My 2 cents…

I was interested to see a video on Stuff tonight with Emily Miller-Sharma of RUBY CLothing talking about how consumers can make a difference by buying local products rather than ordering off online retailers from overseas.

I totally agree with Emily but would go one step further and suggest that all those consumers look not only to brands with a retail presence in New Zealand, but also ones that are actually made here. To be honest, it seems a bit duplicitous to be moaning about offshore retailers given the model RUBY uses which is to source goods from low-cost economies and sell them in a local retail chain.

It’s a drum that Ryan Jennings from Buy New Zealand Made has been banging for years and it’s actually doable – there are some incredible fashion brands made here in Aotearoa – KILT Clothing , Carly Harris, Maggie Marilyn, Ingrid Starnes and others. Hell, while we’re at it, take a look at Cactus Outdoor (self-interest to the side, obviously).

New Zealand has long been not only the source of great fashion design but also fantastic manufacturing of those designs, let’s keep it that way!

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

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