All of our garments are created in our Napier Design Room and are proudly 100% New Zealand made.
KILT loves NZ and all it has to offer, which is why it is so important to us that our clothing is all made right here; this has been at the core of our brand since the very beginning. It is who we are!
We love NZ Made so much that we opened our own factory, 'Made It Here' in 2015. This guarantees that we will always be able to offer our KILTies NZ made garments.
We also use CMT (Cut Make Trim) factories based in Auckland, Hamilton and other smaller regions as needed.
Who makes your clothes?
We fully support and use New Zealand CMT (cut, make, trim) factories from across New Zealand, including Auckland, Hamilton and our home base, Napier!The lovely team in our Napier factory, 'Made It Here', make a majority of the clothing we sell. Between them, they have over 300 years of experiece in the sewing industry!
Why we love New Zealand made:
Keeping skills in New Zealand:
It's important to us that we don't lose the sewing industry here in NZ, with so much being made offshore.
Quality control:
As the factories we use are within NZ (including our own), we are able to stand behind the quality of our garments and the working conditions.
Brighter futures and better economy:
We offer ongoing training and development within our factory, upskilling and building further confidence within our team.
Creating careers:
We currently employ over 90 staff members across our nationwide boutiques and Napier based design room and factory.
We realise that being a sustainable and ethical business is important, which is why we do these initiatives:
Tote bags
We use our fabric off-cuts to create our NZ Made Tote Bags. These are perfect bags to roll up and keep in your handbag as a plastic bag alternative. All proceeds from the sales of these bags go to planting Native Trees in NZ via Trees That Count.
Compostable satchels
We use plant based r3pack courier bags for sending out our Online customer orders. They are home compostable and are made with corn starch with non toxic inks to provide a natural alternative to traditional plastic based courier bags.
Sewing on labels
We sew our pricing labels into our garments rather than using plastic swing tags. This means no more pesky bits of plastic attached to your garments or being thrown into landfill. Plus the card that we use for our tags is made from recycled paper and is 100% recyclable too.
Paper or Fabric?
At KILT we offer brown paper bags which can be recycled or our fabric Tote Bags to take your garments home in. Having environmentally friendly bag options has always been a focus for us.
Recycled paper
We choose to use recycled card for all of our garment tags, gift cards, garment care cards anything card! Plus every time we do a print run our local printing partner Mammoth plants a native tree!
Digital receipts
We encourage our customers to get their receipts emailed to them. This limits the waste plus it makes it so convenient as they are easy to store or file away and they help to de-clutter your wallet!
Reusable courier bags
To send stock to boutiques, we have created reusable courier bags out of old billboard skins from local sign companes in Napier. Until we have enough we also use recyclable cardboard boxes. Our garments are folded and sent without individual wrapping or packaging.
Refill and reuse
We use bulk cleaning products for our boutiques and design room, rather than constantly buying more plastic. Each time a boutique needs cleaning products, they send their empty bottles to us at the Design Room to refill.
Refill - Reuse - Recycle
Fabric scraps
We are always ensuring our patterns are planned to maximise the use of our fabric as much as possible, however this still results in smaller scraps. We utilise these in our Dress Toys and donate other scraps to local kindergartens for crafts.
Supporting local is so important to us that’s why we set up all of our new stores with the help of the local business around us!
Clothing Racks
Our Clothing Racks are literally made just around the corner from our design room in Napier.
Ply Counter
Our Ply Counters are literally made next door to our design room in Napier (it doesn't get more local than that).
Ply Screens
Our Ply Screens are made by a talented crew in Tauranga.
CODE OF CONDUCT
Click HERE to read the KILT code of conduct.
Fabrics, code of conduct and social responsibility.
We source our materials from a variety of reputable companies throughout NZ and globally. Unfortunately, material that we purchase is not NZ made due to availability with the required quantities that we produce. We wish NZ made textiles were more readily available, as we love to support local!
KILT is proud to be a part of a growing global movement that has already made great strides in improving conditions for workers across the apparel and accessories production industry and to contribute to achieving ever-greater levels of transparency and protections for those workers in the near and distant future.