o-CNN: Two Cowboys are Wearing Swazi Outdoor Clothing - Thank You Davey for being our Sponsor

Swazi is Sponsoring the Two Cowboys & A Camera

A big thank you to Davey Hughes and the team at Swazi Outdoor Clothing for our Two Cowboys custom jackets. They are really nice and custom made for our work in Canada. Not only does it make us look good, the jackets are made with special materials that will also keep us warm and dry in an unforgiving climate.

"For as little as $1/month you will get the inside track on content like this and follow the travels of the Two Cowboys & A Camera. Join here."

When we reached out to Davey and Swazi earlier this year our plans were merely to tell an inspiring story. You can see and read about it here. We've since become friends and whenever we are on New Zealand we are looking for an excuse to look them up in Levin. We are really appreciative that Davey, Amber and Sharee decided to make Swazi Outdoor Clothing one of our sponsors.

We consider ourselves part of the Swazi Clan. As clan members, we wear our Swazi gear with other committed members while we all tell the world about the outdoor clothing makers in Levin, New Zealand. These are people that are proud of their work. Hikers, hunters and outdoor enthusiasts all over the world appreciate the care and dedication that goes into making high-quality garments that are comfortable. The gear lasts. It keeps people safe and warm. 

The seamstresses of Swazi are so proud of their products that they work their names into the labels of the garments so that you know who made yours and that you can personally thank them. 

The Clan of Swazi is growing here in Canada. You can join here.

Social Entrepreneurship

In all our travels we find entrepreneurs with a community focus. People that stand out amongst others. They make products and provide services that recognize a need for addressing a bigger cause or issue. Profit is not the ultimate motive. Creating value in their respective communities is their drive.

Wikipedia define it as Social Entrepreneurship where entrepreneurs use techniques to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. "For-profit entrepreneurs typically measure performance using business metrics like profit, revenues and increases in stock prices, but social entrepreneurs are either non-profits or blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society" and therefore must use different metrics."

Real Producers are Social Entrepreneurs. In their communities they make products and provide services that benefit themselves, their families and the people around them. They sponsor the schools and local community programs. They create local employment and give children in the community a chance to start their careers. They teach. They make sure that the value remain with the people that helped to create it in the first place.

They are also the biggest contributors to the taxes that fund our public services. With these Producers our communities thrive. That is why we need more if them. We need to look after them. That is why the Two Cowboys are proud to tell their stories.

Sponsorship

We are also a Social Enterprise. Our cause is to encourage more people to make things for their own sake and for the benefit of those around them. We tell the stories of these Producers and help them to market their businesses. Many are micro and small businesses that cannot afford high value video production and marketing services. We are funded through your donations and sponsorships and by people that support our cause. All our earnings are applied back to covering our costs of marketing and promoting these Producers and their inspiring local communities. 

If you wish to get involved in our cause like Swazi Outdoor Clothing, Weta Coffee and others, you can support us by donating and sponsoring or booking us here: www.forwardthefavour.com

Thank you Davey, Amber and Sharee, and the Team at Swazi Outdoor Clothing. We wear our Swazi proudly.

Hendrik van Wyk

Swazi Clan Member

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Who we are: We are a social enterprise. We are funded through donations and sponsorship. 

All our earnings are applied back to covering our costs of marketing and promoting Producers and inspiring local communities. Please support us to bring you more (www.forwardthefavour.com)

Two Cowboys: Customers are the Custodians of the Brand - Swazi, Levin, New Zealand

Outdoor Clothing Made in New Zealand - Swazi, New Zealand

(Learn: ** Inspire: *** Amaze: *** Live: ****)
(The Two Cowboys Subjective Rate-o-Meter.   )

Levin was New Zealand's fabric and garment manufacturing epicentre until the industry was decimated by companies moving their operations overseas. Headlines such as: "A New Zealand clothing company goes 'global' and shuts all local factories." became too familiar in this part of the world over the last decade.

"Swazi will never manufacture overseas!" Davey Hughes, the founder of Swazi, New Zealand stands proudly behind this statement and his commitment to making their products in the market, where they are the most recognised and respected. We’d get an ‘I LOVE MILEY’ tattoo before we’d manufacture in China!

Swazi is an outdoor clothing and niche garment manufacturer that is proudly making its products in Levin, New Zealand.  Swazi produce innovative and practical agricultural, hunting and outdoor leisure clothing, hand in hand with an assurance to make the voice of the outdoors heard by promoting adventure, hunting, conservation and a sense of responsibility among young people.

It’s made by a passionate bunch of people who live close by. So close, that many of them walk to work every day. For Davey and his team, it’s about community, something that’s easy to forget about if you have your product made on the other side of the world. Creating jobs for people who live in their town is pretty much the best community oriented thing they can do. It’s awesome to see people develop pride in what they do every day. It’s awesome to watch that pride spread through their families and whanau (family).

Impressions

It is initially hard to place Davey in his garment business.

Here is a hunter and trapper in a country of possums. Let's face it. Regardless of the country's breathtaking beauty (which everyone knows, thanks to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings), New Zealand is not really known for its animal wildlife, is it? What is a big game hunter doing there?

Davey is a rough outdoorsman, world traveller, and television personality, but with an unwavering commitment to the success of everyday people in an age-old and very competitive industry. He is in an industry that seems to have departed from New Zealand some time ago. That he makes garments and design clothes in Levin, is not something that comes to mind when you watch the fella trying to spear a Grizzly in the Canadian outback.

Not even the name "Swazi" fits. It is the name of an African people and tribe from Southern Africa, thousands of kilometres removed in the distance and in culture from Kiwiland.

Maybe, it is just this initial confusion and contrast that makes the Swazi story and its values so attractive and intriguing. There is a surprise around every corner!

Here is what stood out for us:

• Patriotism: While from Scottish lineage, Davey has an unwavering commitment to his country, New Zealand and its people. He demonstrates this with the loyalty to his workers and town, by continuing to manufacture in Levin even though the country's own Government decided to pass its production over in favour of manufacturing in China.
• Niche Product Innovation: Swazi's clothes stand out because it keeps people alive. Davey found a niche in outdoor garments because of the harsh climates people face working in the rain, snow, and wind. It is not only recreation clothes, but safety gear, high visibility gear, and even speciality suits that keep helicopter pilots from getting hypothermia. 
• Global Online Business: The majority of Swazi's products is sold online. This was bold, and some would consider risky move they made five years ago. It is paying off for the business. Products are shipped all over the world. It is no longer a local success story. It is a global one. More so, because five years ago there were still a lot of scepticism about selling apparel over the Internet. Today, people on every continent wear and love their Swazi gear they ordered online.
• The Brand: Davey's personal brand is probably the strongest selling point for Swazi. Not because of the hunter, adventurer and traveller persona. It is because of his down-to-earth honest and practical approach to overcoming life's obstacles, and the changes were thrown at him and his team. "Every change has an opportunity" is Davey's motto. He is the person you want to know when "chips are down". Because, when you have to rely on someone like many individuals rely on Swazi's clothes to keep them alive, you want to count on Davey. As we say in Canada: "He's got your back."

The most notable comment in the conversation with Davey is his acknowledgement that Swazi's brand is no longer his brand. "We are merely custodians now for our customers," Davey says that the customers of Swazi own the brand. They get married in it. Buried in it. All he and his team can do is not disappoint the loyal and the faithful.

It was an excellent adventure to spend a day with Swazi in Levin. We hope to be back for much more soon.

Hendrik van Wyk
Producer

Get rewarded for supporting our local Producers. Receive special offers and invitations from the Two Cowboys.

Who we are: We are a social enterprise. We are funded through donations and sponsorship. 
All our earnings are applied back to covering our costs of marketing and promoting Producers and inspiring local communities. Please support us to bring you more (www.forwardthefavour.com)

Photos

The Original

Making Something

Missing Canada

Focus

Safety First

Creating Something New