T-shirt team-up a hardy win
The ‘‘old workhorse’’ that made the first All Black jersey is now making merino T-shirts for hikers trekking the national trail.
The antique knitting machine is a fitting cog in a collaboration between two family businesses in Palmerston North founded on durability and tradition.
Manawatū Knitting Mills has partnered with T-shirt designer Unco for a hard-wearing merino tee promoting Te Araroa – New Zealand’s Trail.
It means hikers are able to buy a top that works both as a memento and as a practical piece of clothing for traversing 3000 kilometres of trails from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
Unco, which produced merchandise designs for Te Araroa Trust, approached Manawatū Knitting Mills with the idea to team-up on hard-wearing tees that appealed to hikers.
John Myszczyszyn, who owned Manawatū Knitting Mills with wife Sophie Hughes, said lightweight and durable clothing was important when carrying a pack of belongings for about 60 days, the time it took to walk one island.
The manufacturer had been using natural New Zealand fibres to make jackets, T-shirts, gloves and hats from merino, possum and silk for 138 years.
To make the Te Araroa T-shirts, Myszczyszyn said they turned to the ‘‘old workhorse’’, a circular machine that had been in the factory since 1884.
It had made the first All Blacks jersey in 1904 for the 1905 English tour.
Despite its age, the machine was in constant use. As well as the hiking tees it produced 70,000 ‘‘shearer tees’’ a year, knitted ‘‘the same way as we did 138 years ago’’.
The circular machine was still in use not because of necessity, but due to its importance to the company’s past.
Myszczyszyn said the business had established relationships with about 670 retailers worldwide. It valued tradition and local connections. It was in keeping with this spirit to team up with Unco, another local family business.
‘‘The whole concept is fantastic… it’s really important that people come up with new ideas, new concepts and then we grow with those people.’’
Anthony Behrens and daughter Ally Burleigh started the Unco brand last year, normally pressing their designs onto ASColour cotton tees.
Behrens, a digital designer and photographer, is a hiker himself and for the past five years has offered hiking accommodation in the Whiowhio hut built in his backyard.
Conversations with other hikers made it clear merino was the sought-after fabric, due to its softness, breathability and toughness.
‘‘If you wear a polyprope nylon top for six months on the trail it is just going to be disgusting by the end … because polypropylene holds in the smells,’’ Behrens said.
The merino T-shirts underwent rigorous testing to ensure they’re fit for purpose, and were currently being trialled in the ultimate test by hikers completing the Te Araroa trail.
‘‘One of the hikers has been testing the bejesus out of one. He wears it 24 hours a day when he’s hiking.
‘‘He’s wearing it now as he’s hiking from Hamilton.’’
Manawatū marked the halfway point on the Te Araroa trail, which made the business partnership all the more meaningful for Behrens.
‘‘We’re the heart of the trail. And it’s appropriate that this is happening here.’’
Feedback from international hikers was that the North Island was ‘‘about the people’’ and the South Island was ‘‘about the mountains and the scenery’’.
‘‘And Palmy is the kind of crossover place where those two personalities in the trail change.’’
Te Araroa opened in 2011. International visitors typically outnumber New Zealanders about five to one.
However, 2021 proved the exception due to Covid, with almost all hikers being Kiwis.
It was hard to predict how many walkers would take to the national trail this hiking season, but Behrens believed it’s ‘‘going to be massive’’.
The first merino Te Araroa T-shirt design is available from the Te Araroa Trail website and directly from Unco, and more designs are in the works.