to wind down, production manager Pam Lowe was inspired by their rallying community and customers. The team launched an effort to take over and reopen the business through the fundraising platform PledgeMe. Within 24 hours, they raised $80,000. By the time the campaign closed, that amount had more than doubled.

This led to the launch of Nisa 2.0, which allowed the label to employ new staff and prolong operations.

Throughout this period, the label’s mindful engagement with fashion continued. Instead of advertising Black Friday sales in 2023, Nisa directed profits to support aid provided by Médecins Sans Frontières in Gaza, Sudan and Syria. The team also worked with Red Cross to highlight the current state of refugee employment pathways.

This closure, the label says, has been decided after a drop in sales and a rise in costs that has become unsustainable.

“We feel that if we raise our prices any more to cover these, our products will become unattainable for our customers, which really starts to go against how we want to operate as a retailer,” the label said in a statement on the website.

In the final few weeks of operation, followers have been invited to leave a goodbye note for the team. Within the announcement of the closure, there were more messages for those wanting to provide support.

“The best way to help us now is to buy our undies. We aim to sew and sell all our stock, ensuring no elastics or cut pieces go to landfill.“

The online store will close on April 8 and the last day at Wellington’s Willis St store is April 12.

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