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Story: Clothing and footwear manufacturing

A booming industry

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A booming industry

The New Zealand clothing industry boomed in the post-war decades, when local production was protected by import controls and high tariffs. Many clothing firms had factories in regional towns as well as major cities. This is the Rotorua dressmaking factory of California Products, in 1949.

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Alexander Turnbull Library, National Publicity Studios Collection

Reference: 1/2-033749-F

by Edward Percival Christensen

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jane Tolerton, Clothing and footwear manufacturing – Clothing factories, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/23983/a-booming-industry (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Jane Tolerton, published 6 April 2010.