Designed in Canterbury, Tested in the Southern Alps

Thirteen years ago, we moved to Canterbury permanently - and we've been hunting and tramping these ranges ever since. Arthur's Pass is our regular go-to, with catchments and walks for every mood, and AntiCrow Hut has become a family favourite: an easy walk that even the kids are happy to do. 

That's not a detail we're mentioning for colour. It's the reason Main Divide gear looks the way it does. Every product starts here, in the Southern Alps, long before it ever reaches a mill. 

The trip that started it 

There's no single dramatic story behind Main Divide - just years of trips where the cold outweighed the enjoyment. Enough of them, in enough different conditions, that it eventually led us to develop our own puffer jackets rather than keep making do with what was on the market. 

That's the pattern behind most of what we design. Not a single lightbulb moment, but a slow build-up of "this isn't working" until it becomes a product brief. 

Designing for weather that doesn't sit still 

New Zealand weather can change abruptly - sun to sideways rain to wind in the space of an afternoon, sometimes without much warning. It's the single hardest thing to design for, because gear that performs beautifully in one set of conditions can fall short an hour later when the weather turns. 

It's part of why we don't rely on lab testing alone. A fabric can tick every box on a spec sheet and still let you down on a real Canterbury day - which is exactly why the next stage of the process happens outdoors, not in a workshop. 

Where the fabric actually comes from 

We're upfront about this because it's a question we get asked, and we'd rather answer it properly than dodge it. 

Our technical synthetic fabrics come from Toray, a mill in Japan. Our Nuyarn® Merino comes from TMC, a New Zealand-owned company, with the yarn itself manufactured in Vietnam. Both were chosen for one reason above all others: fabric technology and performance. Not cost, not convenience - performance. 

So, is Main Divide NZ Made? 

Honestly - no, not entirely, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. 

Here's exactly what happens where: the product concept, pattern design, fabric selection, and all testing is done here in New Zealand, by us. The Merino garments are then cut and sewn in Vietnam, and our synthetic garments in Bangladesh. 

We've had customers ask why we don't manufacture here, and the honest answer is cost. Manufacturing entirely in New Zealand would push prices up significantly, and realistically wouldn't be viable for a business our size. We'd rather be upfront about that than make a vague claim and let customers assume otherwise. What we can promise is that every product is designed, tested, and proven by us - in the conditions it's actually going to be used in. 

How gear actually gets tested 

Testing isn't outsourced to a lab and forgotten about - it happens on the same trips we take as a family, in the same places mentioned above: Arthur's Pass, AntiCrow Hut, and further afield on trips like our week in Molesworth Station during the 2024 roar. 

Our daughters Keeley and Liv are as much a part of this as anyone - both help with product distribution and, more importantly, are genuine field testers of the gear themselves before it goes anywhere near a customer.