Unlike many of our large competitors, we know exactly where our merino gear is made, AND who makes them. We can guarantee that our products are made in conditions that satisfy New Zealand's stringent labour laws. We are totally committed to "Kiwi-made" merino. No other country in the world has as much expertise in the making of superfine merino outdoor clothing as New Zealand. This expertise goes from the raising of the sheep, to the sorting of the fleece, to the fabric manufacture, to the making of the garments themselves. If you want quality, at a fair price, then New Zealand-made gives you this. We do not believe that pushing down prices to rock-bottom for the producer results in anything other than poor wages for the workers, and poor quality of product. We have no intention of going in that direction.

We began the "own-label" process in 2008. The demands of the UK outdoor market require specialized designs. Specifically sleeves of standard ranges have never been long enough. For years, many manufacturers have based sleeve length on chest size. Unfortunately these two are not related! It is not unusual for someone 1.82m+ to have a chest size of 96cm and an underarm to wrist length of 56cm. To get a top with long enough arms they have had to buy anything up to 2 sizes bigger. Our own specially commissioned range has the deliberately lengthened sleeves.

We were fortunate. When Icebreaker, along with Swanndri and Macpac, pulled out all their production from New Zealand and contracted it out to a variety of Chinese factories, they left behind all the expertise and experience. We are now benefiting from this. Soma President Ltd., based in Hastings New Zealand and who for seven years made for Icebreaker, are now making our Taranaki range of lightweight base/solo gear and our TeMata heavier mid layers. Soma have also made merino gear for Ortovox GmbH.

Soma-President is a third generation company. The current MD Harold Trigg, pictured above with the prototype of our Taranaki Zip-neck, is the grandson of the founder who was still working at the age of 96! Not content with heading and managing Soma-President, Harold is on the board of ATITO, New Zealand's Apparel & Textile Industry Training Board. On top of this, Harold still finds time to spend 3 weeks each year in Cambodia on a Habitat for Humanity Global Village building team. Last year he was building out in Vietnam. This year he's spending his holiday building homes in Nepal

There's a great article on Harold and Soma here, originally published in the Dominion Herald newspaper, Wellington.

We aso stock Merino_possum accessories: Merino-Possum beanies, socks and gloves from MKM (Manawatu Knitting Mills) based in Palmerston North who are proud to be members of the Buy NZ Made campaign.

The double-layer Merino-Possum beanie has been made famous by television presenter Ray Mears who is often seen wearing one in his hugely successful Bushcraft programmes. Manawatu Knitting Mills (MKM) was established in 1884, and is the oldest knitting mills in Australasia. Founded by John Stubbs –a pioneer immigrant to New Zealand, Manawatu Knitting Mills have been producing knitwear for over one hundred and twenty years and in 1896 were awarded the first prize for knitting excellence at New Zealand's prestigious ‘Art and Industrial’ exhibition. During the last century, Manawatu Knitting Mills has grown from a modest producer of hosiery and knitwear, to one of the largest, and most successful knitwear manufacturers within New Zealand, using leading edge technology to create whole garments in luxurious merino-possum.

Our Merino Fabric

We source all our fabric from the MAPP//Merino Advanced Performance Programme sourced from Designer Textiles. This means that our fabric is chlorine-free, produced to the highest environmental standards. In addition, MAPP uses only ZQUE merino . ZQUE provides a transparent traceability scheme that allows ZQUE fibre to be identified and tracked from the brand to the farm. Furthermore, ZQUE Merino fibre is selected from properties that have never mulesed, or that have stopped mulesing sheep supplying Zque Merino fibre. Designer Textiles also supply farbic to Ortovox, and used to supply Icebreaker before they moved to China and Howies before they were taken over by Timberland/Smartwool.

CHOCOLATE FISH is dedicated to working with New Zealand companies who take their Corporate Responsibility ethos towards their staff and their customers as seriously as we do.