NZ Fashion & Textiles $7.8b case for 'Quiet Economic Powerhouse'.
6th November, 2025
Stalwarts of local fashion and textiles visited the Beehive for a landmark address. How will the Government respond?
New Zealand fashion leaders are calling for increased Government support, citing the potential of an industry that added $7.8 billion to the economy in 2023.
Fashion & Textiles NZ (MFNZ) chief executive Jacinta FitzGerald, designer Juliette Hogan and Kathmandu chief executive Megan Welch addressed MPs in Parliament on Tuesday evening.
Hogan, who spoke as chair of the MFNZ board, told Viva the event was an unmissable opportunity “to be able to inform those ministers and MPs across the parties about the importance of our industries”.
FitzGerald, speaking on behalf of MFNZ, a collective founded in 2019 and now made up of more than 120 NZ businesses within the fashion, clothing and textile industries, highlighted contributions to both the economy and cultural fabric of Aotearoa.
She calls fashion and textiles a “quiet economic powerhouse”. In 2023, the industries accounted for 1.9% of GDP. That figure surpasses building construction, she says.
“We employ 76,000 people, pay $4.4 billion in wages, and are home to globally renowned quality, creative and fibre innovation, yet remarkably the fashion and textile industry has historically been overlooked for the value it brings to the economy.”
The address was delivered to MPs including Labour’s Camilla Belich and National’s Nicola Willis (Finance Minister) and Todd McClay (Trade and Investment Minister).
FitzGerald and Hogan also met privately with Willis and McClay earlier in the day. They discussed how MFNZ’s vision for a thriving local industry might overlap with the Government’s aim to double exports by 2034.
MFNZ calls the reception in Parliament “overwhelmingly positive” and credits those key economic figures from the 2024 report.
“There’s a desire to support that creativity, the innovation and the growth of the fashion and textile industry in New Zealand.”
In meetings with ministers, MFNZ expressed interest in a future-focused partnership.
“We were talking about some of those opportunities where the Government can lean into and help support building market access ... or opening up some of those opportunities in innovation,” FitzGerald says.
“Momentum has been building over the last 12 months,” FitzGerald says. “It was incredible to have ministers in the room. You could see their eyes widening as we were talking about the statistics. The value is something that people don’t know about, even though we’ve been banging on about it.”
“We have some of the world’s leading sustainable brands and produce some of the best fibre in the world. Consumers are wanting products that are sustainable, transparent and ethical, and Kiwi businesses are well placed to exceed in this space.”
“There’s so many people that want to try things, they want to solve challenges of the industry, whether that be textile waste and the huge impacts of fast fashion or whether that be the opportunities with what we produce in New Zealand,” FitzGerald says. “We’ve got such a strong platform to build from