Norsewood factory Norsewear a sign of close-knit community

The Norsewear factory in Norsewood is a community affair, with families, an entire volunteer fire brigade and neighbours working alongside each other over the decades. They have been celebrating 60 years since the classic flecked farm sock was first produced, and now have a new owner at the helm. Terence Ahern started at Norsewear straight out of school.You don't have to step too far inside Norsewood's woollen sock factory to get a sense of just how close-knit this community is.Generations of people from the same Norsewood families, neighbours and members of the volunteer fire brigade work alongside each other at Norsewear. The factory floor has even been known to come to a standstill during an emergency callout. The sock, glove and beanie manufacturer is the heart of the town and contributes greatly to the local community, according to one of its longest-serving employees, Terence "Tingey" Ahern."Norsewear is Norsewood and Norsewood is Norsewear. That's it." Meet the people behind Norsewear on Country LifeAhern started as a 16-year-old and is now in his 46th year at the company, which began in 1963 when Ola Rian started making socks from his living room in Wellington.According to Ahern, the Norwegian champion skier was looking at setting up his factory in Ohakune.However, he settled on Norsewood, in the lee of the Ruahine range in southern Hawke's Bay, after experiencing the tiny town's Scandinavian heritage and its proximity to the mountains.In the 1980s, Norsewear, under its original founder, was one of New Zealand's largest apparel companies, exporting 40 percent of its knitwear to Australia, Japan and the UK, according to new owner Tim Deane. Norsewear owner Tim Deane.The factory has been through several owners and two receiverships since then, partly due to the lifting of tarrifs protecting New Zealand's apparel industry, and cheaper clothes flooding into the market. Ahern was involved in a staff buyout in the early 2000s just to keep the firm afloat, but they had to pay royalties to a previous owner in order to use the brand.It is that brand and the connection to wool and New Zealand farmers which has Deane excited. From a career in much bigger business - he was in global sales for Fonterra at one stage - he bought back the logo on acquiring Norsewear in 2022."I could see there was potentially a really big opportunity if we could tell the story." Instead of wool being sold in bales to head offshore or gather dust in woolsheds, he wanted to produce something of value from the raw product and make sure the value of the brand stayed at home…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details