It’s been a week since Mindful Fashion NZ released Threads of Tomorrow, an impressive report that sees the fashion, clothing and textile industry (NZFCTI) get honest about its value, challenges and future.

Produced by EY New Zealand, the report posits itself as assisting the industry in “Crafting the Future of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Fashion, Clothing and Textiles Landscape” – a daunting task, but one that I hope sees collective industry vision and leadership without ego or an agenda. It presents in unblinking terms the industry’s economic and cultural contribution.

There’s a lot of reading – it’s 42 pages and to be honest, I’m taking my time and making my way through it properly – but key findings show that in 2023, the sector:

⁃ Added $7.8 billion to the economy.

⁃ Contributed 1.9% to GDP (more than the supermarket, grocery stores and specialised food trading sector, which contributed 1.4% to GDP)

- Paid $4.4 billion in wages.

- Employed 76,011 workers; with women making up 78% of the workforce.

It’s not just data: there are 15 recommendations across four action areas, which I think is the most important part. There is only so much talking on panel chats and navel gazing the industry can do; we’re beyond the point of action, but this is a real plan, or ‘road map’ in corporate speak, to address those challenges.

I’ve been feeling pretty bleak about things recently (I work in the intersection of fashion and media, two industries that are in the midst of tumultuous change), but this report gave me a feeling of purpose of where to channel that. Reading it, I also felt a sort of relief: I still often feel the need to justify the value of fashion and clothing, and bang on about its position in helping to shape identity and culture. That’s all wonderful and important, if a little… flimsy – hard data, which this report showcases, can back up all of that. The NZ fashion industry is small but it is a business, and it does contribute. And let’s be honest: our current government only cares about numbers – a heartless approach – but having these about our own industry will help in getting politicians’ attention. I was pleased to hear that Mindful Fashion NZ had already been talking to well-known politicians on the left and right, and that others in Government had been in touch since the report was released.

It’s important to note that this report is about fashion, clothing and textiles, not just “NZ fashion” – a small and impossible to define niche. NZ fashion is part of it, and an industry body advocated for the report, but it takes in everything from manufacturing and production to retail, distributors, media, education and more.

It’s a broad church, with the report bringing them together to showcase the power of the collective – the establishing ethos of Ensemble, also. I know the report has sparked a lot of conversation, so I wanted to ask a few people ‘in the industry’, whose perspectives I respect, to share their reflections and key takeaways after reading it. I really value their honesty and insight below, and while some of it is confronting, has given me lots more room for thought – and excitement for action.

Jacinta FitzGerald, chief executive of Mindful Fashion NZ

The size of the sector is significant. That we rival supermarkets and specialty foods really gives us some context as an industry, we matter to New Zealanders. This shows me how significant the opportunities are for this sector. 

My second key takeaway is how interconnected the challenges and opportunities are. Many of the challenges the industry is facing when you dig down are huge opportunities to grow and evolve. This report shows us the importance of growing a circular industry for the industry to thrive. That excites me because there are many different solutions and we need them all. From designing products that can be endlessly recycled, to building a repair hub and growing resale offerings, to educating consumers, and creating a world class collection and recycling system for end of life.  It also illustrates how integral upskilling, and investing in local materials and manufacturing are to make a more circular industry a reality. Yes it requires a rethink to existing ways of doing business but things don't stand still, and businesses and industries must evolve to remain competitive and viable. Ours is no different and I believe fashion and clothing more than many sectors has an incredible superpower, that of imagination and storytelling, to both reinvent and to tell stories in a way that captures people's attention so we can change hearts and minds. We know consumers are looking for this, and my hope with this report is that the industry puts forward a common vision to New Zealanders and that industry and government get behind the actions and work with us to make this a reality.  

One of our advantages as a small nation at the bottom of the world is that we are adaptable and inherently innovative. This is just the sort of mindset we need to make a circular and thriving future a reality.

Yasmin Farry, general manager of NZ Fashion Week

Reading this report actually sparked a great feeling of hope. The opportunity for all aspects of the NZ fashion, clothing and textile industry (NZFCTI) to come together, collaborate and create a collective voice for change is huge. It is a massive undertaking, but as such a large industry that contributed more than supermarket, construction and mining to the GDP in 2023, it’s time the NZFCTI was noticed and made a priority by the government.

I found it interesting to learn that a significant portion of small to medium businesses use entirely NZ based manufacturers to create their finished products – this speaks to the potential for further growth and investment in local manufacturing. We need to dream big and lure the enterprise brands back to manufacture in NZ.

And implementing training or apprentice programmes to address the shortage in the skilled workers needed at the various stages of clothing manufacturing is a proactive step in building a sustainable, thriving workforce. 

It is exciting to see the potential for positive impact on both the industry and the broader economy. We all need a ray of light at the moment.

Rachel Mills, fashion designer and owner of Rachel Mills, and founder of Sampling House

First of all, Mindful Fashion NZ has done an incredible job at collating data that is very difficult to access. I was incredibly blown away by the overall size and value of the industry. It is very easy to lose sight of this when you are operating within one of the diminishing parts of the industry. Perhaps that is what is missing here? I would love to see the breakdown of allocations towards different parts of the industry as I think that will speak volumes in terms of what most brands value. 

I am feeling very guilty about not being able to contribute our data towards this survey – as part of the skilled workforce, I think this indicates the huge amount of pressure we are under. My day-to-day is a constant prioritisation of dealing with what is the most urgent within our business, in terms of covering all of our costs. Most of the time that falls onto ensuring our team always has work lined up to go on with. There is no margin within our business to cover any gaps with the workflow, or additional team members to ease the workload. If any client work is delayed for reasons outside of our control, it is my number one priority to get more work prepped ready to fill the gap, whether that means working late or on weekends, not being able to take sick days or holidays, forgoing catch-ups with friends, because not having the work is not an option. 

I think it goes without saying that the most important point to me is within the skilled workforce action area. The focus here is on growing a skilled workforce through upskilling and training. I think there is a much larger issue at play: why is there currently a lack of a skilled workforce? As identified within the report, yes, there is a lack of training available, but I am almost certain this is not the sole or main issue. 

We are working within a very broken industry. I could write an endless list of pain points, the main one for the skilled workforce being the pay disparity. We have an incredible team of women with combined experience of close to 100 years. When most of our workroom team started, it was a very different industry, considered to be a great career option. Yet today, if you compare what we are able to charge our services out at, with other industries of a similar skill level and experience, I can guarantee it would be more than double what we are able to. It is of no surprise to me that other skilled industries are more appealing and we need a clear action plan to tackle this, now more than ever.

Emily Miller-Sharma, co-founder of Mindful Fashion NZ and general manager of Ruby

At the Threads of Tomorrow report launch, EY partner Pip Best talked about how part of what made the case for EY to partner with MFNZ in the report’s creation was that the clothing industry has significant influence but is vastly underserved. I felt that very specific type of relief that gets sparked when someone who I don't know, but do respect, voices something I have been wrestling with. The unthought known.

At MFNZ we have pushed hard for Governmental recognition of what the clothing industry does, and could, contribute to our country, and for adequate partnership to address the challenges we face. While we have been lucky to have found a few dedicated people who have believed in what we were saying, and supported us along the way, it has been difficult to get any real traction for our initiatives. In fact, unlike the building construction industry – of which we are a similar size – we don't “fit” with any one Ministry. 

"The number of workers made up approximately 2.6% of Aotearoa New Zealand’s labour force. The number of workers is comparative to the building construction industry which employs 3% of Aotearoa New Zealand’s labour force." 

"The NZFCTI plays a vital role in Aotearoa New Zealand’s economic stimulation, contributing more to GDP in 2023 than supermarket and specialised food retailing, building construction, or mining industries."

I am aware of the temptation to write off challenges I face as somehow caused by sexism. It's a simple narrative to reach for. But, reading the report, I can't help but wonder if, in this instance, sexism is actually reaching toward the root of the problem? For example:

"Women are integral to the NZFCTI 

Females represent 78% of all employees within the NZFCTI"

"the prosperity of the NZFCTI is significantly connected with the economic wellbeing of women." 

"The flexibility available in these jobs is an attractive incentive to enter the workforce, especially for women and young people." 

I don't want to diminish the additional barriers faced by women of colour, or genderqueer people for example. I'm latching on to the normy-sexism narrative because it is just so starkly illustrated in this report. 

A charitable reading could be that, for a lot of people, clothing is seen as capital F "Fashion". Vanity, frivolity. Gross. Write it off. The dystopian presentation of the most recent Met Gala is an excellent example of this.

YES, that is part of the clothing industry, but it is just such a tiny part. The simple truth is, almost every person – "Fashionable" or not – wears some type of clothing almost all of the time. So actually, we are all active participants in the clothing industry. 

I am grateful for how this report illustrates that the clothing industry is similar in size and contribution to other sectors that are treated with significantly more respect. I feel optimistic that by having the validation from EY – one of The Big Four no less! – that we will be able to truly partner with policy makers, funders and the people who get dressed every day to create a clothing industry that serves us all.

Frances Lowe, fashion designer and owner of Loclaire

I personally feel very passionate about the 1st and 3rd action points in the report.

1st action point: Growing a skilled workforce

I have gotten to know the local production industry quite deeply over my working career – and it is honestly quite scary seeing these patternmakers, machinists, cutters, all super talented at their craft, ageing over the years with barely any new blood coming through. 

People aren't coming out of fashion school wanting to be anything other than designers – creativity will always exist, but if we lose these skills as an industry, it will be really hard to get them back. If anything, this report highlights just how undervalued these labour skills are, even though they are THE cornerstone to lifting our design, quality and therefore reputation in our NZ fashion industry as a whole. Without them we would be SCREWED.

3rd action point: Enabling a circular economy

I truly believe transformative change for any creative industry starts where the arts intersect with science and technology. And this is where things like product stewardship and material recycling are so exciting and inspirational for the future. I was really excited to learn about Impactex and their mahi – I hadn't heard of them before reading this report.

Finally -

"Approximately 74 thousand tonnes of clothing are consumed in Aotearoa New Zealand each year, and every year 52 thousand tonnes are sent to landfill."

My thoughts on this stat: one thing the report doesn't really go deep into (I guess because it goes against all four action points, ha) is that we, as human beings, just need to snap out of it and stop buying so many clothes. Fashion can and should change with the times – it needs to – and if the times are saying Kiwis are sending 52 thousand tonnes of clothes to landfill each year, it doesn't take much to deduce that something is inherently wrong – in our fashion industry system, and in the way we live and consume as a society. 

Lots of complexity and nuances to this, but in essence: brands need to stop designing and producing so much, and customers need to stop buying and throwing so much.

Nicole Hadfield, fashion designer and owner of Oosterom

The need for made-to-order has never been more apparent. "Global consumers are now buying 60% more clothes compared to 20 years ago and keeping that clothing for half as long. Annually, approximately 30% of clothing produced remains unsold, with another 30% being sold at discount." The amount of deadstock clothing produced is mind-boggling. At Oosterom, producing garments to order allows for tailoring and customisation. The perfect fit means these pieces to be cherished for much longer and worn more regularly, in turn reducing the overall cost per wear.

Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for offshore production; the made in New Zealand price tag is not for everyone. "Aotearoa New Zealand manufacturing enables emerging designers, encourages creativity and allows established brands to produce bespoke products and smaller production runs to meet customer needs." But by investing in local production, NZ can enable younger brands to flourish. Without our machinists, cutters, patternmakers and pressers there is no avenue for small production. By fostering creativity within the fashion industry, I hope NZ designers will have a better opportunity to succeed internationally.

Emma Wallace, managing director of Kowtow and Mindful Fashion NZ board member

The report marks a milestone for change – recognising the fashion, clothing and textile industry’s significant contribution to employment and the economy, while bringing the industry together to focus on future growth, innovation and sustainability.

Working at Kowtow, I am naturally drawn to the Action Plan around ‘enabling a circular economy’ with the challenge of reducing waste, recycling textiles and eliminating plastic pollution. This is a global issue which NZ can’t ignore – we all need to take responsibility for this and I hope the report serves as a springboard for accelerating positive change.

Dianne Ludwig, owner of Welcome Back Slow Fashion and longtime NZ fashion industry advocate and consultant

It’s been about 20 years since the last state of the NZ fashion industry report was completed, and at that stage the Government of the day wrote off the fashion industry as a sunset industry. If you weren’t going to be a big exporter, you weren’t going to get any help. Not sure if Government thinking has changed, but we are living in a different world. The keeping and creation of local jobs matter even more, and so does sustainability, so it's great to see MFNZ presenting some hard evidence on these points.

What surprised me about the Threads of Tomorrow report was the number of jobs the NZ fashion (and clothing and textile) industry still supports – 76,000 (2.6% of our workforce) – and there is scope for more employment across the sector if we get things right. If we don’t invest in helping our fashion industry, many of those jobs will eventually be lost, and we will be ever more reliant on fast fashion which clogs our landfills and keeps us in a cycle of endless consumption.

Although NZ is never going to be a low cost maker, and nor should we want to be, the report identifies an area which plays to our natural strengths – working with wool. Great, it’s a natural fibre, something we grow and allows us to reduce our carbon footprint on materials. The number of wonderful vintage wool garments made in NZ that are still in use, both here and that were exported around the world, is proof that we did it before and we can do it again – but with machinery that makes it competitive to make. It's this sort of innovation that is more likely to attract investment, so it’s very exciting to see this as a key plank of the strategy.

Of no surprise, but still an important part of the analysis in MFNZ, was the amount of textile waste (eek: 52,000 tonnes of clothing into landfills annually). Much of this is cheap imports, so it is great to see that consumer education on buying local, initiatives for recycling, and fabric recycle technologies are part of the plan to reduce consumption and waste. Consumers used to buy a lot less, spend more on each piece, value and look after our garments, this is a place the industry can help us get back to.

Tyson Beckett, Ensemble reporter

Many others here have spoken to this report making sober reading – it says itself, “reaching the desired future requires ambitious action”. But once I took in the lay of the land I was impressed by how clearly the path forward was presented, maybe because I was three coffees deep when reading it, have been thinking a lot about creativity that blossoms within restrictions, or am just a Virgo who froths over practical solutions.

We're all united by a common set of goals – “a thriving and circular clothing and textile industry for Aotearoa New Zealand” – and because of how interconnected the landscape is, the solution requires collaboration too, from all aspects of society. But now we can irrefutably point to data that outlines the rich opportunities savvy investment will produce to the benefit all of NZ: economically, environmentally, artistically. Mindful Fashion NZ say it themselves, this is just the start: “this report should be read as phase 1 in a multi-phased strategy”.

Juliette Hogan, designer and chair of Mindful Fashion NZ

An absolute highlight for me is that the report clearly shows that this industry matters, both economically and culturally. It shows that there are significant opportunities for the industry to grow and that is something that we all need to hear, understand and then work collectively on.

There is no quick resolution for the challenges we face but if we work collaboratively – and by we I mean all of us in our industry + key stakeholders, and the government – there is so much potential. It’s imperative that this industry is one that not only survives but thrives. It’s not even a possibility, in my mind, for this industry not to exist in Aotearoa NZ.

Kate Sylvester, co-founder of Mindful Fashion NZ and fashion designer

The report is an exciting milestone. We finally have real, actual figures – $7.8 billion to be precise – to prove how valuable we are to both the economy and culture of Aotearoa, and the report maps a really clear path for creating a thriving, circular future.

The key action for me is promoting NZ fashion, locally and to the world. It is something that the Ensemble community is incredibly good at already, thank you. We need to keep spreading the word – buy local!