Davey Hughes - Inspiring New Zealand

Browse Swazi’s catalogue or ‘cattledog’ as he prefers to call it, and you’ll find Tahr Anoraks, Wapiti Coats, Tough Mutha Pants and Molesworth Jackets.

More than just outdoor gear with Kiwi-flavoured names, the clothing Davey and wife Maggie began designing 17 years ago was a response to the challenges New Zealand’s harsh environment was hurling at hunters, farmers, trampers – and possum trappers like Davey.

“Pretty much all you could buy in those days were woollen bush shirts. I always had three of them: one that was drying in front of the fire, one that was half-dry – and the wet one I was wearing.”

Davey used what he’d learnt the hard, wet and cold way when the skin trade went belly-up. Joining forces with Maggie’s fledgling T-shirt business, the pair came up with designs and fabrics that soon out-performed the ubiquitous bush shirt.

Rather than tying him to an office, the burgeoning business meant being able to go bush frequently and even further afield. New Zealand’s roughest back blocks, with their mercurial local weather, became his testing ground for new designs. This means getting cold, damp and miserable at times, he says. But, on returning to Swazi’s Levin base after his trips, he’s able to report how a new waterproof membrane, zip, cuff or hood design has performed, and modify the pattern accordingly.

Subjecting his products to the type of environments they’ll eventually be worn in is a priority, as the company supplies to a range of search and rescue services, including the Police. Having the right gear can be a matter of life or death.

As a strong conservationist, he also believes it’s important to work with material that’s highly durable and is not going to end up as “land fill fodder” after two years.

Swazi sells from its own shops in Levin and Geraldine, through a range of more general shops, and directly around the world online. Davey also takes the Swazi Show on the road.

He recently visited one of the largest outdoor shows in Scandinavia, Norway’s Villmarksmessen Show. “People would tell us they hadn’t seen designs quite like ours before. The first question they’d ask was: Where’s it made? It wasn’t till way later you’d get: How much does it cost?

People here don’t think we have this wonderful, innovative, individual design called a ‘New Zealand design’, yet people overseas sometimes tell us they can see New Zealand’s forests and mountains reflected in our clothing.

For the past two years, Davey’s spent as much time overseas as at home. He’s no longer just testing his latest gear but, using his own film company, capturing his adventures for a 14-part television series he’s tentatively called Adventures in Wild Places.

Despite now having visited, shot and fished super-sized game in such remarkable locations as the Arctic Circle, Alaska, Siberia and Tanzania, his own backyard remains a huge attraction.

“I still really enjoy heading out the back of the Ruahines. Just taking the tent and camping out without any modern-day conveniences. To me, that’s really quite spiritual.”