Established in 1972, BONZ Group proudly manufactures and retails luxury New Zealand made apparel, accessories, homewares and furniture. We are best known for creating elevated and opulent products from rare and high quality local materials, most notably ethical baby lambskin (slinkskin), possum and ultrafine merino wool. Our collections are inspired by the brand’s Central Otago origins, with uncomplicated yet refined and timeless designs. The company is headquartered in Queenstown and operates the design studio and factory in Invercargill. The company is 100% New Zealand owned, with the second generation now taking the mantle and driving the business into the modern age.
Border closures and the level 4 lockdown of 2020 gave us time to reflect on what BONZ (Best of New Zealand) was, and what exactly what we were both bringing and taking from the world. Fashion manufacturing and retail is a busy business that leaves little time to reflect on the deeper questions. We quickly noticed a strong resurgence in demand for quality locally made products and a drive toward transparent supply chain. Our handmade apparel pricing was still a little out of reach for most Kiwi’s, and domestic apparel purchasing alone was never going to keep our staff employed. Rising house prices and an inability to travel meant a little extra cream in the bank account of most, and it was evident where Kiwi’s wanted to put it – into their homes!
Prior to COVID-19 we had a small homewares range of mostly fur throws and knitted blankets, however, we could see that this needed to expand quickly. By the end of May 2020 we had finished building a sizeable workshop in a disused section of our Invercargill apparel factory. We redeployed a couple of the apparel team and engaged skilled new furniture production technicians in order to hit the ground running. After almost 50 years making luxury apparel, we passionately embarked on a new and exciting journey – the rest, as they say, is history.
Demand for the furniture was slow to begin, and we unsurprisingly made some mistakes with product-market fit. The initial designs were complex, over engineered and too large for most homes. Over the last 12 months we have refined and expanded the range to offer a greater range and price point that competes with luxury furniture imported from Europe or America. We continue to invest in development, and look to further refine lines and build BONZ Home into a globally recognised luxury provider of homewares and furniture.
You can see our latest lines of furniture of homewares at our Queenstown retail locations, our website (www.bonz.com) and on your preferred social media channels.
