Iconic clothing business goes into receivership
Local marine and sports clothing company Line 7 has gone into receivership.
The business, owned by Ross Munro and Marilyn Horne, is most well-known for dressing Team New Zealand sailors in the America’s Cup.
Receivers Grant Graham and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha were appointed to the business today.
It is not known whom they were appointed by; but Companies Office records show ANZ National Bank is the only bank listed as a Line 7 secured creditor.
Line 7, which was founded in 1963 as a company that made wet weather gear for sailors, has stores or stockists in seven countries.
Its business is now much broader and includes other sportswear, and casual clothing for men, women and children.
Line 7 makes clothing for the Rugby World Cup, and is the exclusive supplier of clothing to the A1 GP, supplying clothing for all 22 countries that take part.
It is also the official supplier for Rowing NZ; and a sponsor of the Coastal Classic yachting race, the Sir Peter Blake Trust and Yachting New Zealand.
Line 7 has been the clothing brand worn by New Zealand's America's Cup entrants since 1987.
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Comments
when will consumers learn
This is a business tragedy.the products have always been good. they have attempted to ride the tide of NZ manufacture.. but like so many got sucked into manufacturing offshore, with all the pain and complexity that dishes up ( poor quality - start to finish). NZ as a country has to learn that selling out.. buying cheap imitation junk products.. doesnt employ your children and neighbours.. it closes down your industrial suburbs and destroys local communities. NZs lack of a manufacturing sector has meant that the service sector is all we have - which pays badly and can easily be shipped off to the least cost global operator in a heart beat. slippery slope...
Quality
I'm no expert, but the quality looks pretty good on the stuff I bought with 60% off
Line 7
Qualities got nothing to do with it .. get real buddy ... grow up and get off your oversized, over rated New Zealand horse ( I'm a born & bred Kiwi, by the way )
The problem will be that thses clowns have been underselling themselves to the blood sucking sporting fraternity, feeding their ego's while they've been sipping champagne in the best seats at the sporting events, instead of focusing on running their business as a business. The New Zealand sporting fraternity are renowned for thinking that we all owe them a favour and should provide to them for next to nothing. To add insult to injury, most of them are bad payers as well. If Gibson & Graham have got any clues, they'll tell the sporting clients to go bludge elsewhere and re-focus this business on it's core retail markets.
Congratulations Smithy
Congratulations Smithy- you are obviously a multi millionaire with your ideas and attitude.
Poor quality Chinese suppliers
My wife and I used to buy a lot of Line 7 clothes until the quality deteriorated two or three years ago. Small changes to cut costs, such as shorter zips and insufficient loops for belts on mens trousers, combined with low quality fabrics that didn't survive regular washing, are typical of Chinese suppliers. Repeated sales and discounting also destroyed the brand, not helped by the emphasis on sports that the majority of Kiwis don't care about.
A bad approach to business
I used to work at a Line 7 store just a few months ago and I think the key problem the brand faced was just with their target market and the style of their clothes. Shortly before I resigned from my position it was announced that the company would be investing in a new more 'fashionable' look, which I think was definitely lead to derailment eventually. But this is exactly the problem I think Line 7 faced, they had always been a sports wear company and they should have always remained a New Zealand sporting icon. I think they attempted to gain a wider market share by introducing day-to-day clothing, and even dresses for women! I think that the line between fashion and sport was never defined with Line 7 and because they attempted to merge the two customers lost interest.
The products were relatively good quality, but the style became very repetitive and modest. Overall I think the brand lacked innovation. I somehow think that Line 7 will not be missed as much as it would like to think it will be. It never quite managed to gain 'icon' status and it was never famous for any of it's products. It attempted to make it's merino a staple item, but once again, the styling was far behind what icebreaker had been designing for years.
I am sad to hear that they have gone into receivership but I did see it coming and I think what Line 7 lacks is a new perspective, a new approach and some fresh ideas.
I worked part time at Line7
I worked part time at Line7 for a number of years until they went in to receivership. I found their clothing to be very high quality- which was acknowledged by customers. I believe their design team lacked in current fashion knowledge and execution for garments that ahould have been better tailored for kiwi women.
I however ultimately believe that the down fall of the brand lay in problems in the head office and management team. Towards the last 2 years i noticed the retail assistans/2IC's and managers becoming increasingly frustrated with the management team. There was a distinct lack of communication between retail assistants and head office. The retail staff understood the target market, what was going wrong with certain styles and what was popular and what wasn't and why. There were no channels available for this to be verbalised and quite frankly when attempting to discuss issues with management it was felt as if they did not take it seriously and no action was taken.
The staff were left de-motivated and I witnessed first hand as retail assistants became detatched from the company and it's goals. They just didn't care about the company anymore. And with good reason.
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