Keeping it Kiwi

From rocking rodeo and stunning saddlery to tough Kiwi threads and delicious coffee: husband and wife Terry and Sonja Marshall are sewing and serving up a storm.

After 25 years at Mystery Creek, Otorohanga’s Circle M Brand is keeping it Kiwi through a range of high quality outdoor clothing, designed and manufactured in the Waikato.

Terry is a man of many skills, who would put a lot of women to shame with his needle and thread. While Circle M Brand was established by Terry and his wife Sonja, the couple are kept busy in separate trades with Sonja trading in the sewing machine for a coffee machine at her own Central Cafe in Te Awamutu.

Terry works out of a small shop on his Otorohanga property: “It’s small but it does the job.” The first year at the new establishment was spent doing his saddlery before a trip to the Fieldays with a few clothing garments in tow saw a promising change. “It was the ‘year of the horse’ at the Fieldays and all the clothing sold out in the first day; we knew we were onto something.”

From then on he spent his time manufacturing outdoor apparel. “Our initial target market was the farming industry but times change – from farming to leisure and now industrial.”

With a small international market, supplying overseas is a tough job. Terry works alongside Paula Hobbs, the only other full time worker who has stayed loyal to Terry.

“I’ve been sewing since my son turned five and went to school, I’ve been here forever,” she laughs.

A keen duck shooter, Terry believes it is the good quality oilskin that attracts hunters. “Oilskin is a seller and people love the quality. It’s been around for around 100 years and still works – you can’t go wrong.”

Circle M Brand doesn’t just appeal to hunters as half of the stock sold these days is safety gear. Its most popular item is one of its high end products, the ‘Work Jacket’. The high visibility gear also sells well. Paula says Circle M Brand make the entire garment out of oilskin and just use the high vis as an overlay.

The National Agricultural Fieldays is the company’s biggest event and this year they will have both businesses on show as Sonja puts the bachelor contestants through a cooking competition, as well as holding cooking demonstrations.

Employee Paula compares the Fieldays to Christmas. “It’s like our Christmas because it’s the right season for our clothes; November to March is our quiet months so we have to make our money while the time’s right.”

See Terry and his team at K15 or visit www.circlembrand.com.