Is it now time to ditch ‘made in New Zealand’ for ‘designed in NZ’?

Turn over an iPhone and you’ll see the phrase “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China” embossed on the back of the device.

The focus on design allows Apple to retain ownership of the product in the United States, while conceding that the product is made in another country. To Apple, the value isn’t in the raw materials but rather in the idea that brings them together into a unique product.

Apple isn’t alone in the use of “Designed in California”, with the phrase also being used by shoe companies and furniture designers. Over the last two years, it has, however, become most popular among the tech companies in the area.

The furore over Dame Denise L’Estrange Corbet’s swing tags was largely based on the fact that they said “Fabrique´ en Nouvelle Ze´lande” when the garments were in fact made in Bangladesh and Hong Kong.

Had L’Estrange Corbet simply taken the Apple approach and swapped out the tags for ones that said “designed in New Zealand”, then it wouldn’t have been as easy take aim at the business.

She did, after all, tell RNZ’s John Campbell that while the shirts were sourced from AS Colour, they were “embellished” with the sequins purchased separately. While the bringing together two random items is by no means as complex as designing an iPhone, it was an idea born in the World design studio — and it’s something consumers seem happy to pay a premium for.

Asked whether it was perhaps time for the New Zealand narrative to evolve and perhaps focus on IP and design rather than manufacturing, Buy NZ Made director Kirk Hope said that it was something that might be worth looking into in the future.

He adds, however, there is a significant premium attached to the New Zealand provenance and that this remains important.

He said that this is also part of the reason why clear rules have been established in the Fair Trading Act to ensure that business that makes a claim about New Zealand provenance meets certain prerequisites.

But by L’Estrange’s own admission, it’s becoming more difficult to retain production in New Zealand. Dropping transportation costs and increased accessibility to international factories means that local designers are now competing on the global front, and with the growing prominence of Alibaba and Amazon, there’s little indication of this changing.

A report stated that the $10.1 billion value of the design industry to New Zealand has enormous potential to grow. But this can only happen if we shift our focus to championing ideas authentically ‘designed in New Zealand’.