Macpac Shifting Production To Asia

Yet more from Friedrichshafen where we spent an interesting hour chatting to the guys from Macpac and taking a look a their new 2004 kit. More of that in a separate report.

Production Moving...

Macpac's Aidan Craig says that the company had hit a ceiling and that shifting production to three specialist factories in the far east will not only make pricing more competitive - you can expect to see Macpac prices falling next year - but the move has enabled the brand to embrace new technologies and develop whole new ranges and designs using the specialist knowledge of asian manufacturers. More of those in a separate report.

He also stressed that it's a priority for the company that 'everything people expect from Macpac continues' and that the factories they use will be carefully chosen and inspected and that the company will continue to take an ethical stance with regard to manufacturing.

Job Losses

Sadly the flip side is that there are going to be 150 job losses from Macpac's current New Zealand workforce of 250 odd people, with only the specialist expedition XPD items still being made in New Zealand.

Macpac's move is reminiscent of British companies like Karrimor and Berghaus who, after a long history of manufacturing in the UK, eventually bowed to commercial reality and shifted production abroad after concluding it was the only way to keep prices competitive.